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Post by Skellinton on Feb 24, 2022 15:59:00 GMT
So, I live outside of Portland, land of “oh no, there is a flake of snow, shut everything down!!!” but work just outside of Portland.
We are having some unusual weather here, and made even more unusual is that it is snowing where I live but not in Portland. Usually we share the same weather as we are the same elevation and only a river separates us.
In any event, the school districts where I live were both on 2 hour delays this morning and now one is closed altogether. Since the school district where I work was open I got up and tried to go to work. It is normally a 20 minute commute in the morning, but this morning maps kept upping the time and it was going to take over an hour and was detouring me to a different bridge then I normally take and one I don’t like driving in bad weather as it is more dangerous and scary to drive across.
I had to turn around as there were so many accidents and I didn’t feel safe, but now I feel guilty. The news here pretty much acts like our city doesn’t exist so there is no accurate news about what it is like up here. I am not a chicken about driving in snow myself and I have a Subaru, but it isn’t me I worry about, it is the other drivers! And the snow by my house is very icy, I love the snow but this stuff hurt when I was walking around. It stings when it hits your skin it is so hard.
I am keeping an eye on maps, but it is still saying it will take me over an hour to get to work. When should I go in? It is frustrating because once I get across the bridge it should be clear, but getting to the bridge is still dangerous.
For those that don’t know the area, we have no road crews doing anything, the roads are what they are.
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Post by bianca42 on Feb 24, 2022 16:04:24 GMT
I'm in Syracuse NY...land of a lot of snow and many snow plow. But, there are for sure days when it's fine at my house and at work, but half of our staff can't make it in due to the weather either at their house or between their house and work. Nobody bats an eyelash at people calling in for snow here.
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Post by katlady on Feb 24, 2022 16:06:10 GMT
If it was me, I would just stay home. Can you work from home?
I am not a fan of driving in bad weather. If we are expecting a really bad rain storm, and it will happen during rush hour (especially the evening commute), I’ll tell my boss I am working from home or leaving work early. Bad weather will easily turn my 1 hour commute into 2.
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Post by mayceesgranny on Feb 24, 2022 16:06:19 GMT
School was closed in all towns around me on Tuesday due to icy roads and predicted continued precipitation throughout the day. I called in to work and took the day off. I have a 20 mile commute on some back roads that are known to be rough in bad weather. I did feel guilty about not going in, but I told myself that my safety was more important. I justified it to myself because schools were closed - there was no good reason for me to be on the roads either.
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Post by myshelly on Feb 24, 2022 16:08:23 GMT
I’d stay home and not feel a shred of guilt.
We’re talking about safety here.
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CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,831 
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Post by CeeScraps on Feb 24, 2022 16:10:32 GMT
I do know that when I lived a distance from my school I left a couple of hours early. I just did. It gave me peace of mind knowing I shouldn't have to worry about being too late. We never started late as the parents complained. We "started" on time, which was late because all of the kids were bused.
Now that you're home I would probably just stay there.
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peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,630
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Feb 24, 2022 16:11:46 GMT
There is no job worth killing yourself (or someone else) over. If you have the option to work from home, don't feel guilty.
Full disclosure: my response is dictated by my fear of driving over bridges in bad weather
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Post by busy on Feb 24, 2022 16:15:35 GMT
I was watching the news earlier and they were talking about the conditions being significantly worse in Clark County. It's going to stay cold, so even if the roads clear up soon, they will likely refreeze once the sun goes down, so getting home will be sketchy as well. I'd just let them know you tried, the conditions were unsafe, and by the time it might be safe to get in, the school day will be nearly over, so you won't be in.
tbh, I hate that bridge in good weather. You couldn't pay me to cross it in icy conditions. The lanes are so narrow, bridges freeze faster, etc. No thanks.
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 24, 2022 16:43:27 GMT
I was watching the news earlier and they were talking about the conditions being significantly worse in Clark County. It's going to stay cold, so even if the roads clear up soon, they will likely refreeze once the sun goes down, so getting home will be sketchy as well. I'd just let them know you tried, the conditions were unsafe, and by the time it might be safe to get in, the school day will be nearly over, so you won't be in. tbh, I hate that bridge in good weather. You couldn't pay me to cross it in icy conditions. The lanes are so narrow, bridges freeze faster, etc. No thanks. I didn't even consider the commute home! Thank you for pointing that out. They are trying to cover my shift, fingers crossed! |
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 24, 2022 16:46:34 GMT
Thanks everyone, no option to work from home as a Prek teacher, although I am doing my planning and made some fossils for dinosaur week.
It is hard to cover my shift since most of the people I work with are in college and have class during the day and we have strict ratios we have to follow and one kiddo that pretty much requires one on one attention.
They are trying as it is still going to take me an hour to get in and roads are bad.
Teacher guilt is real.
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 24, 2022 16:49:28 GMT
I do know that when I lived a distance from my school I left a couple of hours early. I just did. It gave me peace of mind knowing I shouldn't have to worry about being too late. We never started late as the parents complained. We "started" on time, which was late because all of the kids were bused. Now that you're home I would probably just stay there. I did leave early, but I would have had to leave at 5 am to potentially get there on time today and since it wasn't supposed to be this bad I didn't wake up any earlier then normal. I leave at 6 as it is. This was a total surprise weather wise and as I said usually we have the same weather, I just assumed if our schools were 2 hours late the school district where I work would be late too. This has never happened before! |
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Post by epeanymous on Feb 24, 2022 16:55:40 GMT
I live in Seattle so know exactly what you mean; often I can get to work, but my students in suburbs and exurbs cannot, and I can't imagine holding that against them. You should not feel guilty about being safe.
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Post by Merge on Feb 24, 2022 17:10:49 GMT
I understand exactly the guilt you mean, but think how upset your kids would be if they learned you were injured or worse trying to get to school. Everyone will survive if you're out one day.
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Post by ntsf on Feb 24, 2022 17:16:12 GMT
the problem in the northwest is you have 1. few snowplows or infrastructure to deal with ice and snow
2. a vast majority of people who have no idea how to drive in snow and ice
3. lots of icy bridges and lots of narrow streets on hills.
I vote for staying home
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Post by Basket1lady on Feb 24, 2022 17:19:43 GMT
Stay home. Look at it this way—the more people that stay off the road, the quicker the roads can be treated. I know snow equipment isn’t plentiful in that area.
If conditions improve, you can always go in in a few hours. Was the weather warm before this snow event? If so, the roads will likely melt fairly quickly as the day warms up and the sun is on the black roads. Just get home before dark and roads refreeze.
We lived in the DC area where the school district went from the Potomac River up into the foothills of the Appalachian’s. We would frequently have snow days where it was bright and sunny for us at the lower elevations, but it was slick and icy up into the foothills.
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Post by Darcy Collins on Feb 24, 2022 17:22:53 GMT
Let go of the guilt! Weather can be extremely localized - even in places with severe weather, people can find themselves snowed in when a few miles down the road (or often mountain) things are just fine. No one (reasonable, I guess I have to caveat) expects anyone to risk injury, make some hot chocolate and hang up the car keys.
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Post by huskermom98 on Feb 24, 2022 21:14:02 GMT
I would stay home. I hate driving in bad weather (she types as she just drove thru snow to get her son to his therapy session...). It's not that I don't trust my driving abilities, it's the other idiots on the road & the lack of a desire to replace a paid off vehicle should I get into any sort of an accident. Thankfully i have an understanding boss and a not critical job so when there is bad weather (like the icy morning we had the other day) I can stay home if I want (my drive is usually 25 minutes on a good day).
I never know what schools are going to do for bad winter weather around here. The rural districts are the first to delay or can cancel, but the metro districts can vary, especially between the public & private. Often my youngest son's private school will delay or cancel when my oldest son's public district won't. At least they both delayed and then cancelled the other day...I felt bad for everyone associated with the one district in the area that didn't even delay (especially my boss who does crossing guard for that district before he comes in to the office).
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Post by librarylady on Feb 24, 2022 21:24:23 GMT
I’d stay home and not feel a shred of guilt. We’re talking about safety here. This ^^^^^^^
Years ago, I took a job that was in outside sales--I lived in the car all day as I made my calls. One morning, such as you describe, I went out. I got just a few miles and then I returned home. I called my supervisor and told him that I was working from home. I also told him, just so he knew, that anytime the schools were closed, I was not getting on the road. He attempted to guilt me and I replied that it was not worth my life nor any need of damaging the company vehicle. He accepted my decision.
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Post by cindyupnorth on Feb 24, 2022 22:33:16 GMT
I find it odd that Portland area would not have snow equipment? don't you guys get snow and ice all the time? I'm not one to ask though, because I live in MN. It was -25F here today, without windchill and there were no school delays. I'm pretty much expected to show up for work unless we get snow in the FEET, not inches. ha
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Post by freecharlie on Feb 24, 2022 23:39:56 GMT
If I couldn't make it to work (I always can if they are open) I would call in as soon as possible and not go in at all.
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Post by maryland on Feb 24, 2022 23:55:50 GMT
I wouldn't feel guilty. Safety comes first. If you had gotten into an accident, even if no one was hurt, you may have a huge car expense. Not worth it to me if there was any way possible I could stay home.
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 25, 2022 0:38:04 GMT
I find it odd that Portland area would not have snow equipment? don't you guys get snow and ice all the time? I'm not one to ask though, because I live in MN. It was -25F here today, without windchill and there were no school delays. I'm pretty much expected to show up for work unless we get snow in the FEET, not inches. ha Nope, sadly we do not. We get maybe 2 snow events a year, if we are lucky and typically we only have good snow events every other year. We had 2 consecutive days of snow during winter break this year and that was it for this winter. Last year we had a good 4 consecutive days and one single day. But when we do have snow schools and just about everything shut down. It was super weird today that it happened in Vancouver, but not Portland. That has never happened in the 10 years I have been working there. I ended up going in around 930 as it was clear. They had over 87 accidents that WDOT responded to this morning though, so I am.glad I waited. |
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Post by 950nancy on Feb 25, 2022 1:42:24 GMT
I live in a city that often gets dumped on with snow. My school district was at the south end of the city and perhaps due to the mountains being close to the area, oftentimes did not get the amount of snow the rest of the school districts got. We went years without a snow day even though most of us came from all over the city to get to work. One superintendent said we should just move to the district if we had a problem with it. You know, you just do the best you can do. I currently have to go about one mile straight down a mountain to get to work. I just go slow and steady and take the longer route that is usually plowed (even though it is still pretty steep too).
And while I understand staying home because it is dangerous, I always worried because I had 30 kids that needed an adult in the classroom. We were always short subs even on good weather days. Tossing several hundred kids in the gym for the day was never a good choice.
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Post by hmp on Feb 25, 2022 1:58:49 GMT
If your town gets so little snow that it doesn’t have plows, then no one should be on the roads in the snow. Also, why aren’t they taking the kids safety into account? What parent wants to put their kid on a school bus with no seatbelts & have them ride on snowy/icy/slippery roads? You work for a seriously screwed up school system.
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 25, 2022 3:27:53 GMT
If your town gets so little snow that it doesn’t have plows, then no one should be on the roads in the snow. Also, why aren’t they taking the kids safety into account? What parent wants to put their kid on a school bus with no seatbelts & have them ride on snowy/icy/slippery roads? You work for a seriously screwed up school system. As I said, I live in one district (that was closed) and work in another. Where I work there was no snow. It is super weird that the weather was so different, that is not at all typical. Trust me, had there been a flake on the ground where I work the schools would have been closed. |
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Post by ntsf on Feb 25, 2022 3:56:39 GMT
portland, like seattle, can have years of no snow at all.
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Post by busy on Feb 25, 2022 4:09:50 GMT
If your town gets so little snow that it doesn’t have plows, then no one should be on the roads in the snow. Also, why aren’t they taking the kids safety into account? What parent wants to put their kid on a school bus with no seatbelts & have them ride on snowy/icy/slippery roads? You work for a seriously screwed up school system. You're really over-dramatizing things here. As the OP explained, she doesn't live in the same district as she works it. Further, you clearly don't grasp how little snow we get when you say "no one should been the roads." It's fairly uncommon we get even an inch of snow in a single snow event and what we do get doesn't usually last more than a day. Even without plowing, most roads are fine to drive on unless things get icy. |
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Post by Skellinton on Feb 25, 2022 4:34:56 GMT
portland, like seattle, can have years of no snow at all. Yes, and it breaks my heart! I love the snow!!! |
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