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PilotNews > Features
> Sugar and spice and everything ice
Sugar and spice and everything ice
Number one rule in calling snow days: safety first
Maggie Nestor
Mar 31, 2008
When hearing that there is possible ice or snow in the forecast, students anticipate another possibility. Snow day.
Yet kids all over the district are not the only ones losing sleep the night before harsh weather. James Sandfort, Superintendent, is also waiting anxiously, as a stressful morning awaits him.
“I will get very little sleep the day before we are supposed to get bad weather,” said Sandfort.
Sandfort makes the final decision regarding whether school will be canceled due to snow, or in many cases ice. True tests consists of bus drivers from all three busing systems, district resident, city, and Special School District, driving certain areas and neighborhoods of the District, then reporting back to Sandfort on safety.
Sandfort then has to make an executive decision. If he decides the roads are too dangerous, he then calls the Asst. Supt., who calls the appropriate news stations. All this happens before students see the 6 am news.
“Student safety is the number one deciding factor in calling a snow day. The main question we ask ourselves is can we get our students to school safely on the school buses that we send out? That’s when we can make a decision,” said Sandfort.
A prime example of this safety issue can be seen in the somewhat icy weather received last week.
“Everything was really slippery and I watched about ten kids fall down a flight of concrete stairs. Even if the roads aren’t icy, time off should be considered if the campus is dangerous,” said Emily Krobath (10)
Also, because of the strict state rules for attendance, such as the 95% attendance rate requirement, other conflicts arise that affect Sandfort’s ultimate decision.
“Because we have to have 95% attendance, often times we have to decide how many students can actually make it to school, and whether or not it would just be better to make the day up with full attendance, when the weather is better,” said Sandfort.
Only three snow days were built into the school year, one of which was already used for the faculty emergency preparedness day last September. The other two are currently scheduled as professional development days.
Students often have mixed feelings about snow days.
“I’m kind of torn between snow days and not having snow days, because if we use too many, they tack it on to the end of the year, which can be worse,” said Joe Presson (11).
Natural impulse is to immediately want a snow day, and comments made about the so-called ‘unfairness’ or alleged ‘illogical’ methods of calling snow days are numerous.
“I feel like we never get days off. We get built-in snow days for a reason. Even if it’s not a blizzard, we should still get the days off,” said Katie Driver (12).
Conflicting opinions on snow days create tension, but ultimately the verdict rests on the superintendent.
“I get calls from people wondering how we could be so silly to call school off, and on the other hand I get people asking why we’re not calling school off. You’re a hero or a goat either way, depending on how different people feel,” said Sandfort.
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