Year after year students have complained about not getting days off during cold weather; however, on Monday, Feb. 3 students were surprised with a well deserved snow day, as the Chicago area was hit with more than a foot of snow.

“I went over to a huge ditch by Governors Highway, chilled with some friends and went sledding,” senior London Harris said. “It was a day well spent.”

But some students still wonder why the administration kept school open during extremely cold weather on Jan. 7-8. There have been rumors about there being a certain temperature that determines if students should attend school or not; however, Superintendent Von Mansfield says it all depends on the busses.

“Our decision is driven a lot by whether or not the busses run: Can they start? Can they get the kids here?” Mansfield said. “Because for some parents having school open is important.”

Mansfield said he talks with administrators from the feeder schools when making the decision.
Many students were outraged when they were told that school would not be canceled. Some students were concerned about how attending school would affect their well-being.

“The weather was very dangerous, and my mother said I could get frostbite in 15 minutes,” junior Erin Lee said. “But I persevered and came to school.”

Mansfield sympathizes with the views of these students.

“Every parent and student has a right to make their own decisions every day about whether or not to come to school, which is exactly what happened,” he said. “Some parents felt it was still too cold to send their students out, and they kept them at home.”

Since the temperatures were low and the busses were able to run, students were provided with 20 shuttle busses to make it easier to get from building to building. Although this was a good way to keep most students warm, some were just too far away to make it to a bus in time and earn a spot.

“After second period, I was in G Building and there was no way I was going to make it to the shuttle bus, so I walked,” Lee said. “My eyebrows were burning, it was pretty sick. After that I took the shuttle bus like anyone else would.”

However, most students who attended school got the chance to stay warm by avoiding the path.

“I got on the shuttle bus every single day, so it wasn’t too big of a problem,” junior Jordan Penman said.

Although it was expected that most students would be upset about having to attend school, some didn’t mind one bit.

However, some students said a few extra days off wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

“I don’t think [canceled days] would have a negative impact on our education because we would have to make those days up at the end of the year anyway,’’ Penman said. “Last week the only thing they were focused on was complaining about how cold it was outside.”

Unlike most students, junior Mary Kate Paetow-Fanning says canceled days would seriously affect her education.

“I’m taking four AP classes, and we don’t get those days back before the AP test, so if we had three days off, it’s three days less time to learn all this stuff,” Paetow-Fanning said. “Then you have to just learn it by yourself or you just don’t have time to learn everything in the detail that you should.”