Why does school system wait until morning

[mom2boys]

to tell us IF we have a delayed opening or no school. We have 9" of snow. The roads are expected to ice up over night. Our county has mountains & many side roads that the busses must travel. They just refuse to make a decision prior to 6 AM. All but 3 counties in the state have cancelled school for tomorrow. How far in advance does your school system announce weather related closings?

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I live in Richmond. It hadn't been snowing an hour last night before they just about shut everything down!

They also announced during the evening news that there is no school until tomorrow.

Nothing worse than finding out the last minute that there is no school, day care, etc and you still have to work.

 

[RNMOM]

Our schools announce in the am also. I hate the last minute arrangements that have to be made.

 

[Kermit]

Move down South. Our schools close at the slightest sign of bad weather, and they do it early. They announced yesterday that the schools will be closed today, even though all of the ice melted yesterday. I can't even figure out why they're closed in the first place, unless a significant number of them are still without power.

 

[Kteacher]

our superintendant is always one of the last schools to make a decision. It makes it hard when there's no announcement until after 6 a.m. and the buses come at 7 a.m.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

Where are you in Maryland, mom2boys? I am in Cecil County. Last night at 11:15 when I went to bed, 15 counties had already cancelled school for today, but not Cecil. Every bordering county was closed but I had to get up this morning to find out that we were closed.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

The one cape school that cancelled (and i have no idea why because they're on the lower cape and didn't get much snow...) cancelled last night.
Everyone else cancelled or delayed this morning.
Unfortunately for me...I have to go to school.

 

[Regina]

It's always been in the morning, and I have no problem with that.

The road conditions the night before are much different than they are the following morning. When we were heading to bed last night, I heard the plows coming through again, and it was after 11:00pm.

They have to make the decision based on current conditions.

 

[Serena]

They also wait to find out if the buses will start.

 

[LisaTx]

Originally posted by dvcreg

They have to make the decision based on current conditions.

Around here the weather forecasters can bo soooooo off on their forecasts. The schools almost always wait to see what the conditions really are before making a decision.

It's a good thing we don't have those calls too often. It must be so difficult for working parents to have to scramble around to find childcare at the last minute.

 

[piratesmate]

I was surprised that our schools were cancelled yesterday instead of opening & then sending them home later. Forecasting is getting better, but we often get told we're getting a lot & only get a dusting. For today's 2 hr delay, we didn't hear "officially" until this AM. The district has a new program where they send out email re: special events, school closings, etc. The message was sent at 11:56pm. I'm also signed up (since last year) with a local TV station that will send you email for early closings, late openings, etc. THAT message was sent at 11:18pm. I had to laugh - they had to send a bazillion different ones & they got theirs out a good bit earlier than the district that only sent one.

However, I KNEW last night. DH has a haircut tomorrow & they called to shift the schedule a bit. It seems a woman who drives bus couldn't make her time because of the delay. I got the call at 8:30. Hmmmm....

I find it interesting because we've always been told that they can't decide until the last minute becuase of buses starting, drivers getting in, poor forecasting, etc, etc, etc.

Maybe you should develop a friendship with one of your bus drivers.

Deb

 

[WendyZ]

We're in the same boat. I hate it! DD gets up at six, so catching the announcement before she is up is hard! Although we run on snow and such. There's even been some slippery mornings they really should of stayed home, but they never called it! That makes me mad!! All you need is a bus accident.
But, we make due. I just love it though when we have a snow storm and you know there not having school the next day, but you get up and check anyway!! YIKES!!

 

[Olaf]

Well your school district could be like Washington DC and not close until 8:00 am . There's a reason why it's the worst district in the country--run by a bunch of morons.

 

[Cindy B]

Same thing with me.. I didn't know if I ddin't have to go to work until 6 am.. (I work for a university), and the kids school didn't announce until 6 am.


It worked out.

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

Where I used to drive my school bus, we'd (the drivers) sometimes not find out until we had already gotten to work. There was one day, where we all got there and WE decided we would not drive because of the conditions. Sidewalks were not clear, intersections were blind because of high snowbanks on the corners, and some of the streets hadn't been plowed enough to safely let a big bus and cars pass in opposite directions. I feel for the people who have to make the decisions to close school early (really a tough call because most parents work and whose going to be home), cancel school, have a delayed opening or have school. You know that no matter what you decide, there are going to be parents and teachers upset.

 

[mom2boys]

We're in Frederick County. There are mountains & windy back roads. There is one road (near us) that they will announce "no bus service" in bad weather when school isn't cancelled. I understand not cancelling before the storm arrives. But the other counties manage. One thing I will give our county credit for is that sometimes they will close schools in certain high school feeder districts. So everyone has school except the kids who live in the area of Closed Highschool. There are two sometimes three that fall into this category. It is those of us in the Western end of the county - where the "mountains" begin.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

last winter I was halfway to school(juniro college) on a delayed opening when turns out they just closed.I ended up at the movies with a suprise afternoon off

 

[AWilliams]

I use to work for the Highway Department and the decision to close the schools involved members of the highway, police, and school departments. In most cases the highway/police departments make their decision around 4am and then wait for the school reps to call in.

It also seemed like more parents were upset when school was cancelled, as they had to go to work and had no one to take care of their kids. The highway did the best they could to clear the roads so that there were never snow days.

 

[Regina]

I don't know about your areas, but around here the radio station websites have "storm center" listings. I simply log on and check to see what schools are closed/delayed.

The funniest thing happened last year. School had closed. I noticed this one kid trudging to the bus stop. I believe he was in middle school. I opened my door and yelled out that school was cancelled. I still remember seeing him throw his arms up in the air and yelling "YIPPEE!!!! "

 

[Micca]

The weather here is so changeable that they really don't know until early morning whether or not to have school. DD says that during her entire 13 years in the public schools that she only had snow days on one occasion.