![Wayland High School Class of 2019 alum Devin Wong is the new assistant coach of Harvard University Nordic Ski Team. "I’m excited to be a part of a new team and coaching staff am motivated to learn from [head coach] Cate Brams and grow as a coach and wax tech," Wong said.](https://waylandstudentpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/09-27-24-NSKI-Wong-Announcement-1920x1080-1-e1730466291327-1200x704.jpg)
Most, if not all, residents of Wayland are aware of the brutal rainstorm that occurred on Dec. 18, 2023. Roads were flooded, trees came crashing down and most problematic of all, power outages spread throughout buildings in town, including Wayland High School. Because of this, no school was held at WHS on Dec. 19, but some students and staff were already at school when the cancellation was announced, and we think this was unfair.
We received a message on Dec. 19, 2023 at 7:15 a.m. that there would be a two-hour delay. Two hours later, we received another email informing us that school would be canceled for the day since there were lots of power outages and no estimated time of restoration. While we were excited that we would have the day off to rest and catch up on work, we also felt like we woke up early for nothing, since we weren’t expecting school to be canceled. We felt tired during the day which made us lose some motivation to do school work.
It’s more than understandable that Wayland High School had difficulty communicating due to the power outages and their SIS (Student Information Systems) being down, which caused a delay in informing students, families and staff about the plan for the day. However, on Tuesday morning, most of the usual attending METCO students arrived at school ready to learn. Furthermore, there were numerous teachers and staff who arrived at school before they received the cancellation note. For some, this was tiresome because of the long commute they take to WHS each day.
In the future, assuming that there are no extreme power outages or technology failures at WHS, we think that Wayland administration should consider informing their students and families of school delays and cancellations more ahead of time, whether this be by making a decision sooner or making a choice that doesn’t cause any unnecessary inconvenience. This should be reflected in the current and upcoming winter months. With the amount of snow New England gets each year, students and staff should get the heads up about cancellations to to limit dangerous driving. The troubles that late decisions can cause for students and teachers should be viewed as equally important as safety concerns.
Notifying all students, especially METCO students, of school time changes several hours in advance could help make the transportation system more efficient and fair between students who live in Wayland and those who don’t.
Even though this rainstorm occurred over a month ago, Wayland was just recently hit with a snowstorm. On Jan. 16, WHS held all classes with no delays or early dismissals. In our personal opinion, we think that the school should have had an early dismissal since the snowfall seemed to pick up around noon and the roads looked slippery. Additionally, there is a large population of the school who drive to and from the school, lots of whom do not live in Wayland. Saying this, we think there should have been more consideration for the safety of students and staff.
