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Superintendents have a tough decision to make each wintry day. Shut down and you lose money from the State, shut down too often and you have to push the last day of school out into the summer.
Or shave off breaks. We've done that.
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Don't shut down and more people could get into accidents or get frostbite.
This district became more liberal with calling the day for weather conditions after a school bus full of kids rolled due to black ice about seven years ago.
I've never lived somewhere where the school year was extended due to using up snow days. Good Friday was the first day to become a school day. Spring break days were taken next. If necessary, the remaining superintendent days would be used. In many states, school is required by law to start after a specific date and end by a specific date. Schools also have to deal with the state exams. Those are given on the same date in the entire state without exception. There's state laws mandating them as well.
In 2011, here (I was teaching special ed and prepping the very involved alternative state asessments), we were given a week larger window by the State Department of Ed to complete state testing. This was because we had three back-to-back blizzards and were in session only about one third of the month, altogether. Everyone got an extension for state testing.
They also rarely build in many snow days, here, because something like that is a fluke in the region. We shaved days off breaks to compensate. We didn't go into summer, because as a year-round school, we already had ESY in summer. But the district I grew up in, and where my mom still teaches, they still do go into summer to make up excess snow days.
Then what does it mater if it was due to cold vs snow? The op seems concerned that it was delayed due to cold rather than that it was delayed. What difference does it make to work if the delay is due to cold ca snow?
Now I’m confused... the OP said the “only one of my answers that made sense†was the one regarding road conditions during morning rush hour.
Since temperature alone won’t affect safety during high traffic volume times, I guess I was thinking the issue was the delay itself.
Do the roads ice up without snow where the OP is? (Someone mentioned Indiana) I guess if they do that would account for the miscommunication, because it’s way too dry where I live for that to happen. If it didn’t snow overnight the only way our roads would be icy is if a previous snow had started melting then re-froze after the sun went down.
1. Warming up the school. Takes times for the school to get to a nice comfy temperature or at least one which won't freeze your butt off.
2. Getting buses started. Some buses may not start right away and you don't want the kids to stand outside for long waiting for said buses. This is probably the major reason. Buses are notorious for not starting in cold weather.
If it's that cold, they should be getting to work earlier and getting that done instead of inconveniencing possibly hundreds of parents.
Why can't the school start up the buses and heat the buildings the day before school starts? Are they morons?
Sometimes they have ran the day before if there was school. They still sit over night in below freezing temps. If you want to pay for each bus to idle all night I guess open your wallet. Public schools have limited funds. Everybody should know it's a very real possibility that school will be cancelled or delayed during inclement weather. If you have school aged kids it should be expected from time to time. Obviously it's a pain, but it's life.
If they have school and something would happen, they would get in trouble. But when they play it safe parents complain. Our school district floods, and many people live in flood zones. Some parents complained we delayed or left early too often for high water. They assume if it's not bad where they live, its the same for all 1000 other kids. One morning we didn't cancel when we should have, school got let out early, but it was too late. Many kids were stranded on the busses and local churches had to open their doors to let them in overnight. Those parents were livid. For years after that we seemed to cancel/delay/leave early every time there was a storm.
The answer is easy and has been said many times: The delay is because many of the buses won't start right away.
Diesel engines are hard to start in the cold because the cold fuel can gel or wax which makes it thicker and clogs injectors. This is easily remedied by having plug-in heaters for the buses, however, in places where extreme cold snaps are rare, it is not cost efficient to create an infrastructure where every bus can be plugged into an outlet. This means plugged in buses get started first, then then a cold bus can be plugged in and warmed and started, and so on.
Also, as the weather gets colder, batteries lose efficiency and won't turn over. This means some buses will have to be jumped after the fuel is warmed. As we all know, a battery may perform just fine when temps are warmer and will have no problem starting, but the cold cranking amps may not be up to par. You find that out only when the car doesn't start in extreme cold.
Right now, an extenuating factor on all this is the fact that most buses were not started over the 2 week holiday break.
This process can take a while, hence the 2 hour delay.
Additionally, school budgets are very tight. The district has budgeted a certain amount of money towards paying bus drivers. In other words they pay X number of drivers $Y/hour for Z number of days. That money can be tightly controlled. Bus drivers are hourly workers. If bus drivers come in an hour early, then the budget is off.
Where I live in suburban Denver, bus drivers start at $17/hour. In the large district where I live, there are at least 1,000 buses taking kids around each day (school district has 85,000 kids). Bringing in the drivers 2 hours early would cost the district $34,000/day, or about $100,000 every three days.
And, yes, school districts do close in extreme/dangerous cold. Here in Denver, that means the temps are around -15 degrees at bus pickup time with highs not exceeding 0 degrees for the day. This happens once or twice a decade.
And, yes, school districts do close in extreme/dangerous cold. Here in Denver, that means the temps are around -15 degrees at bus pickup time with highs not exceeding 0 degrees for the day. This happens once or twice a decade.
Yes. My kids go to school in a different suburban Denver district than the one in which davidv teaches. In the 16 years I had a kid in that district, they closed for cold once, and the low for the day was -20.
Why can't the school start up the buses and heat the buildings the day before school starts? Are they morons?
OMG ...
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Originally Posted by Riley09swb
Our county just announced another 2 hour delay for tomorrow due to the temps and the high winds.
Most schools around here are closed today - not just a 2-hour delay - even though the snow from Thursday is mostly cleared from the roads. It was 3 degrees at 7 a.m. - about 20 degrees below the average low temperature this time of year - and the winds are brutal. Even my nonprofit employer was closed today - one of our programs is a state-funded preschool, and we usually follow the school district's lead. Most of the students walk to school, so buses aren't usually a factor. Cold temperatures for kids walking, the road conditions for teachers driving to school, and how well the sidewalks around town are cleared for the kids to walk to school safely are the factors the district uses.
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