GA schools closed Mon.&Tues. to conserve fuel

Pandora

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I couldn't believe it when they made the announcement today in school--ten minutes AFTER the final bell rang! That's right! Our politicians chose to issue the "order" (strong-armed request) after school ended on Friday! I wonder how many of "my little darlin's" will show up on Monday....I teach children with no TVs, in some cases--no electricity!
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0905/24perdue.html
 
Wow. I saw the announcement but hadn't thought about students not getting the word.
How is this being taken in your area? I applaud the effort to conserve fuel, but why is education the target? Why not demand that all non-essential vehicles stay off the road for a few days. People can take the bus or walk or ride a bicycle to work.
 
concernedperson said:
I don;t know about any of this but it is scaring me. What is going on?

Nothing scary - the idea is to conserve energy to control price. I thought it was rather smart.
Media info must be different because I read it was a suggestion and some district would open. But I think the GA poster would know better than I do!
Here is the link I read:
Georgia governor asks state's schools to close to save gas
(Atlanta, Georgia-AP) Sept. 23, 2005 - Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue Friday asked the state's schools to take two "early snow days" and cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline as Hurricane Rita threatens the nation's fuel supply line
.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3891567&nav=0RaP
 
mic730 said:
Nothing scary - the idea is to conserve energy to control price. I thought it was rather smart.
Media infomust be different because I read it was a suggestion and some district would opne. But I think the GA poster would know better than I do!


Oh, good. really I need to see good news right now.
 
I still don't undrstand why it is the schools that are being targeted. Education is essential. Those snow days may be needed for actual snow days this winter.

If there is a true threat to oil/gasoline availability (and i believe that there is) let's have a National No SUVs on the Road Week!
 
Most of our schools have a half day once a month. If you closed down each half day when not much is being taught anyway you can save about $500,000.

Makes sense to me.
 
Cypros said:
I still don't undrstand why it is the schools that are being targeted. Education is essential. Those snow days may be needed for actual snow days this winter.

If there is a true threat to oil/gasoline availability (and i believe that there is) let's have a National No SUVs on the Road Week!

I agree about a no SUV day. However, school days missed can be made up at the end of year when it won't effect energy prices like it does right now.
I am glad that some state somewhere took some action - the gouging must be stopped.
It was not just schools targeted the Govener of GA also called on all employee non-essential travel to be stopped and state employees to work 4 day weeks where it would be feasible.
PS:
I drive a small compact car and do so because I owned a gas guzzler and learned my lesson a few years ago.
 
Becba said:
Most of our schools have a half day once a month. If you closed down each half day when not much is being taught anyway you can save about $500,000.

Makes sense to me.

Me too!
 
mic730 said:
I agree about a no SUV day. However, school days missed can be made up at the end of year when it won't effect energy prices like it does right now.
I am glad that some state somewhere took some action - the gouging must be stopped.
It was not just schools targeted the Govener of GA also called on all employee non-essential travel to be stopped and state employees to work 4 day weeks where it would be feasible.
PS:
I drive a small compact car and do so because I owned a gas guzzler and learned my lesson a few years ago.

OK. If the lost school days are made up at another time I guess I can't complain. I hope that the drivers contribute to the efforts as well. Really, we Americans have to wake up.

My mother was visiting last week. When I told her that I only have to fill up my gas once a month because I just don't drive unnecessarily (2500 miles last year), her response was that I shouldn't tell anybody that because they'll think I don't have a life. In her eyes one's identity and value is wrapped up one's driving activity. She is such a Californian!! Foolish me. I was proud of my conservation efforts!!
 
There are several problems with taking "snow days" now....
1) This is Georgia; we do not have "snow days" built into the calendar.
2) Adding two days onto the end of the school year doesn't work for the majority of our high schools. We are on the 4 Block system. Basically, there will now be 88 days in the fall semester and 92 days in the spring semester.
3) We do not have half days here for anything. Even kindergarten is a full day.
4) Parents who do know about the situation are SCRAMBLING for child-care. (I am very concerned about those who will, without fail, leave young children home alone because they have no choice.)
5) Could the man/men (Perdue & company) not have given everyone a week to prepare? Make the option Oct. 3/4 OR Oct. 10/11. Some parents would have Columbus Day off anyway and could stay at home with their kids.

People here are about 50/50. Some DO want to conserve fuel (myself included); we just need some warning ahead of time to prepare. Our district keeps four weeks of fuel in reserve for these situations. (Gas prices jumped 40 cents per gallon after this announcement.)
 
Pandora said:
There are several problems with taking "snow days" now....
1) This is Georgia; we do not have "snow days" built into the calendar.
2) Adding two days onto the end of the school year doesn't work for the majority of our high schools. We are on the 4 Block system. Basically, there will now be 88 days in the fall semester and 92 days in the spring semester.
3) We do not have half days here for anything. Even kindergarten is a full day.
4) Parents who do know about the situation are SCRAMBLING for child-care. (I am very concerned about those who will, without fail, leave young children home alone because they have no choice.)
5) Could the man/men (Perdue & company) not have given everyone a week to prepare? Make the option Oct. 3/4 OR Oct. 10/11. Some parents would have Columbus Day off anyway and could stay at home with their kids.

People here are about 50/50. Some DO want to conserve fuel (myself included); we just need some warning ahead of time to prepare. Our district keeps four weeks of fuel in reserve for these situations. (Gas prices jumped 40 cents per gallon after this announcement.)

I have no arguement with a school teachers opinion From GA about this! You know the real deal. Did the Governor get confused about the snow days?
In VA if more snow days are missed than alloted for they make it up from spring break days and sometimes Memorial Day. My teacher friends hate that.
Did GA cancel any of there college football games today to conserve fuel?
I bet not! I am a huge football fan but it's always peaks my interest just what we can do to education and not to sports.
 
mic730,
You won't be surprised to learn that we have not curtailed ANY sports activities. Even our band still travels with the team(s) requiring two extra buses and a van to pull the equipment trailer (which was vandalized Thursday night by a neighboring school).
We have, however, curtailed any "unnecessary" field trips. Thursday evening many of our fine arts students were scheduled to go to see "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. The school board tried to squash this trip (non-refundable $60 tickets paid for by parents). Needless to say, there was a serious backlash! :) The trip went on as scheduled except that they were permitted to take only one bus. As a result, several teachers who were attending chose to drive their own vehicles taking their children and friends. (There wasn't enough room on the bus for everyone otherwise.) While there were still plenty of chaperones on the bus, I think most parents would have preferred more.
Some schools in the northern reaches of the state may have snow days built in (Rabun County, for example). However, we are in northeastern Georgia with no snow days built into the schedule because we don't need them. Georgia state policy is: If the school year ends on a Friday and there are less than two snow days, the days are "forgiven." (Translation: We don't make them up.) Consequently, almost every district ends the year on a Friday, and we don't plan for snow.

NOTE: Conservation is a wonderful lesson to teach students; however, it is difficult to teach planning, goal-setting, and objectives when we get shot in the foot.
 
Thanks for the info Pandora.
I enjoy reading your posts. I can't believe they wanted to cancel a trip to see Phantom of The Opera.
 
And then the kids will be home all day and how many thousands of TV's will be on all day that wouldn't be if the kids weren't home?
 
I drive a company provided Explorer. I don't have to pay to gas it up either. I would gladly drive a small car, but they won't give me one. I drive back roads and this is a used car in our inventory and kind of beat up at 160,000 miles. I personally have driven it 100,000 miles for several years now. I do limit my trips though. Once I'm home, I don't leave for any errands as the nearest stores requires at least a 20 mile drive. The blessing is there is no traffic as this is mainly a rural area. However I do get upset with my neighbor 4 miles down the road. He irrigates his corn crop more than necessary. Those three systems pump out water 24/7 and then he lets them run for a month after the harvest. Not only is it a waste of water, but burns natural gas that could be used by someone who needs the heat when it freezes. We conserve the gas here in town, by saving all the trips to the post office, bank deposits and lunch runs into one trip for all.

On the issue of the schools taking off. How much fuel will be wasted by parents scrambling to find and drive to babysitters when they still have to go to work. Perhaps they could encourage businesses to stagger hours and work days. Knowing how impossible Atlanta traffic is, I would imagine that would go a long way to help ease the massive jams and waste less fuel sitting in rush hour
 
Did you know the feds subsidize bio-diesel for non profits?

Bio-Diesel=used French fry grease from Mc Donalds.
 
Pandora said:

I had to get gas today as I have been conserving for a month but have things I can';t avoid tomorrow. No one was at the tanks and this was a normally busy QT on Peachtree Industrial.They said it had been that way all day. Parents having to take their kids to work because no other arrangements could be made on short notice etc.The traffic was so light I would have thought it was Sunday instead of Monday. Not used to seeing Atlanta this way.
 
BirdieBoo said:
And then the kids will be home all day and how many thousands of TV's will be on all day that wouldn't be if the kids weren't home?


What about all the kids showing up at the movies or the mall and all the parents who end up driving them there???? Unless its 105 degrees there like it is here, I don't see why they can't improvise something. Outdoor classes???? Teach each grade in either the cafeteria or gym???
 

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