Kids will always wish for snow days

Did you hear that loud sound Tuesday morning?
It was the collective moan of all the children living in the Stevens Point Area School District who were disappointed school wasn’t cancelled because of the snow storm. It may also have been the collective cheer, or moan, of parents who were thought they may have had to stay home from work with younger children they thought would be staying home from school.
It’s hard to criticize children for moaning about not getting a snow day, because as a kid my favorite days at school were always the days it was cancelled due to heavy amounts of snow, cold weather or icy roads.
I remember waking up early on mornings following winter storms to check for school cancellations. Since the Internet was only some high-tech Jetsons-type thing talked about in Popular Science magazine, along with the flying cars we still don’t have, I had to rely on the radio or television to learn whether or not school was closed, which meant I had to listen through long lists read by the announcer.
When the announcer said the name of my school, I did one of several things, depending on my age. During my elementary school years I got out my Star Wars action figures and started playing. When I was in middle school, I either listened to music or watched television, and in high school I went back to bed.
In high school especially, I always hoped, and sometimes prayed, for a snow day to give me more time to write a big report or study more for a test that was scheduled for that day. When God failed to deliver one for me on the days I really needed him or her, I just faked a small cough and had my mother call me in sick. She probably knew I was faking it, but since I got good grades she didn’t question my motivation for wanting to stay home. In a way, God did deliver, just in an unusual way my teachers would have disapproved of.
I grew up in rural areas, so school was often cancelled during the winter. Highway workers did a wonderful job plowing snow from the roads, but even the most efficient ones didn’t stand a chance at clearing off hundreds of miles of back roads.
It’s becoming obvious to me, living here for less than a year, the students in the Stevens Point School District aren’t going to get as many snow days as I did when I was a kid. The majority of them live in an urban area and their roads are cleared quickly enough for most of them to get to school on time.
I was at the School Board meeting Monday night and I knew then school would probably be open for business, as Board members said they were telling their kids they should be ready for the bus in the morning. Although the final decision on canceling school is up to the superintendent, when Board members think six or more inches of snow is not enough to warrant cancellation, then the superintendent will probably agree.
Stevens Point students may not get as many snow days as I did, but at least school will end on schedule. School was usually extended at least three or four days to make up the snow days we missed, and going to school extra days at the beginning of summer is almost not worth the price of missing a few snow-filled days.
Then again, I still got done with school earlier then students do now, even with make-up days, because school started in the later weeks of August, rather than in September like it does now because of the tourist industry’s influence on the State Legislature.
Stevens Point students might not have it as good as I did, but at least they get to spend more time at school, giving them the potential to become doctors, lawyers and a multitude of other professions that get paid a lot more than journalists. For some strange reason, I don’t think these students will look at it this way, though. I guess if they really need a day off, they better hope their parents can turn a blind cheek to fake coughs while calling them in sick.