Anyone else ready for spring? I certainly am. My apologies to the winter sports enthusiasts out there but enough is enough! This winter has reminded many of us, myself included, of the Blizzard of 1978. At the time, I was in 7th grade at Northeastern Junior High in Kalamazoo. I know, the guy in the picture looks much older. Lucky for me (and my neighbors), I had an old snowmobile that I used to deliver groceries to many of my neighbors. I don't recall how many school days were canceled but as I recall it was nearly 2 weeks. I'm sure that like many kids I enjoyed the time off from school - at least for a few days. Which brings me to the purpose of this blog entry.
The decision on whether or not to close school is not an easy one nor is it taken lightly. Many factors are taken into consideration. They include:
The decision on whether or not to close school is not an easy one nor is it taken lightly. Many factors are taken into consideration. They include:
- How confident we feel that our students, staff and buses can safely make their way to school.
- Each school day is critical to the accomplishment of our educational mission. We want kids in school as much as possible.
- What kind of weather is forecasted? Is more snow or ice expected? Early dismissals can be very problematic.
- While we do not have a set policy regarding temperatures, diesel vehicles like school buses are often difficult to start in extremely cold weather. Will the buses start?
- Are the authorities (i.e. State Police or Road Commission) advising that drivers stay off the roads?
- What are our neighboring districts doing? While there is no strict guideline here, we often do consult with the districts around us before making the call.
- Is there a need to cancel evening activities such as athletic contests which are quite difficult to reschedule?
- Where are we with respect to the state's limit of 6 forgiven snow days and will time need to be made up later in the
year?