Christ Church has become almost notorious for their cancellation (or lack thereof) of school. Many times contrasting decisions made by Greenville County Public Schools, St. Joseph’s Catholic School, and Southside Christian, CCES has held classes through snow storms, thunderstorms, and hurricanes.

The frequency of holding classes during natural disasters is typically unpopular among students, even with the school pushing that they hold the safety of students as their number one priority. The school’s safety agenda, however, appears to many students to just be a way to clear the school of liability.

“I think that, even if the school says that a student should only come to school when they feel safe, students still feel an obligation to come to school”, says senior Sam Pazdan.

This point is definitely interesting. If a tree falls on your driveway during a storm, and you can’t make it to school, you are still required to make up all assignments. Missing school, though obviously a nice break in the short term, can create a snowball effect, leading to a classic Christ Church homework all-nighter. By asking students to only come when they feel safe, the school doesn’t take into account the constant obligation felt by students to go to school.

The school’s inclement weather decision-making, however, isn’t necessarily always  wrong.

“The school seems to lean towards holding classes when it’s questionable, but I believe that they have our best interest at heart”, says junior Rafe Reynolds, “Public schools sometimes cancel school premature, but CCES usually seem to make the correct decision”.

Hurricane Michael last week is a good example of this. Though many students were reluctant to attend school, the hurricane blew over in a few hours. Last year, snow storms caused Greenville County Schools to cancel, as some districts are responsible for bus service in the mountains, but CCES remained in session. Just like this past week, students were obviously disappointed to be at school, but the snow that Greenville actually received was barely an inch.

Christ Church is a school. They can’t always appeal to what the students want, and a lot of the time, school cancellation just isn’t necessary. The school’s attempt to prioritize student safety was a good call, but the legitimacy of it was doubted by students. By appearing to allow students to miss class, the school failed to take into account the stress of missed assignments and overdue homework. In a black-and-white situation, the school chose grey.