With the predicted return of hot weather this week, Wicomico County Public Schools would like to remind Wicomico school families of the excused absence option for students attending schools that are not fully air conditioned.
When the forecasted high temperature for the day exceeds 85 degrees, parents and guardians may choose to have their child not attend that day – or to be signed out early – if the child attends Bennett Middle, West Salisbury Elementary, or East Salisbury Elementary.
Upon the student’s return to school, parents and guardians must provide a note naming the heat as the reason for the absence or early dismissal, in order for the absence to be excused. Students are allowed to make up work that they miss during any excused absence.
Every effort will be made to provide for the comfort of students who attend schools on hot days. Students may have water bottles in the classroom and are urged to wear attire that will keep them cooler while still meeting the dress code. In classrooms and hallways, fans keep the air moving, and lights are often shut off to create a more comfortable learning environment.
For further information, please contact your child’s school.
The Board of Education has put a priority on providing comfortable, air conditioned classrooms for students in all schools. These HVAC projects have been completed when the state and county provide requested funding. In recent years, school system HVAC and construction projects have brought full air conditioning to James M. Bennett High, Northwestern Elementary, and Pittsville Elementary and Middle.
Students have only four more weeks in the old Bennett Middle School; come August, students and staff will have air conditioning, technology, and other modern amenities in the new Bennett Middle in Fruitland. The replacement West Salisbury Elementary is the next school on Wicomico’s construction list, with students expected to move into air-conditioned swing space while the replacement school is being built. That will leave East Salisbury Elementary as the only school in the county without full air conditioning. East Salisbury has some air conditioned classrooms, and on hot days the school adjusts its building use to bring students down from the hotter second floor and fully utilize any air conditioned spaces, such as the media center.
In return, the school will supply a note to the parent or guardian the reason why the child is a big sissy and will always be a pampered baby!
ReplyDeleteI suggest you spend the day upstairs at Bennett Middle and come back and report your findings. I believe you may have a better understanding.
DeleteFor those interested the thermometer which is mandated in each classroom read 91 degrees upstairs at Bennett Middle. We wouldn't leave our pets in a car much less children.
DeleteThis is hilarious; it's ONE hot day, not a heat wave! The heat hasn't even had a chance to build up. The cutoff of 85 degrees rather than 90 is amusing, too. You'd think we were talking about nursing home patients. I'm over 60, and I was outside putting plants in on the 80+ days. Of course, I'm not morbidly obese like many of the kids are.
ReplyDeleteAnon 7:51 I guess you could say the same about the U.S. Army. We didn't train at Ft. Gordon, GA. when it reached 90 degrees either. We were called many things but not sissy's!
ReplyDeleteWhat are these kids going to do when they get a job that requires working outside in the summer? Get a note from mommy saying it is too hot to work today?
ReplyDeleteWhen I went to school none of them had air conditioning and we survived. We just opened the windows and sweated. We are now raising a bunch of spoiled brat babies that is why they can't make it in the real world. I also as an adult worked in a plant with big fans. In the summer people would fall out from heat exhaustion and have to go home. But if we stayed home from work we didn't get paid. Wake up America and stop babying everyone and make them take responsibility for their own actions and
ReplyDeletethe world will be better for it.
Some will not have outside jobs. They can make that choice for themselves.
ReplyDeleteSome will not have jobs at all, but that's another conversation.
We didn't have AC when I went to high school but simply opened windows for air circulation. We trained in TX in the military in 90 degree weather (in early 70s) and just took more water breaks. The younger generation must be pampered "sissies."
ReplyDelete8:49
ReplyDeleteI suggest you spend a day installing or repairing AC units in attics or doing roofing.
You are right some kids may not have outside jobs but it is hot standing over that fryer in a kitchen too.
When I was in the Marine corps we had black flag days where there was no training outdoors. In a real combat situation you adapt and over come. No sense in risking lives during training though. Kids wil be fine if you let them take the day off because of heat. I have seen many job sites that close down due to the heat index. Get off your high almighty self people.
ReplyDeleteDitto!
DeleteQueensgirl52: You are so old they didn't have air conditioners in most cars back then. You probably still don't have AC and probably walk everywhere you go. I bet you don't have a cell phone, probably still cut your own hair, kill your own chickens and have a pump outside your house. Oh and yes an outhouse for sure.
ReplyDeleteQueensgirl52 is exactly right! It hasn't been hot for long enough for heat to build up in there. Also, it's only supposed to be 90 degrees for 1 day. Then back to low 70's.
ReplyDeleteI went all through elementary, middle and high school without air conditioning and I did just fine. It's called opening a window and running a fan!
ReplyDeleteI am from Virginia and it shocks me that some of your schools have air conditioning some are without it. This is 2015 folks. I am amazed by some commenting "well its only suppose to be hot for one day." I have no ownership as I don't have children however I suggest you get with the times and consider the bigger picture. In my opinion, this is a huge liability, a lawsuit waiting to happen.
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me the number of comments, oh when I was in school blah blah blah. You are not in school and our generation is failing leaps and bounds. We have allowed our infrastructure to crumble while allowing politicians to give out tax dollars to whomever. How many buildings to you enter today that doesn't have ac. Do you know of a McDonalds or maybe a grocery store or doctors office with no ac. When you admit to failure then and only then will you understand my sentiments. From a veteran who served two tours of duty and believe what you may we did have ac. Shame on us.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:49pm said...
ReplyDelete"this is a huge liability, a lawsuit waiting to happen."
Hit the nail on the head! The reason isn't necessarily that we are sissifying America; we have created a lawsuit-happy society that is afraid of doing anything for fear of getting sued. I'm 33 years old and I firmly believe that my immediate generation was among the last to be raised where kids played outside, spankings were the norm and you worked to earn your keep. I look at all my friends that are older than I am and that is how they were raised. Then I look at all my friends younger than I am and they seem to be handed everything in life and entitled to things they didn't earn.
If I passed out from the heat in school, my parents would have understood that the facilities may be sub-par, but I was there to learn. Upon feeling better, they would have sent my ass back to the classroom for sure. A lawsuit would have never crossed their mind! These days, everybody is looking to sue somebody at any opportunity. Ridiculous lawsuits that pass through the courtroom are to blame.
You have to watch your back at every step these days. A few weeks ago I was backing out of my driveway and ran over one of the neighborhood kids' bike that was laying in MY DRIVEWAY. The father later came to my house and demanded that I pay for the damage. I said, "wait a minute... YOUR KID left HIS BIKE in MY DRIVEWAY on MY PROPERTY and you want ME to pay for it?" He truly thought that it was my fault that his kid's bike got ran over even though it was irresponsibly left in my driveway without permission by HIS KID. Now what would have happened in my vehicle got damaged by that bike when it got ran over? Even though it was clearly left in my driveway out of negligence without permission I guarantee that the kid nor parent would be held responsible for the damage to my vehicle in court. If the tables were turned and one of my kids came home crying that his bike got ran over then guess what... I'd tell him tough shiz, start saving your pennies to buy a new one. That's what you get for being irresponsible! I'd even thank the person who ran it over for teaching my kids a lesson.
It is also funny how Bennett has been without A/C for over a half century, but heat has just become a problem in the past decade. Even when I was in school, I had friends at Bennett that I NEVER heard complaining about the heat and school was certainly never cancelled due to heat. It is simply used as an excuse for the BOE to spend more money.
The Heat has been a problem for decades. It was when I was at Bennett in the 70's. We just never had a platform to express our views until Joe came along. I had an 80 year old retired doctor tell me pollen is a lot worst then it was years ago. Maybe he's right and maybe not but that was he believes. Heat is Heat and when its hot we become less productive. I agree its been too long for our schools to be without air conditioning.
ReplyDeleteWait wait wait just a second. Are the same bunch of Whiners that said there was nothing wrong with the old Bennett Middle and that it would make a perfectly acceptable site for the BOE central office???
ReplyDeleteJust can't make up your minds can you?
Lol
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