How are snow days determined? Metro Detroit school officials explain.
(CBS DETROIT) — Kids love snow days, as they're a time for sledding down hills and building snowmen.
How and when school districts decide to call a snow day starts at the top.
"It starts with superintendent. Obviously, he's the one who makes that all-important call, and he will say that it's probably one of the toughest decisions that superintendents across the whole state have to make," said David Mustonen, director of communications for Dearborn Public Schools.
Superintendents turn to weather experts for the forecast.
"The superintendent does meet the Wayne County superintendent and arranges a call with a local meteorologist from our local TV stations," Mustonen said. "The technology has gotten so much better for them, and they're able to be way more accurate than they were 20 years ago, pinpointing exact amounts and times and how much, and so I will hand it to them for doing a great job of really being able to help us make that call earlier."
Factors like snow totals, road conditions, ice potential, and temperatures are all considered, but most important is the timing of it all.
"Twelve inches of snow on Saturday isn't really going to impact us. On Monday, three inches of snow falling on Monday morning between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. can have a huge impact on us," Mustonen said.
Each school district makes an independent decision, but the lines of communication within the county are open. When a snow day or remote learning day is called, school districts will send robocalls, text messages, emails, and social media posts.
"They work together to kind of get a sense of what other districts are thinking, and the actions that they may take," Mustonen said
While some school districts will decide to cancel classes, others will choose to go remote. Southfield Public Schools has already decided to have a remote learning day on Thursday.
"We can't predict how many snow days we'll have in a school year, but what we can control is the amount of instruction that we provide," said James Jackson, chief of staff for Southfield Public Schools. "A school district has a certain number of days that they are allotted to have a snow day and we also want to make sure that we are continuing the learning process for our students."
Information from county road commissions and city transportation departments is also essential.
"We have a transportation company we communicate with every day to make sure that we have the best plan in place for safely moving our students to and from their destinations," Jackson said.
