What Goes Into School Districts Deciding Whether To Call For A Snow Day?
DENVER (CBS4) - Nicole Portee spent most of Tuesday on the phone, in meetings, and poring over forecasts. It's her responsibility to pass along the most critical information to Denver Public School administrators on whether school should close or stay open.
"We're looking for when the storm is going to hit in terms of time. How is that going to affect our overall ability to get kids to and from school?" said Portee, the Executive Director of Transportation for DPS.
The concern with Wednesday's storm is the timing. There shouldn't be an issue with getting kids to school, but getting them home could be dangerous.
"Our major concern was we want to ensure we're not putting any student or family in a hazardous position," Portee said. "It boiled down to, what are the safety implications of keeping kids in school and our ability to get them home. And how long would it take based on the progression of the storm."
DPS talks with other districts, CDOT, the City of Denver and other municipalities along with other entities to make its decision.
"A lot of times people look at the accumulation of snow, and I take into consideration ice. I take into consideration the temperature," Portee said. "We're really just trying to make the best decision possible and really thinking about the implications around that."
The decision is usually made around 5 A.M. for a snow day, but the decision to close DPS was made around 4 P.M. on Tuesday. There's already a conference call planned for Wednesday to discuss what to do on Thursday.
"It's very tricky and I think one of the things is, we're relying on the information provided to us. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don't get it right. There's pros and cons for every decision being made," Portee said.