From My Couch

For the most part, people seem to understand the challenge of making weather related calls. Deciding whether or not we should cancel school, delay the start of classes, or dismiss early is not easy. I know, it always looks easy three hours after the fact when we are sitting on the couch in front of a warm fire. Yet, in spite of the detailed analysis that goes into making these decisions, we [school superintendents] are almost certain to second guess whether or not we made the right call. When we decide to disrupt the school day or schedule, we pray the radar tract holds up and the storm doesn't stall out or miss us entirely (sometimes that happens). When we decide to stick it out, we pray the storm doesn't change track and hit us at the most inopportune time (that happens too). The truth is, school superintendents are about as well trained as you are when it comes to the weather. I received most of my training at the University of Northern Iowa, and there wasn't a course on meteorology or school cancellations in my superintendent prep program. Granted that was a few years back, but I checked again recently; there still isn't.  

The run up to making any decision like this starts well in advance of the actual weather event; typically days beforehand. We'll get a weather bulletin from the National Weather Service out of Des Moines and take part in webinars or conference calls with the meteorologists. The forecast from our local media outlets are also part of the data gathering process. I have colleagues who will swear by a particular website, meteorologist, or some other prediction tool. Heck, I even know of one school that has a service they subscribe to that gives them the very best forecast money can buy. Yet in my experience, one is about as good as the other. 

However, one of the greatest resources we have at our disposal that the general public doesn't is each other. During deliberations that include such things as checking the latest weather forecast and physically driving roads in the district, there is probably no one that we rely on more than our brothers and sisters in arms: superintendents in the vicinity who too are faced with making crucial decisions with incomplete, unpredictable, and constantly changing data. I sometimes chuckle when an angry parent calls to tell me that we are 'the only one in school today', or 'the only one that cancelled'. I know that isn't true because we have talked. Probably multiple times, usually beginning around 4:30 a.m. Truth be told, we know what other districts are going to do before it is announced publicly. Very rarely will you see a lone ranger that has made a decision that is contrary to what every other school district in the area has done. There is strength in numbers.

Timing is pretty important as well when making these calls. From a practical standpoint, there are some immovable thresholds that can't really be tinkered with. In the morning for example, we have our early morning practices and rehearsals to content with. Those usually start around 6:00 a.m., so it is important to make that decision by 5:15 a.m. I know there are a lot of parents who appreciate knowing that so they don't have to make the trek into town unnecessarily. This is why you will oftentimes see a preemptive cancellation on morning activities the evening before. Not only does that buy a little time in the morning, but it also let's parents know they may not need to get up quite so early the next day! So, if morning activities are preemptively cancelled, that gives extra time in the morning to check roads and see how the radar is tracking. However, the latest we could ever change the schedule would be 6:30; and by then it's really too late as well. With our first bus leaving the barn at 6:45, waiting until then is just cutting it too close!

Plus there are other considerations. As a parent, how would you feel about finding out at 6:30 in the morning that school was delayed or cancelled? All of a sudden you are in scramble mode, particularly if you are already out the door and on your way to work! The same is true when an unscheduled early release happens. I recognize how disruptive this is for families, so we try to give as much lead time as possible. Plus, we try really hard to make sure we get everyone fed before sending the students home. For some of our students, they rely on that lunch because it might be all they get that day. 

Here's the thing though. At the end of the day this is a judgment call based on the best data available at the time the decision was made. That data layered among numerous other variables: student safety, the disruption to the family, when the buses have to move, making sure our students are well fed, and that; regardless of what decision we make, they are someplace warm and safe. Unfortunately I don't have the benefit of making that decision 3 hours after it has started snowing. Sometimes, well I'm going to miss. And we have to be okay with that.