Your two cents?

I try to avoid debates and drama on Facebook, but this time the subject matter has sucked me in and I can't find my way out. So now I must turn to my mostly reasonable and sensible half dozen readers on here :)

The topic is on storm shelters in schools. I am highly interested because I am a former teacher and have had some instances where severe weather was indeed a threat.

Kelly Ogle from the local news channel 9 does a feature called My Two Cents. This time it is in response to a Moore Senator's plan to adjust the school calendar so that school is not in session during prime tornado season.

Here he is responding to the Senator's plan.
Here is the original story.

If you read those links you should be up to speed now.

What is my take on this? I am fully aware that storm shelters in schools is going to be very expensive and take time to construct, but I feel they are still very necessary. I think the Senator's plan is a wonderful temporary plan which can be utilized until our schools are equipped with tornado shelters or safe rooms, even if it takes several years to achieve this.

After reading several of the comments from the Facebook users it is very clear that everyone is not in agreement.

1. People don't want to spend money (increase taxes).
2. There are some who are of the opinion that "good" parents can  pull their children out of school when severe weather is a threat.
3. Schools are not babysitters.

There are many more thoughts out there, but I can only bear to read so many of them.

I think the plan is a fine temporary plan, but I can just see them changing the school calendar and then we turn around and a huge F5 tornado will make its way through in April. Number two really bothered me. These people must not understand nor are familiar with jobs that fall under the category of public servants. Police officers, EM T's, nurses, doctors, teachers and several other occupations require them to report to work and do their job so that other people benefit.

It's really sad because the teachers seem like the biggest losers in this situation. Most teachers do not have the luxury to go and retrieve their own children when severe weather becomes an issue and school is in session. No, they have to stay at school with other people's children and do their best to keep them safe in a building which most likely does not have a storm shelter. Plus several educators are married to each other which makes it even more difficult for them to go get their child. Which is why #2 bothers me so much. Yes, lots of people are very fortunate to be able to leave their job quickly in an emergency situation, they probably work in an office type setting though. If I were still teaching and my child were in school I would probably arrange for my dad to go pick him up and take him to our house where we have a storm shelter. Again, not everyone has these options. I've also stayed at school during severe weather while other teachers were allowed to leave while I took on their students. It wasn't a big deal and usually there were only about 10 or fewer students left in class by then because parents did come and pick them up (which I am not against, parents should be allowed this option and not be penalized). Anyway, teachers have to give and take in those situations, unfortunately.

Number three: schools are not babysitters. Technically no, they are not, but our children do spend nine months out of the year in school and most of the day time hours. A storm shelter can be necessary during other months of the year because tornadoes do occur during other times of the year.

I'm also of the opinion that neighborhood residents should not rely on use of the school's storm shelter. If it is not school hours then the building should not be opened up specifically for people to come take shelter. Sounds harsh or even wasteful huh? Allowing public access causes  an array of issues. How many people can you let in? Can you turn people away? When do you shut the door to cut off access? Even traveling to come up and open the building could be a safety issue if there is little time to take shelter. People should continue to stick with or implement a severe weather plan if they do not already have one.

By having the storm shelters the schools can have an easier time protecting children (no it is not fool proof) and hopefully we will not have tragic situations where students do not survive a tornado while in school.

Now that I have ranted, rambled a bit, and probably left some stuff out, what do you think? Do you have any other thoughts I did not address or have a better plan? I would like to hear from you.

Birthdays and weird weather

Bob and I have birthdays within a week of each other which is nice and convenient at times. It's interesting because even though it is winter our Oklahoma weather has a hard time making up its mind. Here is Blake on daddy's birthday playing outside.

Then the day after my birthday this is going down.

Although my birthday usually comes along with a little bit of snowy weather. Remember this?

This doesn't have anything to do with the title of my post, but this week we also got to go on our first trip to Children's hospital. Everything is fine now, but yesterday morning was a little too eventful to say the least.

Blake fell down and hit his head.  
His symptoms afterwards resembled a concussion to me so I decided it was best to take him in and get him checked out. I knew this was going to happen one day with my spirited child and it probably won't be our last trip to the ER either.

I'm not sure if this is how things go down in a children's ER, but they were really happy and kept saying, "oh, he's going to be fine." The doctor came in to check him one last time and said, "oh he's eating? He's fine." I guess they are used to dealing with parents who are not being very calm, but it just came across as if they were not very concerned. I'm sure they took good care of him and it is just the daily of occurrences in the ER that probably numbs them a bit.

This is where Blake hit his head :( Poor baby!

 Here he is afterwards eating some snacks I brought along. I'm glad I had those otherwise he would not have sat in the examination room while we waited.

After being cooped up inside due to all the snow, this was not my ideal choice of an outing. Oh well, life happens and Mr. Blake has already bounced back from this.