School leaders look at many factors when calling a snow day

Who doesn’t love a snow day?

You get to stay at home and relax, watch TV, play games or go outside and hang out with your friends and do whatever you want on the snow day. The only time you loathe a snow day is when they start making the school year longer, but then why do we only have around 3 days of excused snow days when we live in Wisconsin? What type of weather is most likely to lead to a snow day? Who finally decides if you were to have school or if it’s going to be a snow day? I’m pretty sure all of us have thought about at least one of these when we had a snow day, so I asked the superintendents of Rib Lake, Gilman, and Medford some of these questions. My first question was What’s the most common weather that will lead to schools having a snow day? Travis Grubbs of Rib Lake, Wally Leipart of Gilman, and Pat Sullivan of Medford responded with relatively the same answer and that was ice, wind chill warning, and heavy snow after midnight are the most common weather types to have a school call for a snow day.

How do you decide when to have a snow day? “For wind chill warnings, if the warning is issued by the NWS, we would cancel. For ice/snow we look at the forecasts for the storm, check road conditions between 4-5 a.m., consult with our bus company, neighboring districts and local village/town workers,” said Grubbs of Rib Lake.

“We strive to make the best decision we can with the information we have regarding the weather event. Weather conditions can change quickly and potential conditions can result in changes in severity of the National Weather Service updates. Even though recent weather events have been less severe than what was forecasted, we do take caution when warnings are issued and will close school while a warning is in effect. Lastly, when mass closings occur across the region, we often err on the side of caution and close school as well,” said Leipart of Gilman.

“I decide by talking to our bus contractor, (Krug Transport LLC). I also will consult with the County Highway Department along with looking at the forecast. After considering input from all of those people, I make my decision,” said Sullivan of Medford.

Why does the school only have around 3 days of excused snow days and not more, and is it possible that this could change in the future? “This is just a guess on how many snow days we may need any given year. After 2-3 snow days, even if we were to build in additional days, I believe we would still want to consult with our school board on the way we should be making up those days as this would be a pretty big change to our calendar,” said Grubbs of Rib Lake.

“Per state statute and the Department of Public Instruction each school board shall annually schedule at least 437 hours of direct pupil instruction in kindergarten, at least 1,050 hours of direct pupil instruction in grades 1 to 6 and at least 1,137 hours of direct pupil instruction in grades 7 to 12. In the event of canceled school days we make up days that are necessary to meet this requirement,” said Leipart of Gilman.

“We have three because we see the value of every minute of a child’s education. Yes, it is possible that could change,” said Sullivan of Medford.

How much say do the bus drivers get in having a snow day? “Bus drivers provide advice to your bus company,” said Grubbs of Rib Lake.

“They provide advisory information,” said Leipart of Gilman.

“I only talk with the owners of the company, Bruce and/or Barb Krug. I don’t know what involvement the drivers have with those two,” said Sullivan of Medford.

Who gives the final decision to cancel or not cancel school? All of them replied with one simple singular word “Superintendent”, and now that we have 6 more weeks of winter thanks to Phil, who knows how many more snow days there might still be coming this year.