Batten down the hatches; three-quarters of an inch of snow fell. Shut down every school. Send out every plow. Disperse a fleet of psychologists because people are incredibly depressed since their stuck in their houses.

You don’t have to live four years in the Syracuse area, as I did, to figure out this “snow storm” is a joke. I could understand delaying school openings, canceling preschool or being lenient about attendance, but it’s so unnecessary to close every school in Eastern Connecticut for the day.

I DON’T BLAME THE SUPERINTENDENTS. Deciding whether to cancel school is one of the hardest decisions of all. No matter what you do, there’s always someone who complains. I blame the media for weather hysteria. We sock people harder with predictions and news about weather than the actual storms. The coverage doesn’t even stop after the predicted mega-storms don’t pan out.

Can you imagine if even half the resources devoted to weather news were allocated to real coverage and analysis of news? Then the classic, everyman conversation starter wouldn’t be so mild.

Why is black history month the shortest month of the year? Come to think of it, why do we have black history month at all?

Black history, in America particularly, should always be an integral part of every school curriculum. As if we needed the shortest month of the year to specifically laud people that should be honored constantly for their bravery and sacrifices, many forced, which have made America a powerhouse.

I wonder if the people mocking Norwich schools for calling in a HazMat team Wednesday, to investigate a harmless white powder at a middle school, would be outraged if the substance had been deadly?

We don’t have to assume the Teacher’s Memorial Middle School staff that discovered it thought it could be Anthrax or a bomb.

What if the staff thought it was simply a leak from a heater, residue from toxic floor polish, a cleaner that had a strange reaction to floor polish or any other number of odd harmful chemicals?

What if the administrators told the staff members not to worry and to just clean up the chemicals? What if the staff members got violently ill or they dropped dead?

Those same people mocking the school would be outraged. It doesn’t matter how much it potentially cost to send out the HazMat team, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Let’s be cautiously excited about Governor M. Jodi Rell’s budget proposal to jack up education spending by $3.4 billion dollars. There are a lot of questions surrounding this proposal including, how will the legislature tweak it? And will it actually work?

Also, without romanticizing America, we need to remember EDUCATION IS STILL THE GREAT EQUALIZER! That’s why making sure schools are properly funded is so critical.

Recent studies show, Americans are no more or less likely to climb over or fall behind their parents' economic class today, than they were 35 years ago. Those studies have also debunked the myth the U.S. is a more mobile society than Europe.

According to economists and sociologists, the average impoverished European or Canadian child has had a better chance at reaching prosperity in recent decades.

But even if American society isn’t as upward mobile as we’d all like to think, other studies show better educated children have a higher chance of earning healthy salaries, pursuing higher education and getting jobs that lead to a better quality of life.

Enough. Enough e-mails, phone calls and letters to the editor defending Julie Amero. I’m sick of them. The worst part of all is that people jump to these conclusions without viewing any of the evidence or police documents. Here are the facts: Amero showed graphic pornography to up to 10 children in a Kelly Middle School class, according to a police investigation.

There was no magic, mysterious conspiracy to arrest and convict this woman. No group of students said, “We hate this teacher and now we’re going to ruin her life.” There were no bungling school district administrators or evil police. Computer filters can’t stop every one of the millions of pornography Web sites from slipping through. Blaming the school, the police or anyone else for what Amero did is like blaming a rape victim for being raped. It’s sick, it’s wrong, it’s ignorant and it’s moronic. The school didn’t even bring charges up against Amero. The police did.

According to a Norwich police affidavit, “the pornographic sites were almost continuously viewed from approximately 9:24 a.m. to approximately 11:11 a.m.” No one accidentally clicks on pornographic pop-ups advertisements for nearly two hours continuously. According to the affidavit, at least one of the Web sites required the person viewing the images to click on a box agreeing to terms of disclosure beforehand.

Here’s the kicker: AMERO WAS NOT CONVICTED OF LOOKING AT PORNOGRAPHY ON A SCHOOL COMPUTER. She was convicted of four counts of “Risk of Injury to a Minor.” That means she was convicted of NOT DOING ENOUGH TO PREVENT CHILDREN FROM SEEING PORNOGRAPHY ON THE COMPUTER. Now, does she deserve 40 years in jail, of course not. She was offered probationary time, which would lead to her not having a criminal record, and she turned it down, according to her attorney. Now, she’s been convicted and she’ll face her sentence in March. I’m sure the judge will use prudence.

So even if you give Amero the benefit of the doubt, and you say the pornography was on the computer to begin with (and she simply found it there), then she should have covered the computer, unplugged it or forced the students to stand in the back of the room far away from the computer. Don’t let multiple children, all were younger than 16, see people performing sexual acts upon each other on a school computer screen. That’s just wrong.

Michael Moore interviewed Littleton Co., native Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, for the movie Bowling for Columbine. I’m paraphrasing here but: During that movie, Parker said he wished he could have grabbed the children involved in the massacre, shaken them (before the massacre) and told them life won’t always be as painful and unfair as in high school. The children at the top of the social pyramid often end up at the bottom in the real world. Often, the bullies get their own healthy dose of bad Karma when they get older.

Former St. Bernard High School teacher and wrestling coach Roy Eaton, 60, has written a candid, poignant and wry memoir entitled “Soldier Boy.” It can be ordered at bookstores everywhere. It chronicles his transition from a young man to an adult. Roy’s persistence is evident throughout the book. Children these days can benefit greatly from listening to Parker and following Roy Eaton’s lead. Remember kids, Tempus fugit. And while being an adult brings it’s own set of distinct challenges and bullies, adulthood also comes with far more freedom and days to cherish.

Michael Moore interviewed Littleton Co., native Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park, for the movie Bowling for Columbine. I’m paraphrasing here but: During that movie, Parker said he wished he could have grabbed the children involved in the massacre, shaken them (before the massacre) and told them life won’t always be as painful and unfair as in high school. The children at the top of the social pyramid often end up at the bottom in the real world. Often, the bullies get their own healthy dose of bad Karma when they get older.

Former St. Bernard High School teacher and wrestling coach Roy Eaton, 60, has written a candid, poignant and wry memoir entitled “Soldier Boy.” It can be ordered at bookstores everywhere. It chronicles his transition from a young man to an adult. Roy’s persistence is evident throughout the book. Children these days can benefit greatly from listening to Parker and following Roy Eaton’s lead. Remember kids, Tempus fugit. And while being an adult brings it’s own set of distinct challenges and bullies, adulthood also comes with far more freedom and days to cherish.

NFA teachers Heather Botelle (science) and Katie Beit (special education) are among the teachers out there who have brought community service lessons back into the classroom. And that’s probably the best way to teach students the importance of community service.

The pair will soon head down to the northwestern area of Nicaragua to do water testing to help the Nicaraguans with their water quality. They also hope to raise money to build a health care clinic down there. They plan to weave what they’ve learned about the country so far/will learn into their various class lessons, which will also tie in messages about community service.

Rather than saying “Here’s a can, fill it with change or sell candy bars for ‘X’ charity,” incorporating messages about activism and community service into the teachers’ regular science lessons is a more effective way to drive home their messages.

I’ve never attended a class at the Southeastern Connecticut Science and Technology School, which was recently opened in New London, so I can’t say their classes are excellent. I also don’t want to play favorites with magnet schools.

I will say that the school building, which is an addition onto New London High School, sparkles. I encountered one amazing thing after another while seeing the halls, the walls, the floors and the equipment. Case in point, there was a machine that students can program with dimensions. The machine produces anything (up to 10 x 10) the students design in real, 3-D plastic form. Now that’s cool.

Most surprising of all, about a dozen students were at the school on a recent off day when I took a tour. They said they were there because they love learning at the school, which has a college campus layout, state-of-the-art equipment and a slew of science, technology and math classes to offer.

And no matter what facility students learn in, fostering that love of learning is what matters most.