With the first storm of the season comes the question – will we have a snow day?
Public works departments are in constant contact with superintendents about road conditions when trying to decide whether to cancel or delay, according to Mary Bourque, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.
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“It’s an imperfect science. It’s a judgment call,” Bourque said. “There are times when you make a call because you think a snowstorm is coming in and then you’re lucky if you had three flakes.”
School officials keep a close eye on forecasts like NBC10 Boston’s First Alert Weather to see the timing, temperatures and snow totals, to make the best decision as early as possible. Now is a first for Dr. Xiomara Herman, superintendent of Amherst – Pelham Regional Public Schools, who moved to New England over the summer from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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“It’s funny for me because in the Virgin Islands, we’ve had inclement weather days and rain days from hurricanes and tropical storms so having to call a school-related closure because of the weather is not new to me,” Herman said. “I understand the impact of students having to traverse, parents getting children to and from school and that impact.”
Public schools across the state already have five snow days built into their 180-day calendar year. Superintendents do their best to give parents a heads up as early as possible, but the decision could come down early the morning of a storm.
For a list of Massachusetts school closings, click here.
“If a superintendent gets it wrong, I think we need to make sure that we are giving grace and forgiveness,” Bourque said. “We want everyone to be safe and so it’s always a judgment call in the best interest of safety of our community.”
