Saturday school is best option

For many of us, Saturday and Sunday are the days of the week we take time to relax and take a break from the daily grind at work and school.
If I don’t have to, I try not to work on these days, but working in the newspaper business does mean we have to cover events that happen on the weekend. I know many of you have had to work on Saturdays, especially if you work in restaurants, public safety or any retail shops.
However, I can’t remember seeing a time where school was in session for a regular day until now.
Hartselle City Schools said it would have to make up the last snow day on Saturday, Feb. 26, because they are already out of inclement weather days and students need enough instructional days before their annual tests.
I know this is going to cause a problem for everyone involved with the schools, including teachers, students and parents. Students involved in athletics will likely miss a day in the classroom because many spring sports teams have already scheduled sporting events for that day. (I know they’ll probably be happy about that.)
Even with all of the trouble caused by this unexpected make-up day, it’s still much better than the alternative, which is tacking the day on at the end of school or, even worse, going to school for a day over spring break. Personally, I’d rather go to school on Saturday than take one day away from spring break if the schools need the extra day.
Teachers, students and their families have already made plans for spring break. It would be difficult to change those plans now.
I applaud School Superintendent Mike Reed and the rest of the Hartselle Board of Education for making the right call here.
Saturday school will cause some problems, but it’s not as bad as what it would be if it were on spring break.
Brent Maze is the managing editor of the Hartselle Enquirer.