Was Wheaton Right to Close Schools? Readers’ Diverse Opinions

Public schools in Wheaton were closed on Tuesday due to the snow, although many neighboring towns like Winfield and Glen Ellyn kept public schools open or had early dismissals. 

Some private schools in the area—who often bring students from further away—were also closed, like St. Francis High School and St. Irene. 

Patch reached out to our readers on Facebook to find out whether or not they thought closing the public schools in Wheaton was a good idea:

Yes, it was good to close the schools: 

“I think it's easier to cancel the entire day than it is to send kids home after arriving at school. For working parents, getting a call after arriving at work stating your child's school is closing early is frustrating. Many parents in that situation would then be pissed that the entire day wasn't just called off. The heavy snow is just starting. So cancelling school was obviously not about how much snow was on the ground in the morning, but how much will be falling when kids are typically out.”
– Katey Clayton-Olson, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“Think of all the late buses, kids waiting outside, what's more unsafe?”
– Sue Stozek Mayeda, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“As for ISAT testing… if they had school today and a large portion of parents kept their kids home, then it would actually screw up the testing even more. Better to just push it back a day like many districts are doing.”
– Kammer Hufnagle Wheaton Patch Facebook.

No, schools should have stayed open:

“I agree the kids should be in school. Snow isn’t an uncommon thing for us to deal with...”
– Rose Hirt, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“They should be in school; I see it as a conspiracy to drive stay-at-home mothers insane.”
– Hank Beckman, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“We should be in school… How come when I went to school (on a bus) we could make it? No snow days.”
– Carolyn Kasper Scheck, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“Looking like a premature closure to me. Not too bad out there at all. Wimps.”
– Kelley Bowers Laesch, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

Other observations: 

 “Those that didn't close are much smaller districts than those that did close. Usually buses help to decide if the district has a snow day. Being an employee of one of the districts that did close, I'm grateful that we don't have school, it looks nasty out there!”
– Erin Deinert, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

“The roads are not that bad. Pretty clean in fact, I'm impressed.”
– Kimberly McNamara, Wheaton Patch Facebook.

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