Dumb school closures for snow... and non closures.

[Arielle22]

Honestly, a lot of these decisions have little to do with the weather forecast and mostly do with whether the busses will start and the parking lots will be cleared. School systems here in the Northeast are taking more days than normal - yeah, we're getting pummeled but many of the problems are stemming from not having any where to put the darn snow right now.[/QUOTE]

I am in MA and I agree with the bolded part. We have snow banks that are impossible to see around and 2 lane roads down to 1 1/2 lanes. It is snowing right now and we are supposed to get another 6-12 inches of snow.

My daughters have had 3 now days in 25 days. One has also had a couple of 2 hour delays. The elementary schools have children who walk to school so the decision to cancel is based not only on the road conditions but on walking conditions. Plus we are a coastal community and some bus routes can be inpassable due to flooding.

I don't blame the school systems when they are open or closed, it is a tough call to make and someone will always be mad.

 

[Miller1412]

You must be in my neck of the woods. It took me three hours to get to work this morning and it usually takes me 25 minutes. And then after I got there, they announced we were closing early. Yep, I'm a teacher.

 

[crazelion]

Lucky! It's been snowing for a couple hours here already. It's a heavy, wet snow onto surfaces that are wet from rain since last night. Roads are going to be a MESS tonight. My road was wet, then snow covered, now is wet with a little snow (some seemed to have melt)... it's going to be a sheet of ice as the temps continue to drop.

Looks like the manager at my mom's store is going to close early and my mom is riding with her (we live next door to each other)... It's seriously going to be bad later.

I seen on the news how bad it for you. Man you got hammer on the mountains. They was showing that got two to four inches of snow and people was sliding badly on the roads. I guess you want be having school tomorrow.

 

[LilyWDW]

I seen on the news how bad it for you. Man you got hammer on the mountains. They was showing that got two to four inches of snow and people was sliding badly on the roads. I guess you want be having school tomorrow.

Yea, most schools have already called off school or at least decided on the delays. The snow has stopped, but I am really worried about the ice. When you have wet roads that are then covered in snow and then add in freezing temperatures... I have a feeling it's going to be a mess come morning.

Sadly, it looks like I will have class tomorrow night. Was sort of hoping for more snow so I could take the day off LOL.

 

[taitai]

We have had ONE "snow" day in 5 years-but it was really for dense fog, not snow. Growing up we usually had one or two snowdays/year but then they got better at cleaning the streets . Away from the metro area where there is more farmland and open spaces, they get a few snowdays or at least a few late starts each year because the rural roads drift so badly. If the 20"+ snowfall we had in December fell on a weekday, most of the metro would have had a snow day with that though-dang weekend snowstorms .

Yes, but even with that Saturday blizzard very little was cancelled. My sons still had their basketball games and their guitar recital that afternoon was still on. I mean NOTHING gets cancelled around here. It is crazy. Builds that great Minnesota character, I suppose......

 

[marcyinPA]

I know what you mean. My kids have had snow days that should have just been delays. Now that they have used every snow day but one they aren't closing when they need to.

Same thing here...

 

[Reddy]

here it is the head of the bus dept that says if school is going to be closing, starting late or staying open -- he checks the roads at 5am - knows where the bridges are that are usually the biggest problems. so really it depends on how the roads look at 5 & what the weater man is saying about how long it will last
then he calls the superintendtant for him to make the calls to radio & post on web.

 

[disney1990]

Unfortunately, it is not a perfect science. No matter which decision they make, somebody is upset. Lately, our schools have been calling for a 2 hour delay to give themselves more time to access the situation. Then if they don't like the road situation, they cancel school. People are, of course, upset over this option too. They think their kids are going to go to school and it changes.

I am glad that it's not a decision that I have to make everytime there is bad weather.

And to all those people in areas where you never get a snow day, your areas are totally prepared for snow. Lots of state don't have enough scrappers to do the roads, and no money to purchase more.

 

[heatherwillmom]

We've run out of snow days so the kids are going holidays that were scheduled off. We've had more snow this year than we have in a long time. The news said it was the worst winter since 1996. It figures, the year that I traded my 4 wheel drive SUV for a sports car. It really doesn't like the snow. I have had to get a ride to work some days. There have been days that school was cancelled before we had any snow. A lot of our county is rural. Some of the surrounding counties have missed more than us.

 

[huey duey & luey]

No doubt, but the other days they closed were definitely very minor, and in fact, most of the roads were CLEAR, even the side roads. I have a contractor at my home today. It is normally a 30 minute drive from where is office is to here. Today it took him almost 3 hours to get here, so, IMO, regardless of all that, just based on roads, they should have canceled.

And, just 5 minutes ago, they called and said they are closing school right after lunch.

NJ?

my dh said the roads were horrible this morning, way worse then the other 2 "snow" days

 

[Big Cuddly Bear]

NJ?

my dh said the roads were horrible this morning, way worse then the other 2 "snow" days

Philly. My wife is a department head and she said most of her people were 2- 3 hours late... fortunately we only live 2 -3 minutes from where my wife works, so it wasn't hard for her.

 

[fall08CP]

Snow days- what are those?

I never had one during high school or college. My parents wouldn't let us go in if the roads were bad because we had a 15 mile commute for HS but in college.. no such thing. 90% of students lived on campus and they figured it was always walkable The professors occasionally would call of class because their cars were frozen shut, but never did the school call an official snow day. Oh, and this was in Michigan, right on the lake. We'd get dumped on literally every night.. don't miss it!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Our local county schools were closed today (sleet didn't get here until 3pm) and they are closed again tomorrow. We have 3 inches of snow on the ground. I guess that is pretty big for northern virginia. I shoveled once and my driveway looks like I didn't do anything to it. Forecast is for 5-8 inches. This Florida girl has given up on shoveling. They weren't kidding when they said it would be heavy wet snow.

We homeschool--so the closures don't mean much except that they determine if our activities go on or not and I use it as my litmus of whether or not we will venture out. I *could* have ventured out this morning. But we had no reason to be out, so stayed home.

I don't get this weather phenomenon. It started snowing at 34 degrees, but then I've had weather systems where it was frozen rain at 29 degrees, but no snow and no accumulation. Anyone well versed in this care to explain?

 

[LilyWDW]

We've run out of snow days so the kids are going holidays that were scheduled off. We've had more snow this year than we have in a long time. The news said it was the worst winter since 1996. It figures, the year that I traded my 4 wheel drive SUV for a sports car. It really doesn't like the snow. I have had to get a ride to work some days. There have been days that school was cancelled before we had any snow. A lot of our county is rural. Some of the surrounding counties have missed more than us.

I grew up in Northern IL and now live in Jonesborough. I know how to drive in snow... heck, I learned to drive in snow (got my permit in Oct in IL....). It's a whole different ball game down here. They simply don't have the equipment to handle the bad weather we have been getting. Most cities are already out of salt or at least very low on supply.

Add into that... if I slid in IL, I ended up in a field. I slide on ice around here and I end up off the side of a mountain. Makes a much different experience.

 

[Liberty Belle]

That happened to us today, too!

There were over 100 accidents today due to the weather. Buses were sliding off roads, stuck on hills, 50 minutes late to pick up kids who were waiting outside at their bus stops. It was crazy!