Reitz Journalism

Snow days, or two hour delays; that is what every student hopes for when there is a forecast for bad weather. When is it decided that school is called? Who decides it and why? There’s a process that directors must go through every time there is a threat for bad weather. A process that makes sure everyone is kept as safe as possible.

According to Marsha Jackson, director of communications, if there is a threat of snow, ice, etc. overnight, the bus transportation people go through a process they work through beginning around 3 a.m. If the weather is a threat at that time, those responsible for calling off school begin driving the roads throughout the county to see for themselves what the weather is like. “Everyone, including Dr. Yeager, Jim Harris (the new director of operations), and Dr. Bertram gather back at the transportation office combining information gathered while driving, weather reports from local forecasters, and predictions for the rest of the school day to decide whether or not to call school.” says Jackson.
Another good question is when the decision needs to be made. Usually when you wake up school is already called. Jackson says, “A decision is made normally before 5:30 a.m. because we have some buses that are on the road by 5:20 a.m, and start picking up students on the far northeast and northwest sides of town at 5:40 a.m., making it difficult to make a decision later than that.”
It is also good to give parents of younger children enough time to make other arrangements for their kids. So if you’re staring at the television praying for a delay, if it hasn’t come by 5:30 a.m. it’s probably time to start getting ready for school. Better luck next time.
Now we don’t always get the call we’re hoping for. Sometimes when we need the call the most, we still have to go to school. Why you might ask? Just like the call we did not get several weeks ago, snow did not start falling until 5 a.m. “The temperatures started dropping and the traffic on the roads made everything very slick, but by that point we had students already well enroute to school and it would have been an even more dangerous situation to have the buses take students home” says Jackson.
Another rather enjoyable instance is letting school out early because of predictions of freezing rain or snow. “When high school students were let out at 2:15 p.m. the weather forecasters were stating that by 3 p.m., we were going to have freezing rain and ice, so the call was made to get students home by 3 p.m.” says Jackson.
That situation was a perfect example of going by the weather forecast and the severe weather totally passing us by.
Not only are there threats for snow but also severe weather concerning tornado warnings. In a case of a severe weather warning, the safest thing to do is keep students at school until there is an all-clear given.
So when wishing for a snow day, remember that a lot of work goes into making sure students and staff are safe. A bad call here and there is a lot better than bad calls all around. If weather stations can’t always get it right, we can’t expect for administrators to do the same.