Post by Chris_Wendt on May 31, 2012 10:37:31 GMT -5
So, Wantagh Schools were closed for SNOW last week. Actually, it was for lack of snow during the mild winter.
We talk a good game of "academic" "rigor" in Wantagh, oh, and we justify spending all kinds of money, you know, because "its for the children". Then we read those nuisance news articles about other nations eating our lunch, academically, so to speak, and Patch keeps highlighting Wantagh's academic standouts, you know, those stars who attend Mac Arthur High...in Levittown.
I don't want to belabor this point, but I will. The biggest joke in this Snow Day in May happens to be the proclivity of school administrators to liken themselves to Corporate CEO's.
Here's how snow days work at my company, a 92-year old NY-based international corporation publicly traded on the NYSE. I happen to be the person who would declare a closing or delayed opening of our corporate headquarters in the event of snow.
Closing the building is almost never done, and even when the building is 'closed', the IT & Data Processing people must come in, or stay in until relieved. Almost everyone else has the capability to work from home, remotely, via the company's WAN, and if the building is closed, almost everyone will be working at home.
Of course, not every task can be accomplished remotely, so when the building re-opens or opens late due to weather, many people work later hours or the following Saturday to catch-up on things that could not be handled from home. Being a publicly traded corporation, we are required to meet monthly and quarterly closing and filing dates with both the SEC and the IRS. No excuses, especially not to our customers and our shareholders.
We are in a competitive, global market for our products and services, and if we were to lallygag around because of snow, our competition would eat our lunch, with our customers.
Okay, back to the school closing in May. Having given away the store to the teachers union, by RIGOROUSLY limiting the number of teaching days, and closing in May for a snowstorm that did not happen in February, not only have we ruptured any notion that we practice "academic" "rigor" in our nation's schools (meaning in Wantagh's schools), but we have also taught and prepared YOUR CHILDREN for WHAT...you know, in terms of LIFE in the REAL WORLD? ZIP! That's what we taught them about real life.
Let's stop kidding ourselves about "academic" "rigor", okay?
Chris Wendt
We talk a good game of "academic" "rigor" in Wantagh, oh, and we justify spending all kinds of money, you know, because "its for the children". Then we read those nuisance news articles about other nations eating our lunch, academically, so to speak, and Patch keeps highlighting Wantagh's academic standouts, you know, those stars who attend Mac Arthur High...in Levittown.
I don't want to belabor this point, but I will. The biggest joke in this Snow Day in May happens to be the proclivity of school administrators to liken themselves to Corporate CEO's.
Here's how snow days work at my company, a 92-year old NY-based international corporation publicly traded on the NYSE. I happen to be the person who would declare a closing or delayed opening of our corporate headquarters in the event of snow.
Closing the building is almost never done, and even when the building is 'closed', the IT & Data Processing people must come in, or stay in until relieved. Almost everyone else has the capability to work from home, remotely, via the company's WAN, and if the building is closed, almost everyone will be working at home.
Of course, not every task can be accomplished remotely, so when the building re-opens or opens late due to weather, many people work later hours or the following Saturday to catch-up on things that could not be handled from home. Being a publicly traded corporation, we are required to meet monthly and quarterly closing and filing dates with both the SEC and the IRS. No excuses, especially not to our customers and our shareholders.
We are in a competitive, global market for our products and services, and if we were to lallygag around because of snow, our competition would eat our lunch, with our customers.
Okay, back to the school closing in May. Having given away the store to the teachers union, by RIGOROUSLY limiting the number of teaching days, and closing in May for a snowstorm that did not happen in February, not only have we ruptured any notion that we practice "academic" "rigor" in our nation's schools (meaning in Wantagh's schools), but we have also taught and prepared YOUR CHILDREN for WHAT...you know, in terms of LIFE in the REAL WORLD? ZIP! That's what we taught them about real life.
Let's stop kidding ourselves about "academic" "rigor", okay?
Chris Wendt