Snow Days - Great for kids, Bad for School Show Performers

Mobile Ed Productions is based in the Midwest, sending school assemblies all over Michigan and out into other states all over the country. All year, every year, year after year. Including all through the winter. We have seen our share of snow days over our thirty-one years of existence!

News today shows bad weather all over the South. Freezing temperatures, icy roads and snow. Weather emergencies being called by governors in several states. Well, they don’t get a lot of sympathy from schools in Michigan and the Midwest. Our winters are bad every year. Snow storms that close schools in Tennessee or Texas might not even be noticed in Chicago or Detroit or Cleveland.

But in the world of school assemblies and school shows, it is all bad. School show performers travel all the time, incurring road expenses to get to schools expecting great school assemblies. When a performer has a vehicle breakdown or a medical emergency, most schools are understanding. Some are not. But when a snow storm closes a school on the day a school assembly is scheduled it’s usually “Oh well, no big deal!” But to the performer, it is a big deal as most of the time performers are only paid when they perform. Now some companies and individual performers will charge a weather cancellation fee to cover their expenses. Mobile Ed never has, feeling that we cannot in good faith charge a school for an act of God such as a blizzard. So if we lose a date due to snow or flood we are just out of luck. The cost of doing business. Oh well.

But if you are the representative at the school, and your date is threatened by bad weather, it is really helpful to us if you call in and ask for the school show performers name and cell number and then alert them asap if it looks as though weather may cancel the date. Sometimes our presenters have driven hours the night before to get to you. If they have a heads up it may at least allow them to avoid driving all night for nothing.

If the weather does cause a cancellation, please  try to work with us. We will do everything we can to find a workable make up date for your school show that is acceptable to you so that your students do not miss out. On a rare occasion when we cannot offer you the same program, try to be open about alternative shows and dates which we will offer. Just because the school missed a day, the kids shouldn’t miss the thrill of a great school assembly! And in this cold weather, when outdoor recess isn’t always possible, there isn’t anything better than a great school assembly!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN