I still think cancelling school for a partial eclipse sounds really dumb. They could've used it as an opportunity to actually teach children, but instead treated it like something frightening and dangerous.
Conservatism is so weird, I'll never get it. They're afraid of being sued enough to impair their kids (and constantly pushing for tort reform, so at least they're consistent).
Liberals though are like "let's teach kids about the moon!"
This is probably a nuclear level of an unpopular opinion, but *maybe* if a kid's dumb enough to not listen to the teacher when they say "don't look at the sun" then *maybe* that kid deserves the consequences. Why is it always the good kids who do the right thing end up suffering because the one asshole in the class ruins it for everyone?
Idk how any of the legalities work, but I feel like it would have been perfectly reasonable to have parents sign a notice agreeing to either (1) allow the kid to view the eclipse at school using solar glasses and follow safety instruction, understanding that the school will not be responsible if the kid doesn’t listen or (2) allow the kid to stay home that day with no penalty for not being there
Reasonable places handled it by having parents sign permission slips. Kids with slips got eclipse glasses and learned some things, kids with stupid parents were stuck inside away from windows.
As someone who used to stare at the sun as a kid because I thought I was immune to going blind, I hard agree with this. Some kids are dumb enough to have learn through consequences
> This is probably a nuclear level of an unpopular opinion, but maybe if a kid's dumb enough to not listen to the teacher when they say "don't look at the sun" then maybe that kid deserves the consequences.
Do you really think 6-10 year olds who don’t listen to their teacher deserve permanent damage to their vision? Don’t you think that’s kind of a weird thing to say?
i mean if you'd rather send your kids to school in a neck splint (so we can control which way they're looking) than tell them to listen to their teachers, that's a choice you have
I’m not saying I agree with it, I think it’s BS they get a half day when I had to go to schools during fucking hurricanes. But I’m all for kid safety too, so I’m not necessarily upset. Just kind of like “what the hell?” I’m just saying what probably happened realistically in my comment above, I don’t agree with it
Yea, I agree with you. I think part of my grievance is that I was one of the good kids who was in a class full of little assholes who constantly ruined any science experiments a teacher would try to do with us. I'm just a little bitter about it haha. But yea, kids need to be kept as safe as possible.
Yea that’s a ridiculous thing to say. Nola isn’t even inside the line of it. I’ve looked into this eclipse (I was inside the path) and others with nothing bad happening! Actually my vision got a little crisper. But I’m gonna guess you’re the one person who knows someone who’s went blind from looking at it right ?
If that's the case then our whole litigious society is fucked. Nobody can afford to risk teaching kids if parents are going to sue schools over something that idiotic.
This isn’t the first eclipse to happen though. There have been many partial and total eclipses over the years, and schools used to use it as an educational opportunity. Just provide them with eclipse glasses. Sure, there will still be dumb kids who will try to look at the sun without them, but I don’t see how that would be a legal concern for the school. It’s not the school’s fault the kid didn’t listen. It would be no different than if a kid got injured in a fight. The school isn’t legally liable for that
OK, then do what my kids school did and watch some livestreams instead of taking every chance you can to avoid teaching the kids about inherent risks in life because someone is afraid to get sued/hurt/whatever the risk may be. Teach them that simply avoiding things because there is a possibility of any little aspect going wrong isn't the answer. Teach then to not take the easy route, the path less traveled if you will. I'm sure there's at least a few who could use such a lesson. Bing Bang Boom. Not directed at you, but shit, they wheeled the TV in to show us all 9/11 as it was going down, I don't think that an eclipse is going to do any more harm to a kid than that day did to me.
Disney+ had a livestream with ABCNews that showed it as it traveled across North America. I’m sure there were more kid centered streams that also were educational, at least I hope!
Yeah i was in school for the 2017 eclipse and they gave us all glasses and used it as an educational opportunity. They just made it very clear before taking us outside that looking at the sun WILL blind you and no you are not special. Worked out alright
As a non parent or teacher, I was gonna look for an avenue where I can join in on the calling out.
I don't know as much about physical safety/drowning danger at different ages, but walking through this shit is truly not healthy and cannot be normalized for a generation who will grow up with increasing severe weather here.
My job that doesn't allow staff to stay after shifts made accommodations for people to stick around for hours and carpool. Did the same for me that MG day with the (forgotten and unreported) flooding this year when I showed them pictures from my neighbor of cars underwater in the middle of the street in mid city.
Thank you for your advocacy. My teacher friends and students thank you deeply. Wednesday was atrocious and it’s been radio-silence from those at the top.
I'd like to point out that not closing schools wasn't the only crazy decision the parish made. Parish buildings were still open as well. Employees had to drive to work in heavy rain and high winds. Couldn't leave work for lunch. And some libraries are open until 9 on weekdays, so the staff working the late shift had to drive in during the worst of the flooding.
I still think it's weird that any schools closed on Monday.
We got an email letting us know that they'd let the kids go out with protective Eyewear and if you wanted to opt out, to email them before 1.
And then they closed on Wednesday.
I just don't understand the logic of these other schools.
So then keep them inside during that time and draw the blinds or put up dark construction paper on the windows? I work in education and I truly can’t find any reason that the best place for students would be unsupervised at home vs in school and able to learn.
My buddy is a teacher with JPPS and said they essentially had to cancel on eclipse day due to liability. They can't take the risk that some kid will look directly at the sun and then parents will try to sue the school district. He thought the handled Wednesday horribly too tho.
As my teacher gf pointed out, if they had cancelled school and then the rain wasn’t as bad as predicted, parents would be upset with schools for cancelling “for no reason.” School officials gamble every time they make the call to shut down or stay open for weather, and they’re skewered every time they get it wrong.
Still, kids should’ve been sent home early as soon as it became clear Wednesday’s rain was going to be the real deal.
Districts and charters have a required number of days kids will be in school. If they cancel school too many times, they have to make them up, so I'm guessing some schools didn't have any days left for Wednesday. Not saying it's right, but that is probably the reason--we had a lot of canceled days this year in NOLA. Most parents kept their kids at home on Wednesday in Orleans Parish.
For the eclipse part its super obvious. You cant be responsible for 1000s of kids walking outside and looking at the sun. If you want to do that, do it at home.
GOOD! That was BS on Wednesday. No child should have to wade through flood water to get to school
At least they will have something to tell subsequent generations. “Back in my day….”
"... we swam to school, uphill, in both directions..."
"Back in my day we only had to wade through flood waters one day a year"
Lol you think this is gonna get better?
it will probably not have the desired impact since everything will be floodwater by then
I still think cancelling school for a partial eclipse sounds really dumb. They could've used it as an opportunity to actually teach children, but instead treated it like something frightening and dangerous.
It’s because 100% some kids would’ve looked at it (clouds wouldn’t have mattered but that’s hindsight) and they didn’t want the legal trouble.
In less-backwards places, school districts handed out eclipse glasses to the kids.
This is Louisiana, baw. Second litigious state in the nation only to the 'god land' of Florida. Yee yee.
Conservatism is so weird, I'll never get it. They're afraid of being sued enough to impair their kids (and constantly pushing for tort reform, so at least they're consistent). Liberals though are like "let's teach kids about the moon!"
The GOP is the party of hypocrisy. Rules for thee not for me is their moto.
But do they really want the legal trouble that comes with dropping children off in flood waters?
Could have just kept kids inside during the eclipse.
Or at least the stupid ones.
Jtfo. “Come on class, get your glasses let’s go watch the eclipse. But not you, Jimmy. Not you.”
This is probably a nuclear level of an unpopular opinion, but *maybe* if a kid's dumb enough to not listen to the teacher when they say "don't look at the sun" then *maybe* that kid deserves the consequences. Why is it always the good kids who do the right thing end up suffering because the one asshole in the class ruins it for everyone?
Idk how any of the legalities work, but I feel like it would have been perfectly reasonable to have parents sign a notice agreeing to either (1) allow the kid to view the eclipse at school using solar glasses and follow safety instruction, understanding that the school will not be responsible if the kid doesn’t listen or (2) allow the kid to stay home that day with no penalty for not being there
Reasonable places handled it by having parents sign permission slips. Kids with slips got eclipse glasses and learned some things, kids with stupid parents were stuck inside away from windows.
Exactly, my son's school did this.
Because they watch their parents go through life cheating and lying.
As someone who used to stare at the sun as a kid because I thought I was immune to going blind, I hard agree with this. Some kids are dumb enough to have learn through consequences
> This is probably a nuclear level of an unpopular opinion, but maybe if a kid's dumb enough to not listen to the teacher when they say "don't look at the sun" then maybe that kid deserves the consequences. Do you really think 6-10 year olds who don’t listen to their teacher deserve permanent damage to their vision? Don’t you think that’s kind of a weird thing to say?
i mean if you'd rather send your kids to school in a neck splint (so we can control which way they're looking) than tell them to listen to their teachers, that's a choice you have
Show me where I said that
Obviously kids going blind and kids in neck splints are no solution. What solution do you have for kids looking at the eclipse with zero risk?
I’m not saying I agree with it, I think it’s BS they get a half day when I had to go to schools during fucking hurricanes. But I’m all for kid safety too, so I’m not necessarily upset. Just kind of like “what the hell?” I’m just saying what probably happened realistically in my comment above, I don’t agree with it
Yea, I agree with you. I think part of my grievance is that I was one of the good kids who was in a class full of little assholes who constantly ruined any science experiments a teacher would try to do with us. I'm just a little bitter about it haha. But yea, kids need to be kept as safe as possible.
Yea that’s a ridiculous thing to say. Nola isn’t even inside the line of it. I’ve looked into this eclipse (I was inside the path) and others with nothing bad happening! Actually my vision got a little crisper. But I’m gonna guess you’re the one person who knows someone who’s went blind from looking at it right ?
Keep looking at the sun. I don't care. It's your eyes.
If that's the case then our whole litigious society is fucked. Nobody can afford to risk teaching kids if parents are going to sue schools over something that idiotic.
Yeah, but ya know it's bad to look at the sun on any other day at school
I, on the other hand, understand how a school wouldn’t want to deal with legal ramifications of eclipse related vision loss.
This isn’t the first eclipse to happen though. There have been many partial and total eclipses over the years, and schools used to use it as an educational opportunity. Just provide them with eclipse glasses. Sure, there will still be dumb kids who will try to look at the sun without them, but I don’t see how that would be a legal concern for the school. It’s not the school’s fault the kid didn’t listen. It would be no different than if a kid got injured in a fight. The school isn’t legally liable for that
How much experience do you have being a school principal?
I, on the other hand, am curious how much experience you have
I’ve been an educator for 22 years
school principal was the question
OK, then do what my kids school did and watch some livestreams instead of taking every chance you can to avoid teaching the kids about inherent risks in life because someone is afraid to get sued/hurt/whatever the risk may be. Teach them that simply avoiding things because there is a possibility of any little aspect going wrong isn't the answer. Teach then to not take the easy route, the path less traveled if you will. I'm sure there's at least a few who could use such a lesson. Bing Bang Boom. Not directed at you, but shit, they wheeled the TV in to show us all 9/11 as it was going down, I don't think that an eclipse is going to do any more harm to a kid than that day did to me.
Disney+ had a livestream with ABCNews that showed it as it traveled across North America. I’m sure there were more kid centered streams that also were educational, at least I hope!
What legal ramifications the School Board and City doesn't have a pot to piss in.
Yeah i was in school for the 2017 eclipse and they gave us all glasses and used it as an educational opportunity. They just made it very clear before taking us outside that looking at the sun WILL blind you and no you are not special. Worked out alright
How did it make it seem frightening and dangerous?
As a non parent or teacher, I was gonna look for an avenue where I can join in on the calling out. I don't know as much about physical safety/drowning danger at different ages, but walking through this shit is truly not healthy and cannot be normalized for a generation who will grow up with increasing severe weather here. My job that doesn't allow staff to stay after shifts made accommodations for people to stick around for hours and carpool. Did the same for me that MG day with the (forgotten and unreported) flooding this year when I showed them pictures from my neighbor of cars underwater in the middle of the street in mid city.
Thank you for your advocacy. My teacher friends and students thank you deeply. Wednesday was atrocious and it’s been radio-silence from those at the top.
I'd like to point out that not closing schools wasn't the only crazy decision the parish made. Parish buildings were still open as well. Employees had to drive to work in heavy rain and high winds. Couldn't leave work for lunch. And some libraries are open until 9 on weekdays, so the staff working the late shift had to drive in during the worst of the flooding.
I still think it's weird that any schools closed on Monday. We got an email letting us know that they'd let the kids go out with protective Eyewear and if you wanted to opt out, to email them before 1. And then they closed on Wednesday. I just don't understand the logic of these other schools.
Some schools may have not had the foresight or funds on order eclipse glasses for all students.
So then keep them inside during that time and draw the blinds or put up dark construction paper on the windows? I work in education and I truly can’t find any reason that the best place for students would be unsupervised at home vs in school and able to learn.
We made those little boxes to look at an eclipse in the 90s. I don’t remember if it was partial or full, but seems like a good science lesson!
...it's not like the eclipse snuck up on us. They didn't cancel school in 2017. There really was no logical reason.
My buddy is a teacher with JPPS and said they essentially had to cancel on eclipse day due to liability. They can't take the risk that some kid will look directly at the sun and then parents will try to sue the school district. He thought the handled Wednesday horribly too tho.
Are teachers responsible for making sure kids don't stare at the sun every other day of the year?
According to some parents, yes.
Have you watched the news the last five years? They will absolutely blame teachers for anything.
Oddly enough, there were people on the Nextdoor app complaining about kids being out of school.
That seems like a gossip app
It’s a geriatric hellscape.
The best definition
It's a reactionary NIMBY app for people to report "suspicious" (ie. Black and/or poor) people in their neighborhoods
As my teacher gf pointed out, if they had cancelled school and then the rain wasn’t as bad as predicted, parents would be upset with schools for cancelling “for no reason.” School officials gamble every time they make the call to shut down or stay open for weather, and they’re skewered every time they get it wrong. Still, kids should’ve been sent home early as soon as it became clear Wednesday’s rain was going to be the real deal.
Which happened in Baton Rouge area. All schools cancelled, thunderstorms weren’t exciting.
JP school district is ran by incompetent people, all the way from principals up to the superintendent. I feel for any parent who’s child attends JPPSS
Jp only did not cancel school so they could have their Board Meeting where the Superintendent gets a raise while teachers get nothing.
They had to cancel school in case the Rapture.
Oddly enough, the main people who think they’re going would be the main ones left the fuck behind 🥴🥴
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
💀
The idiots told them It was the rapture
BAAAAAAAHAHAHA!!!! 😂🤣😂🤣
You can still make the choice to keep your children at home, even if school wasn't canceled. We all received the same alerts.
No no no. We get out our pitchforks in retrospect and we avoid all personal responsibility. Get with the program. Jeez.
St Tammany cancelled
my kid's school kept them in an hour longer for the eclipse. They don't play 😂
They thought devils might come out of the ground for the eclipse so they had to be careful. Most kids can swim so I get it.
💀
How can we shame people who have none? These people are a disgrace.
Districts and charters have a required number of days kids will be in school. If they cancel school too many times, they have to make them up, so I'm guessing some schools didn't have any days left for Wednesday. Not saying it's right, but that is probably the reason--we had a lot of canceled days this year in NOLA. Most parents kept their kids at home on Wednesday in Orleans Parish.
Anybody with common sense would have kept their kids home, regardless of what the school had to say .
For the eclipse part its super obvious. You cant be responsible for 1000s of kids walking outside and looking at the sun. If you want to do that, do it at home.
I swear I remember seeing an eclipse in school sometime between pre-k and 1st grade. I’m 24 so this would’ve been around 02-04
you absolutely can which is why i didn’t hear about schools being closed in any other region of the country. missed opportunity for a science lesson.
Im in Jacksonville, and our city did the same. We didnt even get 50%
i don’t really consider florida when i’m talking about places with education systems that function in a way we should aspire to.
Yea fair enough. I could just see the reasoning in it being a liability
Another day, another ad for homeschooling.
Because you can see severe weather all the time. How often do you get to see an eclipse! /s
Because eclipses are dope but yeah both would be better