During the recent week-long snow storm, many schools and businesses had to close down because of the danger of driving around on the icy roads. Luckily for Bellevue College, this winter quarter will continue as scheduled, and any adjustments to school will be made by professors rather than the school administration.
Dennis Curran, the Vice President of BC administrative services, did an outstanding job on making timely decisions and notifying students and faculty about campus scheduling, in any way he could.
If you have had trouble receiving these emails, you can download Outlook on your smart phone, sign into your BC email and turn on notifications. Those without smart phones can sign up for BC Alerts mobile messages or call the BC emergency hotline at (425)-401-6680.
Public schools are usually unafraid of emergency closure, since they set aside extra days at the end of the school year. The Bellevue school district has two days marked as emergency closure make-up days, while Seattle has three. Both districts planned to end school on June 20.
However, the snow storm forced the school districts to close campus for more than one school week.
It so happens that the week-long weather closures occurred two weeks before mid-winter break. Both districts continued with mid-winter break, giving students two weeks off during February.
Because of this, the school board is considering extending the school year into July, much to the disbelief of students and their families. This is especially upsetting for students in the Bellevue district, who started their school year on August 30.
This decision disrupts any summer programs that students may have planned on attending, or any nonrefundable trips that are being canceled this June.
This upset could have been avoided if the school board replaced the planned mid-winter break with the sudden closure; it is more ideal to resolve the issue as soon as possible as opposed to pushing the issue further into the future.
The school boards are understandably concerned about students missing lessons and being unprepared for the next school year, and high schools and elementary schools have different amounts of schoolwork, so they need different solutions.
Elementary schools have a simpler curriculum. High school on the other hand teaches subjects that are much more specialized, and only useful depending on the career path that the student will follow, but it takes more time to learn.
Elementary schools can afford to extend their school year, because they have little work to do in class, most of which can be done at home. They also get scheduled breaks during the school day, so work is not so dense.
High schoolers on the other hand, would suffer if their school year gets pushed into July. High school students not only have school work, but most of them also have jobs and home responsibilities that require their time. To take up more of their time would be unfair.
In future emergency closures, schools should take advantage of the abundance of technology, and have students communicate with their teachers online. If school gets canceled, students should go to their email and check to see what their teacher assigns.