At the twilight of winter break, CHCCS decided to award its students one last day off from school on Monday Jan. 3, as a reward for their “civility” and “general awesomeness.” These traits were exemplified by students’ handling of a situation that began the day before, in which students made their voices heard in the comments section of a CHCCS instagram post about potential inclement weather the next day.
“I was just blown away by the sophistication and quality of our students’ responses to our initial post [from the evening of Jan. 2],” CHCCS Communications Officer and Official Shot Messenger Andy Jenks said. “They demonstrated collaboration and sound rhetorical skills in areas like synthesis and ethos—one comment mentioned that ‘Betty White would be very disappointed in y’all.’ Their English teachers must be doing an incredible job.”
Jenks was also impressed by the students’ kindness and understanding of his and the district’s positions.
“The responses made it obvious that the students have done a great job of keeping themselves informed about current state laws and what the district can and cannot do regarding remote learning,” Jenks said. “And they were all so nice. We used to have to tell our students not to cyberbully others, but this generation just wants to help with the aesthetics and clarity of my posts.”
Multiple administrators cited other messages as inspirational, especially the vague, grammatically-incorrect threats in the comments section.
“These remind us to savor life and live each day to the fullest,” Jenks said. “The idea that our students don’t have time to proofread their comments for typos is really a powerful statement on how we all have better uses of our precious time than social media. Additionally, the students who claimed they would come to school even while COVID-positive are showing a remarkable and admirable commitment to learning and intellectual curiosity.”
The comments even influenced district policy, as the CHCCS school board voted Thursday to never hold classes again, along with adopting a resolution that the remaining infrastructure of the district should completely stop monitoring the weather and go monitor some other things.
Photo by Atticus Crothers/The ECHO
