Last week’s winter storms had local school districts playing many of their greatest hits: One-and-two-hour delays, late-afternoon postponements and fully-day closures. But how do district officials decide what’s appropriate when inclement weather hits the Hudson Valley, and how has the process changed over the years?
It actually begins before the school year even begins, when administrators approve their academic calendar. School districts in New York State are required to remain in session for at least 180 days during a school year, a figure that accounts for the delayed opening option: Even with a two-hour delay effectively cutting a quarter from a school day, it still counts. Canceling school altogether does not, but that’s where a district’s predetermined allotment comes into play.
Most local districts set the number from year-to-year, often six or seven days built into the calendar. Hit the magic number and nothing changes. Use more than the prescribed number of closures and it can impact the length of spring break or other non-federally mandated planned days off. Use fewer than allotted, remaining planned days off are added elsewhere.
But two-hour delays are something of a mixed bag, said New Paltz Central School District (NOCSD) Superintendent Stephen Gratto.
“Delays have their advantage because they give us time to check the roads to make sure they’re safe or to clear our facilities so that buses can roll and everybody can get in safely,” he said.“The disadvantage is that that’s educational time that you’re never going to get back because the kids miss out. So when it comes down to it, if it’s a toss up between a delay or a closure, we will often opt for a closure because we do get that educational time back.”
Commonly referred to as “snow days,” sometimes they’re used when there isn’t any snow at all.
“These days of non-instruction can be used as ‘snow days’ or for other emergencies,” said Saugerties Central School District Superintendent Dan Erceg.“As an example, they could be used for flooding, a broken water pipe, or power outages.”
Snow is sometimes the least treacherous to navigate, said Kingston City School District Superintendent Paul Padalino.
“Snow is usually not easy, but easier,” Padalino said. “Unfortunately, the last couple of years, most of our snow days or emergency days were really around either ice, or power loss, or floods, which is pretty new. I guess you’d call it global warming.”
Most districts follow a similar routine when it comes to making decisions about whether to delay or close school for the day, with superintendents working with transportation directors and others to assess the situation based on a variety of factors. Storms rarely arrive without warning.
“We generally start with the forecast and the radar for incoming weather,” said Onteora Superintendent Victoria McLaren. “Our director of transportation will often be out driving around our district by 2:45 a.m. to ascertain the road conditions. She also is in contact with the various towns and highway departments that cover our district to see what they feel are the issues or concerns.”
Like others, the Onteora Central School District transports students to programs outside of their own school district, so officials are also in contact with neighboring districts even while getting the lay of the land in their own area.
“We then have conversations and discuss the road conditions and the forecast,” McLaren said. “Our priority is always the safety of our students. If a storm is expected to arrive in our district at a specific time, we need to dismiss early enough to deliver the secondary students home, bring the buses back to the elementary buildings and deliver those students home.”
McLaren added that ensuring the district hits the 180-day state threshold is not a factor in determining whether to open with a delay or dismiss early.
“We exist to educate students and providing instruction is important to us, but there are other reasons to open school even when we may need to dismiss early,” she said. “Many students receive services that are important to them on a day-to-day basis. There are students who may be experiencing food insecurity and if we can provide them with breakfast and lunch, we will do that as well.”
The Hudson Valley is very geographically diverse, with rural peaks and valleys, urban centers and schools where some students walk to class, while others take extensive bus rides. That geographic diversity is also apparent in school districts like Kingston, where delays and closures are undertaken to ensure the safety of all students.
“Sometimes parents say, ‘How are you opening, I’ve got five inches of snow in my driveway right now,’ and we don’t have it anywhere else in the district,” Padalino said. “And some parents will be like, why are you closing? There’s nothing here.’ We’re 98 square miles in this district, and we have the urban centers, and we have our suburban areas and we have rural areas, and we have different elevations and people who live near the Esopus (Creek). Never once have I had a delay or a closing when I haven’t had those phone calls.”
For local parents who grew up in the Hudson Valley, they may have childhood memories of waking up to snow falling, then tuning into a local radio station to find out if school was delayed or closed. While the radio is still used, there are other options available to local school districts to notify families of weather-related school closures. All four school districts contacted for this story use a combination of website and social media notifications, e-mail blasts, texts and a student management and school messenger systems. The goal is to reach all district families before anyone is unnecessarily bundled up in snow pants and scarves.
While school districts, students and families alike watch the calendars to see how, when and how often their allotted snow days are used, one district is hoping they’ll have one left over for a specific and exciting event.
“We’ve earmarked April 8th because April 8th is going to be a total eclipse of the sun at just about the same time that students are dismissing from school,” said NPCSD Superintendent Gratto. “So we really don’t want our students on the bus at this time. Not that we think it’s really a safety thing, but we think it’s something the students should be able to experience. And so we will, if we have days still available, take a snow day on April 8th.”
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