NOTE: This was written for broadcast and reflects the thoughts of Neal Barton.

Any time I go through a problem in my life, I always look back and think, “How could I make it go easier?”

Last week’s ice storm comes to mind.

I’ve been behind a microphone for 44 years and have worked many ice storms. Who’s closing and who’s staying open is always tough.

Let’s just talk about school. Instead of 24 hours of cancelation crawls and now QR codes, Why can’t we go to a grid system?

A grid system for our schools in the East Texas area. The call about where there is school and where school is canceled should be made by a state official, taking the responsibility off of school superintendents.

In other words, where they say one area’s ice was worse and this area will not have school, other grids will still have school.

This would take a lot of the guesswork out of the mix and leave more time for news agencies to cover the effects of the storm and not play the “What’s the password?” game that newsrooms and schools have to deal with. Just simplification, how about that?

That’s my point of view, what’s yours? You can email me at pov@ketk.com or Facebook me at KETK Neal Barton.