THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

“But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,” (Acts 11:4)

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Boston area radio talk show host Larry Glick frequently spoke of trying to find, “the story behind the story”. Indeed, if you investigate there often IS a “story behind the story”. Such is the case with the decision of Acting Superintendent of Schools Gene Thayer to CLOSE the Framingham Public Schools this past THURSDAY as well as Wednesday. Even Wednesday’s decision by scores of Boston area School Superintendents to have no school brought criticisms from media figures such as Emily Rooney of WGBH. But Framingham was ALONE in calling off school for Thursday. Scores of municipalities announced one-hour and two-hour delayed openings early on Thursday morning, but only Framingham was listed as “Closed”.

Well, ALMOST “only Framingham”. There ARE private schools in Framingham such at Temple Beth Am nursery school, Wayland Academy, and Marian High School which take their cues from Framingham. My wife Mary Ann is the full-time Administrative Assistant at Marian High School. We were each shocked when the phone call came in from Marian’s principal that Marian was closed, but it was because Framingham was closed. (Most likely, Marian would otherwise have called for a “one hour delay”.) The principal asked my wife to put an announcement on the school’s voice mail system stating Marian was closed for the day because Framingham had closed. Mary Ann tried and tried to put on the message by remote access but was unable to so we drove on the very icy roads to Marian High and she recorded the message. Two teachers arrived while we were there expecting a normal workday and were shocked to find out the school was closed for the day. In fact, Marian High School had planned a special school assembly on Thursday with Teen Challenge Choir which had to be postponed.

It seemed Gene Thayer was being incredibly cautious on Thursday. But you can read the story behind the story in the MetroWest Daily News at:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x625264364/MetroWest-sidewalks-still-icy-as-roads-clear

The real reason Thayer called off school is that Thursday had been planned as one of Framingham Public School’s many (and I do mean MANY) “early release days” so teacher in-service training could take place. Let me tell you, Framingham has a slew of those Thursday half days! My experience is that every time you turn around Framingham Public Schools either have a day off or a half day! Thayer figured that since the kids would get out of school very early anyway, it would make no sense to have them arrive very late, leave very early and have like an hour of school! Had Marian High School KNOWN the reason for the Framingham closing, it’s likely they’d have had school on Thursday. I suspect that’s also true for Wayland Academy and Temple Beth Am.

Anyway, if you wonder what the deal was with Framingham’s “no school” on Thursday, that’s the story behind the story!