As I wake up today, I see it's icing outside. Ice and snow, with forecasts calling for up to 12 inches by noon. The first major storm of the school year. Plus, it's Friday.
Attendance will be down.
Makes me think back to being a student, praying that school would be canceled because of snow. "If there's no school tomorrow," I'd promise God, "I promise to go to church every day of my life and do your work." Whatever. I don't remember if my prayers were ever answered, but probably not, considering I don't pray anymore ... for anything.
I do believe in miracles, though. If we get a snow day, for example, that would be a minor miracle. In my seven years with CPS, I can remember one snow day. One. The reasons we don't get more, I've heard, are that we have to keep the kids off the street, and we have to feed them. True. Think back to the nastiness of cafeteria food, the same old burger and limp fries or the cardboard pizza, and imagine it being your only hot meal of the day. For many kids in Chicago, this is the case. Unless if they show up early. Then they get a breakfast, too.
So yeah, attendance will be down today, but the cafeteria will still be dishing out pizza and fries. And plenty of hungry people will be looking forward to it.
AFTER-SCHOOL UPDATE: It wasn't that bad. Well, first period was pretty deserted, and fourth was missing almost 50 percent, but fifth had 100 percent attendance for the first time in a long time. So ... not bad at all. And further proof that kids will do what you least expect.
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