In this school year alone, we have already experienced a power outage and a boil water notice, yet all students were forced to remain at school. This should not be the case due to the disturbance that these issues impose on students.
First, power outages affect students’ learning. For example, during our most recent power shortage, some students’ classes were lengthened while their other classes were shortened. Along with this, students couldn’t see their papers or work. These things led many teachers to postpone planned work for another day, so it was useless to stay at the school anyway. Outages also cause classrooms to be uncomfortably hot and students to be unable to heat up their luches. For these many reasons, it isn’t right to hold children at school during lengthy power issues.
Secondly, it is unsafe to stay at school when there is a boil water notice. It is very important to have safe drinking water accessible. Although water bottles were allowed for students to stay hydrated, access to water bottles is limited because once you run out, you run out. It was also dangerous to remain at school with a boil water notice because students were told not to wash their hands due to the contaminated water.
Students should be allowed to be released from school when boil water notices or power outages occur because they create an unsafe environment.