With more snow on the horizon for this weekend, many schools have either closed or will release early for Friday. At first glance, it’s not always clear why a particular district chooses to stay open or to close.
So, the question arises: How do schools determine whether or not to stay open?
Short answer: the roads. Specifically, districts have to determine whether school bus travel is viable or not throughout their geographic area, given the weather conditions.
Most districts have inclement weather policies, which lay out the conditions taken into account when deciding to risk bus travel or not. Kenton County Superintendent Henry Webb in an open letter to district families laid out the district’s decision-making process; Kenton County Schools closed on Friday.
“When inclement weather arises, we assess multiple factors to determine whether it is safe to have school, including road conditions, the status of school campuses, specific roads and turnarounds that buses cannot travel and weather forecasts,” Webb writes. “Decisions are made with safety as our number one priority after considering input from various experts and stakeholders, and communicated to families as early as possible.”
Kenton County Schools has created an alternative bus route plan to help families plan in the event their typical pick up locations become inaccessible. If a student still can’t safely make it to an alternative pick up location, the student is granted an excused absence. A representative from the district confirmed with LINK nky that members of the district’s transportation department would be surveying the roads over the weekend, as well.
Boone County Schools, which also closed on Friday, mirrors these criteria in its own inclement weather policy.
“As early as 3 a.m., if snow, freezing rain, sleet or other dangerous precipitation presents, our Assistant Superintendent for Operations set out to inspect the road conditions,” the policy reads. “They drive designated routes, checking the roadways that are typically the most dangerous when snow-covered. The team considers safe travel not only on streets but sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways. Other conditions to consider include the outside temperature, wind chill factor and the amount of precipitation fallen or falling. The Assistant Superintendent for Operations contacts the county public works department to check on road clearing progress. Once enough information is gathered and shared with the Superintendent the team focuses on one question: Would you feel safe transporting students in a school bus in the current or predicted conditions?”
The district then makes a decision from there. Documentation from other districts describes similar processes, namely having district safety teams survey roads early in the morning in addition to consulting with city and county public works departments.
“It’s a pretty straightforward conversation,” said Elaine Zeinner, communications senior manager for Boone County.
Zeinner said the county district will frequently consult with the county public works department to determine which roads are clear and safe and which ones aren’t as part of their decision-making process. Boone County Schools has the largest student population in the NKY region over a large geographic area and, thus, has more variables to consider than some of the smaller districts.
The viability of bus travel is a particular sticking point. Buses are peculiar vehicles with uneven weight distribution, and they’re especially susceptible to slick road conditions.
“Buses are kind of light in the back, and even on what appears to be flat ground, buses can spin out,” said Campbell County Road Department Assistant Road Supervisor Rick Buster.
Areas for bus turnarounds – which are exactly what they sound like – are particularly important. This can especially pose a problem in rural communities with numerous private drives, which county and city public works departments can’t legally enter or clear without permission. If a district feels there aren’t a lot of places where buses can safely turn around, it may elect to close schools to ensure safety.
In smaller or more urbanized communities with fewer private drives, this may be less of a problem. Ludlow Independent Public Schools, for instance, does not provide bus transport for its students, although there are tuition-paying students who have to drive in from out of town.
Still, other factors can prompt the smaller districts to close.
“We canceled on Tuesday because we didn’t fell the city sidewalks weren’t clear enough for the kids to walk to school,” said Ludlow Superintendent Jason Steffen.
It all comes down to student safety, Buster said, although he and other county representatives LINK nky spoke with emphasized that final decisions on whether to close, open or dismiss early fall to each individual district.
“It’s always best to air on the side of caution,” Buster said.