This winter has been one to remember – not only has there been a lot of snow and extreme cold – but the Wauwatosa School District closed for three days due to dangerously cold weather conditions.
“It has been unusual to be called off this many times for cold and not snow”. said Wauwatosa School District Superintendent Dr. Phil Ertl.
So far the additional days have been accommodated by adjustments to the schedule rather than adding days onto the end of the year.
The school district always builds a single day into the schedule to accommodate inclement weather. If that day – May 22nd – is not needed, students and staff have an additional vacation day. Additionally, February 17th has been changed from a staff inservice day into a student contact day. All students will now report to school on February 17th.
However, the most recent cold day may require the district to add an additional day to the end of the school year.
Unfortunately with all these days being off, you got to make them up sometime, and that sometime just might be June, according to junior Allen Witkowski.
“I would rather we had school today, because I don’t want to waste summer at school,” said Witkowski.
For some students these cold days are not a welcome break.
“I’ve sat at home bored and I think its stupid that we have to waste cold days to make them up in June,” said sophomore Addison Leisten. “Our school should fit more cold days into our schedule.”
At this point, Ertl does not know when January 28th will be made up.
According to Ertl, the school follows a strict set of guidelines in determining whether school will be canceled.
“Each time school has been called we use the National Weather Service guideline of warning versus just an advisory,” said Ertl. “Each time we called off it has been a warning for cold.”
Ertl said that the Wauwatosa School District works with other districts to decide to cancel school or not.
“I am in consultation with other area Superintendents,” said Ertl.
“Dr. Ertl is considering several possibilities to best serve the needs of our students and will inform the community when he makes a decision, said Associate Principal Clint Grochowski. “We are doing our best to make the best of a difficult situation.”
Social studies teacher Mr. Guse said he isn’t sure what to think about all the cold days.
“I definitely have mixed feelings,” said Guse. “On one hand, it is great to have an unexpected day to spend with my family and I truly cherish all the time I have with my new little ones. On the other hand, there are adjustments that must be made on the fly for myself and all my students. Overall, I would say its nice to stay inside when it’s negative one million degrees outside”.
Science teacher Dwight Osmon had a different response to the cold days.
“As a teacher of an AP class, the cold days are really bad for the students because we only have so many days to prepare for the AP test,” said Osmon. “Make up days at the end of the year are after the test date so they do not help students prepare.”
Friday, March 14th was originally intended to be a professional development day for district employees, but will now be one of the make up days, according to Ertl.
Nick Hughes, Wauwatosa East’s principal, said the cold days allowed him to finish up his own personal work.
“As a principal, students being out of school does give me more time to complete things on my desk or my “to do” list,” said Hughes.
However, he said the students’ absence was a mixed blessing.
“I do miss having students in the building because one of the major sources of enjoyment in the job is getting to work with students during the day and see them in various activities in the building,” said Hughes.
The days off also affected students, especially as the days occurred just weeks before exams.
Senior Cole Baltz said the cold days allowed him to relax for a few days.
“Personally I have used my days off to get things accomplished,” said Baltz. “I put in some more hours at work and hung out with friends.”
Junior Abhishek Janardan said he enjoyed the cold days, but doesn’t look forward to making up the lost school time.
“Hangout with friends is mainly what I’ve done,”Janardan said. “This latest snow day in my opinion, wasn’t very necessary. I don’t like making up days in June.”
Baltz said that while he enjoys the cold days, he thinks making the days up in June is worse than going to school in January.
“All the cold days really do is shorten up the summer,” said Baltz. “Summer is the time to relax and take time away from school, and if you’re stuck making up days, you lose out on the fun summer brings.”
With all these days off, and a day being added into June, all West students can do is hope for warmer weather. If colder weather is still coming before this brutal winter is over, there will be more cold days and more days to make up in June.
