A big part of the winter months is school cancellations, kids stay up late just to know whether they have school the next morning or not. Sometimes this leads to tired grumpy kids in the morning because they stayed up all night and don’t want to go to school. Every school district makes its decision based on whether they think it’s safe of not, but shouldn’t there be more of a deciding factor? Roads can be dangerous all year round but especially in winter, but how dangerous should it be for school to shut down?

Even without snow on the ground the roads can still be icy, therefore dangerous. I believe that if the temperature at 10am is forecast to be below 30 degrees, and it rained the night before, then school should not be in session. The roads could be icy and unsafe, resulting in car crashes and injuries. Making sure kids are safe on their journey to school is a necessity. I remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade, it was around 20 degrees outside and only about 35 in my school because my school didn’t have heat. I would go to school, and a lot of kids didn’t have winter jackets which caused them to be super cold. Then a lot of kids, including some of the kids without jackets, would walk home. I would get home from walking in freezing cold weather shivering, and I had a jacket, I can only imagine how the kids whose family couldn’t afford a jacket felt. Some kids are not fortunate enough to get a jacket or a ride home from school, and some can’t ride the bus home, therefore it is a health risk to have kids out in blow thirty degree weather.

Another thing that happens in winter is snow, which can be very exciting to kids. Then school crushes that dream as well as many more. The snow isn’t the most dangerous part, it’s the ice under the snow. An inch of snow itself can also be dangerous, it’s slick when it’s cold and slippery when it becomes slush. You can lose control of the car on snow or ice. Another reason why school should be canceled when there’s an inch or more of snow is some kids don’t have proper snow clothes and lots of schools don’t have heat. This could make it hard for them to pay attention in class and stop being sick, trying to teach a class full of cold, shivering, and sick kids who aren’t going to be able to pay attention because they don’t feel good doesn’t sound fun.

‘School is important’ so is children’s health, a child is going to have a hard time learning if they are cold and sick. Not only are they going to have a hard time learning, but they’re going to get others sick. I understand that school is important but so is health; do you want a dead kid or a dumb kid? An injury or being sick can set a child back days or even weeks in school, but a snow day where no one is at school won’t set anyone back, and the school can return to its regular scheduled teaching once the snow is gone. If it’s that much of a burden to cancel a day of school, it can be added to the end of the year, therefore school would still be in session the same amount of days, but it would go into the summer.

If it snowed the night before, or the roads are icy, children should not have to go to school; the journey could be dangerous and injuring kids is not worth one day of school that could be rescheduled. Roads are always dangerous, and most of the time that’s a risk you need to be willing to take, but when an extra layer of danger is added you should do what you can to keep yourself and the children safe.