As winter weather sets in with snow, ice and cold, I reflect on what I believe was one of the toughest decisions I made as a superintendent: to cancel school due to inclement weather.
In the context of public school administration, the decision to declare a “snow day” might seem trivial. Trust me, it is not! The decision impacts not only the students, but also their families, the district’s instructional and non-instructional staff, and the community. The decision pleases some and irritates others.
The students were relatively easy to please. Some employed a ritual, wearing pajamas inside-out, as the snow fell the night before to virtually guarantee a school cancellation the next day. I have no empirical evidence to verify this ritual’s reliability.
Parents and families were harder to please. Even though I made every effort to announce as early as possible a school cancellation, some parents felt the announcement came too late for them to arrange child supervision. Working parents could have a real problem. Some arranged child care in advance, some did not. Most parents supported my decision, those who did not often shared their irritation with me.
The instructional and non-instructional staff had mixed feelings about a cancellation. Most seemed to welcome the day off, but some were concerned how the day would be recouped if necessary. The collective bargaining agreements specified how a cancellation was to be recouped. In my experience the instructional and non-instructional staff usually supported my decision to cancel school and cooperated if additional time was required to account for the missed day.
I did not often hear from the community but occasionally someone would assert that I conspired with the “teacher union” to cancel school so everyone, including me, could have a paid day off. Also there were those who opined that the superintendent, staff, students and parents were “getting soft” because “in the old days” school was never cancelled due to inclement weather. The local road commission did a great job plowing roads, but sometimes road conditions simply would not permit the safe transport of students. Also, local media was effective in spreading the word throughout the community that school was canceled. Sometimes, however, the demand from districts to publicize their cancellation notices was so intense that it was difficult to get through to media, which resulted in a delayed announcement.
Every winter local media would ask me about my criteria for a school cancellation. I would have three priorities: safe transport of students on school buses; the staff’s ability to get to their work place; and safety of students who waited for school buses, came with their parents, or walked to school.
Most of the time I was fortunate to make the correct decision and enjoyed school board support. There were a few times when stakeholder reaction suggested I made the wrong decision but I still enjoyed school board support. The school board recognized that cancelling school is a tough decision.
