At what early morning tempature should they cancel school in the Twin Cities area? (renting, house)

[I'm Retired Now]

School has been cancelled for my Grandchildren for a number of days this month. Not because of snow or ice but because of cold weather. The parents are going crazy and losing lots of money staying home from work to baby sit the kids who spend all day watching TV an playing video games.

I was looking at the extended forecast and noticed that it will be below zero at dawn (when my Grandkids will be at the bus stop) for five of the next ten school days.

This morning they cancelled school for temps around 10 below with little wind. Should they cancel schools for when it is 5 to 7 below at dawn in the upcoming two weeks also? If they cancel school for ten below, would five below next week feel that different if the poor kids standing at the bus stop don't wear a warm coat or hat?

What is your decision. I have put you in charge!

[MnMomma]

What happened to delayed starts? Today would have been a good use of one.

It was -17 (without windchill) when I drove my kids to school today. I have a nice car and it still wasn't too keen about starting at those temps, and I slid a bit on black ice on the highway entrance ramp. I would have been happier waiting an extra hour or two to take them in, but we got to school just fine and I'm happy they are back in school. I'm sure there will be at least a couple classmates that won't make it in due to transportation issues and those absences will be considered "excused."

It's definitely a hard call for school administrators--if most of the students had parents that had the ability to drive them to school or wait with them in a warm car at the bus stop (or arrange for a friend to do so), school could go on as usual. I don't know what my cut-off temperature is, but it's probably about -10, or windchill of -20. I hate to think of young kids standing outside today so I'm glad the public schools cancelled.

As for babysitting kids watching TV and playing video games, that's a parenting choice. I thoroughly enjoyed my kids yesterday. We played a few board games, cleaned up the house and worked on a project--and they did play on the computer a bit too. If I had needed to work from home yesterday they would have had more than normal screen time, but also would have read a lot too.

The main issue is that the public schools have to "play to the lowest common denominator." If there are families that can't have their children dressed appropriately and provide a safe waiting area, they have to cancel for everyone. If we can solve that problem, our community will be in much better shape. Glad I'm not in charge of that solution.

[I'm Retired Now]

You said that the main issue is that the public schools have to "play to the lowest common denominator.

If this is the case then the school should close every time the temp goes below zero at dawn when the kids without hats or gloves could get frostbite. Or about every third day in a typical Minnesota winter.

[jzeig104]

The predictions were for it to be much colder than it is today. With the windchill, it was to be -25 to -35 below. School superintendents have to consider many different factors when deciding about school in cold weather, including whether buses will start, what to do about walkers, the condition of rural and city roads, and yes, whether little ones will KEEP the clothing on that their parents put on them. Its a very tough call. The weather people have been pretty accurate this year on forecasts, but they arent perfect. So it was warmer today? Great. Potentially dangerous situation avoided. I for one, will never try to second guess a school superintendent making this very difficult decision.

[Thedosius]

I'd use the same kind of measure we use to measure floods; i.e.: floods are called a '100-year' flood if water levels reach a certain level only once every 100 years on average. Then we could say that for the 4 coldest months of the year, if the temperature reaches a low on that day equal to a 5 or 10 year record low, school could be cancelled.

I don't object to school closings for extremely cold temperatures, by the way. Better safe than sorry. Even though people have endlessly fascinating stories about how they braved cold temperatures to get to school 40 years ago it doesn't mean that was a good decision then nor is it a good one now.

[Unsettomati]

Originally Posted by I'm Retired Now

School has been cancelled for my Grandchildren for a number of days this month. Not because of snow or ice but because of cold weather. The parents are going crazy and losing lots of money staying home from work to baby sit the kids who spend all day watching TV an playing video games.

The school is there to educate, not to babysit. The fact that it happens to alleviate the need for a parent to watch the kids while they are in school does not mean the school is obligated to provide the service of watching someones children. That is not the purpose of schools.

And children watching TV and playing video games is a parenting issue. Why on Earth do you put that in there, as though it is the fault of the schools that a parent can't be bothered to have their children do something more useful?

I was looking at the extended forecast and noticed that it will be below zero at dawn (when my Grandkids will be at the bus stop) for five of the next ten school days.

This morning they cancelled school for temps around 10 below with little wind. Should they cancel schools for when it is 5 to 7 below at dawn in the upcoming two weeks also? If they cancel school for ten below, would five below next week feel that different if the poor kids standing at the bus stop don't wear a warm coat or hat?

What is your decision. I have put you in charge!

I have no issue with schools cancelling due to cold weather. The schools are attempting to do what is safe for the student body at large. The fact that some parents find that inconvenient is rather beside the point. This is Minnesota, anyone who is shocked that they will have to make accommodations for weather days now and then has no one to blame but themselves.

I know of no Minnesota schools than cancel classes with "no wind and 5-7 below", so I have no idea where you get that.

If I had a crystal ball, I'd give it to schools so they would know exactly what the weather conditions would be when they have to make their decisions a few hours ahead of times. But I don't have one. Neither do they.

Originally Posted by MnMomma

What happened to delayed starts? Today would have been a good use of one.

Nothing. Our district had a two-hour delayed start today.

[I'm Retired Now]

I don't agree that the public should blindly agree that the School Officials know best and we should give them the matter of the doubt because it is a tough decision.

How often in a typical Minnesota winter does it get below ZERO in a typical winter? Often. How common is it that it is windy and cold at the same time? OFTEN! So with that in mind should we cancel school every time the weather gets below zero and there is a wind because some kids will not dress in a warm coat and wear a hat.

FYI: There is suppose to be lots of below zero windy mornings in the next 15 days according to the weather forecast.

How often did the schools close when the temp got below ZERO in the 1990s?

[Drewcifer]

Originally Posted by I'm Retired Now

How often did the schools close when the temp got below ZERO in the 1990s?

I believe it happened statewide twice in the '90s. Once in 1994 the morning after the Twin Cities had a wind chill of -48, and once in 1996 the morning after it was -60 in Embarrass (I think it got down to -31 in the Twin Cities that night).

http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/h...windchills.htm

[MnMomma]

Zero degrees is clearly not the cutoff for cancelling school since the public schools are open on plenty of below zero days.

This chart may be helpful: Wind Chill Chart - weather.com

At zero degrees with a light to moderate wind, kids can wait at the bus stop for a reasonable amount of time without the risk of frost bite (even without mittens). But change that to -15 and this morning's expected wind (which didn't really happen) and the window of time you have outside prior to frostbite changes dramatically.

I think my dog is a pretty good decision-maker in this regard. He refused to go out this morning at 7.

[Thedosius]

Originally Posted by I'm Retired Now

I don't agree that the public should blindly agree that the School Officials know best and we should give them the matter of the doubt because it is a tough decision.

That's a strange way of putting it. I don't know if it's a question of "blindly agree that the school officials know best", it's a matter of agreeing that "someone needs to make this decision based on the potentially flawed information they have". That doesn't mean blindly accepting a decision, it means blindly accepting the human condition that sometimes decisions must be made with imperfect information and when it comes to school closing there's usually little time to review a decision and make sure the public is clearly informed as to whether school will be open or not.

How often in a typical Minnesota winter does it get below ZERO in a typical winter? Often. How common is it that it is windy and cold at the same time? OFTEN! So with that in mind should we cancel school every time the weather gets below zero and there is a wind because some kids will not dress in a warm coat and wear a hat.

If it is the case that schools have been closed every time the temperature hit zero, this would be a valid point.

It is not the case that schools have been closed every time the temperature hit zero, therefore this is not a valid point. Schools have been closed only during periods of extreme temperatures. I believe we're up to 5 day this year so far (?) where schools have been closed.

How often did the schools close when the temp got below ZERO in the 1990s?

I'm sure you're just as capable as anyone here of looking this information up. Personally, I think it's moot. That something was done a certain way in the past does not automatically mean that's the best way to do it. I don't care what our history has been on the issue, I only care if it is wise to have thousands of students waiting for buses (which may be delayed due to weather-induced mechanical issues) in lethal cold.

Just out of curiosity, why do these school closings bother you so much?