This morning Schools Chancellor Cathie Black, along with the Mayor's office, decided to close the city's schools—the ninth time the schools have been closed for snow since 1978. The news made many a school kid happy, and not just for the obvious reason. See, today nearly 100,000 students were meant to take state-wide Regents exams in history, geometry, science, chemistry and physics.
The tests, which are administered by the state, are necessary for a Regents diploma and are notorious for being difficult to make up if you miss one. In this case, the next scheduled tests are in June (when another snowstorm is highly unlikely).
And as much as it pains us to say it, you can't really blame Black for this mess. In fact, the snow day actually puts the Department of Education in a pretty good position to pressure the State to let kids remake the test before June. They would have had a much harder time if they had kept the schools open and nobody came to take the tests.
