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Wintry Tweets

As we move into the winter season, there is one thing you can be sure of. If it snows in the evening, students will be on Twitter begging hcpss for a delay or a cancellation. This is the first generation who can use social media to petition for such a favor, and they haven’t been idle. They send photographs, video clips, anecdotes of slipping and falling, and generally do their best to wheedle and convince.

I could be wrong but I don’t think that their wild protestation of weather woes have any impact on school closures. None whatsoever. But, as long as they aren’t outright rude or threatening, it’s pretty much a harmless pastime. I suppose all those tweets remain out there for future employers to search and evaluate, so maybe you don’t want to make a complete fool of yourself.

Just a thought.

This will be Interim Superintendent Michael Martirano’s first winter season at the helm. I wonder how he will take the sudden onslaught of interest in his twitter account every time the flakes start to fall. Will he take it with good grace? Will he show a sense of humor about the whole thing? From what I have observed so far, he’ll probably check to make sure his snowflake socks are ready to go, then he’ll tweet out an inspirational quote about how snow days are so much more joyful if you have put in the effort to complete your schoolwork the night before.

We’ll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, good news from Stevens Forest Elementary School in Oakland Mills:

From PTA Board Member, Jessica Mahajan —

Thanks to the efforts of some great community members, 400 hand-knit hats were donated to SFES (along with many other hats, gloves, and coats). All students were given a chance to choose a hat today, so don’t be surprised if your kiddo comes home with some stylish new winter gear. 

I love this. If everyone gets to choose a hat, no one sticks out as the “less fortunate”. The hats become not just protection against the cold, but community unifiers. “We’re all in this together.”  What a remarkable statement of love made visible.

Now, that’s some snow days news I can get excited about.


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