A Look Behind the Curtain

Transparent Look Inside a Snow Day from a Superintendent’s Perspective

The easiest way to explain a snow day from a transparent and vulnerable perspective is to provide an annotated timeline of what occurs from my lens. I am very cognizant that my lens is fallible and filled with my personal skew and bias.

In this timeline I will place the commonly heard complaints. This IS NOT intended to be passive aggressive. It is just to demonstrate that I am acutely aware of the arguments on both ends of the spectrum whenever one of these decisions is made.

All of that said, I think it is important to allow a ‘look behind the curtain’ so I am going to proceed in writing this. And yes, I think this will be cathartic.

OCTOBER

  • We host a luncheon for all road commissioners to ensure everyone is on the same page. We exchange phone numbers and review our typical ‘questionable day’ protocol.
  • I review with the BOE this protocol for inclement weather INCLUDING our ‘cold day’ protocols which will be reviewed below.

COLD DAY PROTOCOL

  • When projected wind chills are between -25 and -30 we go on high alert. This means I am up through the night monitoring whether or not those projections are accurate. If we hit the -30 mark, school is cancelled.
  • When projected wind chills are below -30 we proactively make the decision to cancel.

COLD DAY ARGUMENTS

  • -30 is just an arbitrary number so why do you use it?
    • Per the National Weather Service, skin can freeze in approximately 5 minutes in those conditions.
  • Anything below -15 can cause frostbite in under 15 minutes – why don’t you use that number?
    • I do not have a great answer for that, except that in most situations we can construct situations that do not force students to be outside for 15 minutes at a time.
  • We should never close for cold. Tell kids to bundle up.
    • We try, but the majority of our JH and up kids wear hoodies to school despite the temperature.
  • What else do you consider?
    • We do not provide transportation to students living within a mile of school. We need to account for their walk.
    • Some students are blocks (literally) from their bus stop. We must account for their walk to the bus stop and the fact that cold weather makes it more possible for buses to be late due to mechanical failure.

SNOW DAY / ROAD CONDITIONS PROTOCOL

  • Each Sunday during the winter months I touch base with our Transportation Directors about any potentially inclement days.
  • Sometimes it is easy and we get to make the call the night before – that is the ONLY time I like snow days. Oftentimes, that is not the case.
  • If an inclement weather day is approaching, we touch base the night before and institute “the protocol”
  • The protocol means that they contact the Road Commissioners and county police to give them an update prior to 4am.
  • At 4am we meet – virtually.
  • If the information we get is a NO GO – then I immediately inform the BOE and Leadership Team and send the all-call to go out at 5am.
  • If it is an ‘iffy’ situation, the transportation department drives the roads to inspect for themselves
    • Transportation drives the roads because I have never driven a bus. So, while I know what my Buick Regal can handle, I have no idea what an empty bus or a bus full of kids can handle. In other words, I leave it to the experts.
    • Fun fact – I recently totaled my car heading home from work on a snow day. I know, not smart.
  • By 5am, after driving and conference with the road commissioners the Transportation Directors provide me a recommendation.
    • Twice in my first two years I did not take their recommendation. I was extremely wrong and very lucky my decision did not get anyone hurt. I will, for the rest of my career, always take their recommendation.
  • In rare occasions, less than five in my career, Transportation has gotten back to me after 5am to change the recommendation.
    • This can happen as conditions change.
    • This can happen as more buses get on the roads and report back
    • This can happen if roads we thought would be able to plowed open prove more difficult to open than expected
    • This can happen as our partners change the feedback they have previously given
    • Again, after failing to change in the past saying ‘it was too late’ and having a horrific and dangerous morning, I will ALWAYS listen to this recommendation
  • Yes, the rumored panicked superintendent text group exchange exists. No, we do not all make the decisions together. Although, it is true, there is safety in numbers. Most districts have their own protocol and follow it. The text chain is a communicative courtesy. And to be honest, a life saver for new superintendents.
  • And ice – every decision maker in these situations is absolutely terrified of ice. It is less predictable and more hazardous.

SNOW DAY ARGUMENTS

  • If you have school on a day when roads are questionable you do not care about the safety of students and staff.
    • Nothing could be further from the truth. If our buses can safely travel, then we choose to operate in most cases.
    • Moreover, I serve a district where a student was tragically lost in a school-related accident on an inclement weather day. If anything, we are hypersensitive.
  • If you do not have school on a day when roads are questionable, we are ‘making America’s youth soft’ or whatever the similar argument is that may have different wording.
    • If listening to professionals that know the roads and the safety of travel better than the vast majority of Americans means I am making kids soft, then I guess I am guilty.
  • Snow days really impact the continuity of learning.
    • I know. I hate it.
  • Snow days burden parents with child care – especially in a Pandemic.
    • I know. I hate it.

REMOTE vs TRADITIONAL

  • We are currently working with building-level administration and our bargaining unit to create a decision-making process or team to decide when we will have remote learning days and when we will have traditional snow days.
  • When we choose snow days instead of remote this is the core rationale.
    • These days are not lost. We have five emergency days in the calendar, so they will be completed, in-person school days.
    • The overwhelming sentiment of the community when we were remote learning was that in-person learning was preferred, so this gives us the opportunity to have the day of learning face-to-face in the future.
    • When I (personally) do not proactively communicate with parents, staff, and students to prepare for an e-learning day (make sure you have your device home, etc.) it makes it less appealing to be remote when we will make up the day face-to-face later in the year.

I had many reasons I wanted to write this. First, I get so many complaints regardless of what decision is made that it became clear to me that people did not understand the process. Second, I think that people can be mad at whatever decision is made, but I do not think people can be mad at our process. We have developed and tweaked this over time. I am confident we take the right approach.

In summation, it felt good to write this. It was cathartic. The bottom line is I HATE snow days. But, I hate snow days less than I have hated sitting in the Transportation Office listening helplessly on the radio as bus after bus slides off of the road when I did not listen to their recommendation in the past.  

Tags: