Munich on Monday morning: Small children are dragged to school on the sleigh in thick snowsuits, the older ones, who take public transport, crowd into the buses. At least in Bogenhausen, many people travel by car and the streets are congested. Everyone is late. Despite the snow chaos, classes in the Munich city area will take place as usual on Monday. The city of Munich’s coordination group decided this on Sunday.
On the Website of the municipal Lion-Feuchtwanger-Gymnasium, a neon green message lights up in the middle of the screen. “Attention, school is canceled today!” is written on it. It was only in the morning that parents and students were informed that classes at the Milbertshofen school could not take place on Monday. The reason: The emergency exits were blocked by masses of snow. But many teachers were already on their way to work, so organizing distance learning was no longer possible, says Corinna Kreiler from the city’s Department for Education and Sport. Students who still came to school were looked after on site.
However, the other schools in Munich opened as usual. Ulrich Ebert, headmaster of the Max Planck High School in Pasing, considers the decision to have face-to-face teaching to be a mistake. “It was pure chaos,” says Ebert about the morning at school. Many students and teachers only made it to class late – if at all. Students who were late or did not arrive at school were treated as excused; delays were not noted. Because there were no substitute teachers left, some students had to wait in the break hall, says Ebert. “It’s a school day with significant restrictions.” He doesn’t understand why teaching wasn’t switched to distance learning today. “We have the opportunity to do that.”
Things looked completely different at the middle school on Leipziger Strasse. There were no major failures today, says school principal Ulrike Langenfaß. Most students live nearby and walk to school anyway. Some teachers formed carpools. According to the headmistress, there were only restrictions during breaks. Because the large chestnuts could break off and snow avalanches could slide off the roof, the students had to spend the break indoors.
The situation at the primary school on Berg-am-Laim-Straße can also be described as relaxed. Some children were a little tighter today, says headmaster Michael Hoderlein-Rein – probably because they still wanted to slide and play in the snow. “The children like it,” says the director. And the students were lucky: the courtyard was cleared in time and they were able to romp outside to their hearts’ content even during the break.