Weather-related orders

For far too many instances already, there had been a lack of unity and cohesion in ordering class or work suspensions in response to weather-related situations and circumstances. And perhaps it is only through sheer luck that nothing truly tragic has resulted from this lack.

But with weather being as unpredictable as it is, especially in these times when climate change is turning weather into a truly dangerous threat to all human life and all human activity, we no longer have the luxury of regarding weather as if it were a simple hit-and-miss proposition. We cannot afford to err. And if we must err, let it always be on the side of caution.

And that is why all orders suspending classes and work should be unified under the authority of the concerned local governments. As the case may be, it should only be the mayor or governor who must give such an order. Such an order must no longer be left to ambiguity by leaving it in the hands of school administrators (in the case of private schools) or business management.

There is a very valid reason why this must be so, why only the concerned local government should be entrusted with such an important and critical decision. And that is because whatever happens during and after a weather disturbance is always ultimately the responsibility of government.

We have seen so many times instances when the decision to suspend classes had been left to the discretion of college and university administrations, despite the fact that local governments have already declared suspensions in the lower levels, orders that, based on all official data available to them, could not have been given whimsically and frivolously.

School administrators of colleges and universities do not have similar access to such official data and information. They could never arrive at a decision as well-founded as that made by local governments. In fact, it is quite possible that decisions made by colleges and universities are based more on academic and business considerations than weather circumstances.

If school administrators in private colleges and universities only consider weather facts, it would not have taken them much time and effort to conclude that college students are much older and more responsible than their lower grade counterparts, they are still made of the same flesh and bone that can get wet, get sick, stranded and otherwise endangered and jeopardized by weather.

The weather makes no distinctions. It affects everybody, young and old, rich and poor, employed or unemployed, kindergarten or college. That being the case, any decision pertaining to weather-related threats should be unified in the hands of those who will ultimately bear the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of those threats --- the local governments.