Friday
Sep232005
WHAT THE ****???
Friday, September 23, 2005 at 04:24PM
I was just coming online to put the finishing touches on this week's Rebel Reviews: Slackers Unite!, when I noticed an email alert from our hometown newspaper, The Atlanta Journal Constitution:
"BREAKING NEWS: Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asks schools to cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline in response to Hurricane Rita."
What?! This came at 4:21PM this afternoon, completely without any notice, precedent, or any indication whatsoever that this would ever even be a consideration. I thought it might be some kind of mistake, or (cruel) joke, so I checked our school district's website...and it is confirmed, in a NEWS ALERT: Atlanta Public Schools to Close Monday-Tuesday, September 26-27...
So we have no school on Monday or Tuesday, and a bunch of people won't even know it. You'd think they could have figured this out in time during the day to send home some type of notice, or tell the kids--we wouldn't have believed them, but we would have at least known to check the website or the news. Otherwise, who would think to look, or even imagine that we might not have school next week? Especially in view of the fact that the disaster has not yet occurred--last I heard, Hurricane Rita was still spinning out in the Gulf of Mexico, weakening, in fact, with a possible landfall early Saturday morning.
Wouldn't it be prudent to wait and see the extent of the potential damage and disruption, before shutting down schools, not even likely to be affected, for two days?
Is this the way to calm fears and prevent irrational panics and runs on the gas pumps in the face of, granted, a BIG Storm (especially after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina)--will the cost outweigh the benefit of such a disruption?
Speaking as the parent of three children who will be out of school and off-schedule for two days next week...WHAT THE **** (fill in your own asterisks)???
"BREAKING NEWS: Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asks schools to cancel classes Monday and Tuesday to help conserve gasoline in response to Hurricane Rita."
What?! This came at 4:21PM this afternoon, completely without any notice, precedent, or any indication whatsoever that this would ever even be a consideration. I thought it might be some kind of mistake, or (cruel) joke, so I checked our school district's website...and it is confirmed, in a NEWS ALERT: Atlanta Public Schools to Close Monday-Tuesday, September 26-27...
So we have no school on Monday or Tuesday, and a bunch of people won't even know it. You'd think they could have figured this out in time during the day to send home some type of notice, or tell the kids--we wouldn't have believed them, but we would have at least known to check the website or the news. Otherwise, who would think to look, or even imagine that we might not have school next week? Especially in view of the fact that the disaster has not yet occurred--last I heard, Hurricane Rita was still spinning out in the Gulf of Mexico, weakening, in fact, with a possible landfall early Saturday morning.
Wouldn't it be prudent to wait and see the extent of the potential damage and disruption, before shutting down schools, not even likely to be affected, for two days?
Is this the way to calm fears and prevent irrational panics and runs on the gas pumps in the face of, granted, a BIG Storm (especially after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina)--will the cost outweigh the benefit of such a disruption?
Speaking as the parent of three children who will be out of school and off-schedule for two days next week...WHAT THE **** (fill in your own asterisks)???
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