Though he and I have certainly had this discussion before, it would seem U-46 CEO Tony Sanders just can’t let go of his former chief communications officer roots. And while I firmly believe his ‘Weekly Message’ is a worthwhile endeavor, it’s always entertaining to watch the CEO of the state’s second largest school district regularly put himself out on social media.
And it’s particularly fascinating when it comes to determining the efficacy of a snow day. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a school official harboring a vast public death wish. To wit, these are the greatest hits on Sanders three most recent weather-related Facebook posts.
I mean people barley do their school work now so is it really gonna be necessary if kids who don’t even do school work to “do it” at home
First, I thought barley was a grain, and second, I have absolutely no idea what this young woman is talking about. I’m not sure she does, either.
exactly too much stuff to do, we can’t even have a semester without the lights going out at a school
This young man clearly hasn’t learned the importance of punctuation, and I’m not sure what power outages have to do with snow days.
i’m not tryna die tomorrow driving 25 mins on 20 from west side of elgin -> streamwood pleassseeee be a g and save me. shs is cold asf too i’m not tryna freeze
What? And that’s a high schooler, too! I’m at a loss for words. It’s too bad she wasn’t.
shs really is cold asl. I was in first period today, I sit next to the air vent and they had the audacity to turn the A/C up
What? I’m starting to think we should burn the entire public school system down and start over.
Is they School tomorrow morning for Students & Teacher’s & Transportation too
And that was from a parent!
Plz be g and save me for it is too cold for me. But for real the sidewalks are covered in ice and i almost slipped on the way to home well i did slip but we arent gonna talk about me lookin like frozone from incedibles
I don’t even know where to begin. Don’t they teach English in U-46?
dude i almost died like 3 times driving home last night
That was one of the more cogent comments.
This is lame .-. Just because of this . I’m gonna get late to school
I’m sure you will! And there is such a thing as too much punctuation.
That’s crazy how a 2 hour delay would get us 4 hours through the school day lmao
At least he put the apostrophe in “that’s.”
I don’t agree with having school today for the safety of kids. How can you let your kids wait at bus stops in THE FREEZING COLD to go to school? I wouldn’t dare have my kid out in this type of whether!
Another amazing parent! “Freezing cold?” It was a balmy 28 degrees this morning! The real cold is about to come. And I don’t know WHETHER to be happy she spelled the wrong word correctly or to be depressed that she used the wrong word entirely.
And if I quoted all the students who wrote “your” instead of “you’re” and vice versa, this column would be longer than a Dostoyevsky novel.
But my favorite transactions were the abundance of foul-mouthed Tweets hurled directly at Mr. Sanders’ feet. Normally I’d say those students aren’t going to amount to much, but considering current events, they might turn out to be presidential material.
Sanders did encourage his young charges to stop swearing and apply the persuasive skills they’d learned in class, but as you might imagine, that reasonable plea fell on deaf ears. The fact that those parents let their little bleeps speak to them in that manner notwithstanding, a U-46 CEO deserves a little more respect.
I can’t wait to see what happens the first time they address their first boss in that surly manner. And most places that hire illiterate teenagers don’t offer snow or cold days, either.
And while I’m certainly intrigued by the notion of a school district CEO readily engaging the rabble on social media, the result was far too depressing – on a number of levels – for this kind of thing to continue.
So, Tony! Go ahead and leave the comments on your (not you’re) Weekly Message, but for the love of all things holy, TURN THEM OFF on any potential snow day post. I love your whole buck-stops-here brand of thinking, but you might want to delegate those things to other capable staffers because you clearly have better things to do.
Meanwhile, all the delicate little darlings and overly entitled parents who couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with two inches of snow might want to consider growing a pair. If this 60-year-old man could walk his dogs two miles through mostly unshoveled sidewalks and paths this morning, then you and your children can get their candy asses out of bed and make it to school.
On a one-to-ten Chicago winter storm scale, this was merely a “3” which means you don’t get to sit on your ass and play video games all day. And to endlessly swear at and bitch to the CEO in this regard belies the fact that you’re (not your) all just a bunch of…well…I’ll leave that word to your active imaginations.
You already had Monday off, what the bleep more do you want?
All that said, I can only hope that U-46 will redouble their English classroom efforts. Can you actually get a negative SAT score?
Bingo!
But isn’t that always the case, sir?
Thank you for this! Here we are in the middle of a downright gentle and mild winter for these parts, and I’ve never seen such grownup wailing and gnashing of teeth over two-three paltry inches of slushy snow. Has there been a mass-move of Hawaiians into Elgin in recent months?
Among the outrageous claims and expectations I’ve seen on CEO Sanders’ FB page today are that whatever poor schmuck lives nearest to every school bus stop is morally responsible to shovel it clear first thing in the morning — ya chose to live there, it’s just yer unpaid job! … that their kids standing a little longer waiting for buses on what is actually a relatively warm day in January is cruel and unusual punishment … and that the only alternative to kids walking on sidewalks yet un-shoveled of that horrifying two inches of snow, is to walk smack in the middle of the street and be mowed down.
Back in my U46 days, by cracky, not for one nanosecond would today’s weather (or do you say whether?) have been considered to qualify for school closures. But now? Now, the district head even has to defend himself for opening the schools by describing his tense early morning process of consulting with bus drivers, checking the forecast, a conference call, and even going out for a drive at 4 in the morning to check for himself the road conditions. What more do you want?! He lived through it; so will yer precious little angels — who in all likelihood spent recess happily stomping around in slush puddles and smacking each other in the face with good-pack snowballs.
People suck!
Yes, they do!
Sad but true
Comments made on Facebook should be considered class work and graded accordingly as part of the overall grade And yes spelling counts.
They’d all flunk!
Jeff 28 degrees is pretty cold when you don’t make your kids wear a coat, hat or gloves!!! Lol
Tina,
I know! I saw a high schooler in shorts yesterday and those bus stop middle schoolers look like they’re dressed for early fall. Can you explain this phenomenon?
I loved this article and wholeheartedly agree with everything you wrote! The kids, unfortunately my daughter as well, don’t wear the proper winter attire. Bundle up. We live in Illinois and need to be prepared for the winter weather, which includes dealing with snow.
The comments to Mr Sanders were very hard to read, in the tone and in grammar, or lack of!
Cindy,
Thank you! And why won’t they bundle up? It seems rather odd!
Sadly, things have changed. Nobody takes responsibility for themselves. If their children fall down on slippery sidewalks, or get in an accident driving on slushy, unplowed roads (which, believe me, the roads yesterday morning were DEFINITELY a slushy unplowed mess!) or they end up with frostbite because they didn’t leave the house properly dressed for the winter (because, you know, “winter outerware just messes with my style”), parents blame the school district for not cancelling school! It’s sad that we live in such a litigious world, but that’s the reality. Nobody wants to accept responsibility for their own, or their children’s, actions, or lack thereof.
Deanna,
I certainly agree! But fascinatingly, here’s what Socrates wrote about the children in ancient Greece:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
The more things change…
Jeff
I trust that the home office in which you wrote this post is very comfortable and well heated.
Pan,
Didn’t you read the part about the two-mile dog walk? And I did it again this morning!
OK, props for that. That’s why I don’t have a dog.