Weather Policy Needed

Aurora Central is an extremely diverse school community, different in ethnic background, in family life, and in location of its students. The latter, however, was ignored on February 6th, 2008, the day of a great snowstorm. The inclement weather and dangerous road conditions were predicted days before, yet the students of our school were expected to attend.

Of the 476 students listed in the school directory, 294 are listed as living in Aurora or North Aurora. This number, then, translates to 62% of the school population. 182 students, or 38% of the school population, reside elsewhere. However, we have found that even the people living in Aurora and North Aurora have commutes of varying lengths, anywhere from 5 to 24 minutes. We also discovered,using the Google Maps website, just how far some of Aurora Central’s students travel on a daily basis. We entered every zip code represented at the school and were given the approximate distance from a central point in the specified town to Aurora Central’s address. The following times were estimated under ideal conditions in terms of weather and traffic: Cortland, 34 minutes; DeKalb, 28 minutes; Elburn, 23 minutes; Hanover Park, 48 minutes; Geneva, 16 minutes; St. Charles (60174), 32 minutes; St. Charles (60175), 25 minutes; Romeoville, 44 minutes; Aurora (60502), 14 minutes; Aurora (60503), 24 minutes; Aurora (60504), 19 minutes; Aurora (60505), 14 minutes; Aurora (60506), 5 minutes; Batavia, 13 minutes; Big Rock, 19 minutes; Bristol, 16 minutes; Hinckley, 30 minutes; Montgomery, 16 minutes; Naperville (60540), 28 minutes; Naperville (60563), 19 minutes; North Aurora, 8 minutes; Oswego, 23 minutes; Plainfield (60544), 32 minutes; Plainfield (60585), 32 minutes; Plano, 27 minutes; Sandwich, 37 minutes; Sugar Grove, 14 minutes; and Yorkville, 28 minutes. These numbers come out to an average of 13.6 miles and 24 minutes in traveling time.

In light of these facts, we would like to weigh in on the most important facet of this situation: the safety of our students and staff. For one, there are a great deal of teen drivers at Central, and they are coming from a multitude of places (and distances). For some, this may be their first winter of independent driving. Considering that even the most wary and experienced of drivers can find his- or herself in a dangerous situation, teen drivers should not be put at risk unnecessarily. School attendance is, of course, important in our school careers, but not at the risk of injury or death. Inclement weather is dangerous enough, but the distances from which our students travel further increase the risk of an accident. If weather conditions allow for attendance earlier in the day, we suggest that an early dismissal should be called in time to safely see students home. According to the government’s education website, the State Regulation of Private Schools in June, 2000, calls for a minimum of 176 days of attendance for at least “five hours of instruction” in each day. If we must be in attendance to fulfill the requirement of days, a 1:00 dismissal would be safer overall for students.

Finally, we have two suggestions for the inclement weather policy at Central. First, we suggest that an advisory board of parents from a variety of locations be established, so that our school administration can best judge the driving and weather conditions for all students. Secondly, there is no clear policy for snow days in the school handbook; it is only stated that in the event of such weather, students will receive an automated message in the event of cancellation of school. We suggest that criteria for school cancellation be established, with a more concise policy.

We are thinking of the safety of everyone, and we hope that the distances that our students travel to come to school daily will be evaluated in future instances of inclement weather.

By: Kara McNamara and Tori Romba

Click here to view the map mentioned in this article.