Letter: Why close schools in bad weather?
It was very refreshing to see the article in the Star regarding Martin Stott's comments about keeping his school open during the bad weather. This is something that the general public have been saying since this school closure syndrome started.
My children's school days were in the 80s and 90s and their schools only closed for one day, due to a heating failure. The winters were a lot more severe in the 80s and one wonders how they managed without closing every time it snowed.
They obviously benefited from this introduction to life outside school as on the Monday my daughter travelled from Newport to Telford to work (we looked after the grandchildren) and my son and his wife travelled from Shrewsbury via Newport to Centre Parcs in Nottinghamshire.
Shropshire headteacher tells schools: Don't close up
The subsequent article featuring comments by Sir Kevin Satchwell, of Thomas Telford School, would have stood him in good stead for the job of Sir Humphrey in Yes Minister. He basically said people should not travel on dangerous roads to get to school or work.
It would be good if everyone in the country could be paid whether they turned in for work or not. Just think what would happen if everyone had the same attitude – no hospitals, no emergency services, no electricity, no flights or public transport, no shops, no post (whoops I forgot that Royal Mail caught on to that). The whole country would stop.
Some people do not live in the 'real world' like the rest of us who have to struggle on during these spells of bad weather. Academics usually go from school to university and back to school again, permanently in an institutional environment and do not have the jobs/work pressures the rest of us have.
As Martin Stott said: "If the schools were self- employed then every one of them would stay open."
Graham Burns
Newport
