Snow days

[Ginger Power]

rzoeller Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?

4607 plans to unofficially meet. Just a couple members from the design and strategy teams plan on brainstorming ideas.

[gabrielau23]

Originally Posted by Racer26

Pretty sure most schools have midterms or first semester final exams in the middle of build season. Most teams in my experience actually work MORE that week, not less, as the students have more time off from classes than usual.

The problem is that HoCo doesn't allow any after school activities during that week, or else we'd get extra work in as well... :/

[Celia]

To go back to the original topic of the thread, our team usually meets on a snow day. Being from southeastern Michigan (= no lake effect snow), what snow we have typically melts by midday/end of school. Unless it's very icy or the roads are unplowed, we meet. Of course, some student absences are understood, but we always have enough people to keep working.

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

(I wonder: Do they close schools because it is too hot?)

We have had a "hot day". A few years ago, our air conditioning stopped working and we got sent home. Like most people here are saying, Monday is a different story. We're banking on a "cold day"

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

If it's -60, we'll probably all just stay home and CAD

That's what I plan on doing. -60 degrees is not to be messed with. There's a reason why there isn't school.

[rzoeller]

Our superintendent ended up cancelling all activities on Monday... Including robotics. I guess that means we have to prototype at home!

[Tungrus]

Michigan will be like MN this weekend with some parts expecting about 12" - 16" snow and 9 below zeroo!

[Trent B]

For those of you who are planning on getting together in MN I would take caution when you plan where to meet.

Temperatures of -30 will be hard on vehicles, lowering battery cranking current as well as making your car stiff and your fluids thicker.

If you venture out with a car on Monday, I would be sure to have a plan ahead of time in case it does not restart after sitting outside in the cold.

Also, be cautious of the potential red tape associated with having a school activity meeting on a day where the governor has ordered no school, even if it is off-campus.

I would be much more inclined to advise teleconferencing via something such as google+ hangouts.

[redneckrobot]

mine is not a school. and if rode's are that bad I can pick up the team on my sled. small town only 4 team members

[runneals]

I don't know how many other teams are in situations such as ours, but our team doesn't start physically meeting until next weekendish/Monday, as school (academy) starts back with college.

I say build it into your schedule. Add a day or 2 of padding for hard stop days to accommodate it.

[jordansch]

I think that our team hopes for snow days during build season. About half of our team is within easy walking distance if conditions are terrible for driving, and that gives us a 12 hour workday rather than 5. Kansas weather now is notorious for ice, meaning that the school is forced to cancel school, since about a third of the students live out in the country. Last year, we had a week straight of snow days. There was a lot of work done in that time.

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

rzoeller Minnesota public schools were just shut down for Monday due to the cold. Our team has changed our plans to use the entire day as a work day. Any other Minnesota teams taking advantage of this?

4607 plans to unofficially meet. Just a couple members from the design and strategy teams plan on brainstorming ideas.

Our school does not allow the mentors to schedule meetings when school has been canceled. Though the students are free to get together on their own, the mentors cannot tell them to show up anywhere.

[TheKeeg]

Usually, if school is closed then we cannot meet at the school. Today, for instance, we had a snow day and our 6:00-9:00 meeting was canceled. Tomorrow will probably be canceled as well. This is not the way I wanted to start the build season.

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by TheKeeg

Usually, if school is closed then we cannot meet at the school. Today, for instance, we had a snow day and our 6:00-9:00 meeting was canceled. Tomorrow will probably be canceled as well. This is not the way I wanted to start the build season.

Better in week 1 than in week 6.

[TheKeeg]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Better in week 1 than in week 6.

This is very true.

[Qbot2640]

Our county just announced the next two days will be 2 hour delay days, because of very cold morning temperatures. How awesome is that? Prototyping later in the evening, 'cause the kids now get to sleep in for two more hours!