We have hurricane days over snow days.
We drink Soda instead of Pop.
We track in sand over slush.
Our tea comes with sugar without asking.
And we have holidays y’all don’t have.
Actually I have to say this is the first time I have come across this myself. I grew up on the panhandle in Florida, then lived in the hell they call Texas, then off to South Carolina before karma dropped me in Ohio for two horrifically cold and frigid years. Then we moved back to the south and settled in Alabama…for a little bit.
Thats where we are now on the coastline in Mobile.
When Charlotte started public school this past fall I didnt figure it would be much different than any of the southern schools I had attended.WRONG.
I could do nothing but laugh when her new school schedule came home for this month:
You see, Mobile is the birth place of Mardi Gras. Not New Orleans…Mobile.
Mardi Gras Mobile..downtown last weekend
And apparently the school board has given Charlotte (and her entire elementary school) three full days off this week…you know, just in case she gets too drunk at the parades or something to complete her ABC’s.
Three days.
THREE.
For Mardi Gras.
And I just love how the following week they added a “teacher planning day”, because clearly there is too much debauchery this week to get any of that done.
~Trisha
Yeah, that would so piss me off. It’s bad enough that they give kids so many 1/2 days and holiday breaks, I’m already almost out of my vacation days because of all the 1/2 days since the first of the year and I’ll have none to use for my maternity leave come July! Schools don’t care what problems these days off cause the parents, as long as the teachers are happy with their paid days off.
Gotta be really bad for people who work outside the home and have to arrange for daycare!
That just sucks… So glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore.
On a side note, hope everyone had a great Mardi Gras and are now enjoying whatever celebrations they believe in. I sure do miss the strawberry paczki I could get up in Connecticut – they don’t make them down here in Florida.
As a native Mobilian I have to defend this one! Mardi Gras Day (Fat Tuesday) is among my most treasured childhood memories.
Mardi Gras began in Mobile, Alabama in 1703 as a celebration for Catholics before the sacrifices of Lent began. It’s a fantastic tradition for thousands of family’s in Mobile and a great opportunity for a lesson in history and religion. Learning doesn’t always have to be done in the classrom.
As for taking three days off of school instead of just one for Fat Tuesday. Well the public school system in Mobile has toyed with this many times over the years and three days seems to work best. We have always jokingly referred to the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday as “Hangover Day.” You wouldn’t your child’s teacher to come to class hung over would you?
Anyway, Mardi Gras is a great time of the year to be in Mobile. Life is short! Enjoy it!
Laisez les bon temps rouler!
I agree that Mardi Gras is a great tradition. We grew up on the Gulf Coast and i can remember many weekends cashing beads and moon pies. However, I have to counter one point you made regarding teachers showing up hung over. There is a level of personal responsibility that goes with tradition and being a professional. To have a day off for drinking recovery seems a bit of a bad reason, especially when teachers get a planning day the next week, followed by Spring Break. And they get most of the summer off to do as they please. I would hope that there is more reason than just a hangover.
Oh goodness. I was completely joking about “Hangover Day.” Having the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday off of school is because it is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. As I mentioned Mardi Gras is a Catholic tradition and there is a large Catholic population in Mobile.
for some reason I thought specific religious holidays were not allowed to be mixed within the school.. Even Christmas is called “winter break”.. I personally am not Catholic, so taking three days off of education for drinking and partying, especially in an elementary school, seems a tad ridiculous to me.
So is this a separate break from spring break or is it pretty much the same thing? We have an entire week of spring break next week.
We close school in Missouri for Deer Season. ?????
That is insane! I get aggravated when my boys have 1 day off. I think I would lose it if they had 3 days off in a row.
WOW!!!! 3 days? REALLY? 1 seems like it would be much! And why is it that teacher work days ALWAYS happen just before or after a few days off for some holiday or something?!?!?!
WOW thats crazy! 3 days?!
Only in the south. Hahahahaha. Guess since they aren’t likely to take a snow day, they have some days built in for take off days like most school districts around the nation do. So what to do, well P-A-R-T-Y, then get back to your ABC’s you little smarties.
That’s amazing. In Kissimmee the kids would get a day off for the fair when it came in town. 3 days, though, wow.
When we first moved down here I couldn’t believe that… A day off from school for the FAIR????
Then I figured, well, it’s a nice outing and they really don’t have any snow days, so what the heck.
True true. I didn’t have kids in school at the time to take advantage of it, though.
That’s nuts …. I didn’t even know what Mardi Gras was or that it existed until a few years ago.
LOL!! Had to laugh at the Mardi Gras thong on that kid.
Man, I want 3 days off for something!
Probably because a lot of parents take the time off work to party for Mardi Gras, and can’t be bothered to get up in time to make sure Junior gets to school. Just look at the photo–that boy don’t know which end is up!
Yes we get these days too. Our Mardi Gras was this weekend. It was raining and cold at night. Go figure. it is this way every year. We also get out for the South Texas State Fair next month.
That’s funny! I actually did know Mobile was the birthplace of Mardi Gras-but only because my grandma lives in Mobile and she always sends us a box of stuff that winds up on her lawn, etc. I just hope my grandma isn’t flashing people for beads…that’d be kinda weird.
not so much flashing here…that goes on in bridgettes city
That’s just ridiculous! Although I have to defend my adopted state of Texas and say we do get holidays other states don’t have too – Texas Independence Day (I know none of y’all have that), Cesar Chavez Day, and San Jacinto Day!
yep, you have some state ones too! Interesting..i wonder how many state holidays there are around the US.
Yip, gotta love the teacher’s unions. They’ll do any and everything to make sure they work as little as possible and I don’t care what anybody says, teachers make damn good money for the time they work.
Enjoy the time as best as you can!
We do parades on Monday and we ride on a float Mardi Gras day. Fortunately, since hubby is a teacher, he is off for the week, too!
We’re off the whole week!
Good grief. What do you do w/ the kids the entire week? I am pissed about the 3 days! LOL
That is crazy!!
Gotta love the South – LOL
omg that’s INSANE! I had no idea they gave days off for Mardi Gras!!
yah me either till i moved here.