Bad Precedent

     I don’t have any kids, I won’t bore you with any “when I was a kid” stories, but the Waukesha Public Schools were open yesterday, the coldest day on many years and guess what? Nobody froze to death. Now today, with the temperatures “moderating” (it’s -1.3 on the Chronicle home digital right now), the schools are closed because the poor administration got a lot of complaints. I’ve looked at the weather and it’s not supposed to get much better than today until next week. Does this mean that the schools will be closed for a week? The worst call that any official can make, in sports or in government, is not a bad call, it’s a make-up call.

How about this: if you, as a parent, think it’s too cold for your kid to go out of the house, then call the school and say, “Little Johnny (or Betty or Chloe or Duke) won’t be at school today, it’s too cold.” Then explain to me who all those kids were at Brookfield Square. Too cold to go to school, but warm enough to go to the mall.

How about this: if you, as a parent, don’t “want my kids to walk two blocks to the bus stop and then wait in this weather.” Then do what people do in this weather. Give them a ride to school or drive to the bus stop and have them wait in the car until it comes. You can’t be there and their father is at work? Do you know the parents of any of their classmates?  If not, why not? Don’t your kids have any friends with cars? Popular kids, yours. This weather was not a surprise.

This is how it is: parents were only surprised that the schools were not closed because they’re always closed.

This is how it should be: It’s the government, the government should never close because of the weather. Make your plans to go or stay home as you see fit. Why are you demanding the government make your parenting decisions for you?