CHENANGO – Students across the county could be seen enjoying their day off from school yesterday as an icy winter storm covered the area with snow and freezing rain and prompted all eight public districts to close.
The National Weather Service reported that four to five inches of precipitation fell in the early morning hours. Officials continued to issue advisories for the region throughout the day.
The final decision to declare a snow day rests with a district’s superintendent, but it’s a process involving input from a number of people.
Unadilla Valley Superintendent Robert Mackey, who used the school’s first of six set aside snow days yesterday, explained a weather prediction was not the sole factor in deciding to close or delay.
“We do not make decisions solely on weather predictions. We take it into account, along with the history of a particular storm so far, and hold a number of key conversations with the school’s transportation staff, town highway officials and other districts,” he said.
Mackey said Tuesday’s icy forecast made making a snow day decision relatively simple compared to others.
“Degrees of snow fall are one thing, but icy roads make it more difficult. Nothing is really built to travel on ice, school buses not being an exception.”
Mackey said the UV Head Mechanic Tim Mayne was up before 5:15 a.m. and kept in close contact with the Town of New Berlin Highway Department through a shared radio frequency that allows drivers to relay information about roadways as they worked to clear snow from them. The district also contacted other local schools, such as Sidney and Gilbertsville-Mount Upton to share information.
Norwich District Superintendent Gerard O'Sullivan said the school practiced a very similar decision-making process. The school used its second of five planned snow days yesterday.
Sullivan said Norwich’s Director of Transportation, Dave Daniels, would actually drive along the districts roadways at about 4 a.m. to get an idea of their conditions. He then contacted the Norwich Highway Department area emergency services and other nearby school districts to gain a consensus.
“During these discussions, the highway department will convey how their work is proceeding, if a plow has broken down, and any other issue that might effect clearing the roads... It is taken into consideration,” said O'Sullivan.
The Norwich District Superintendent said he discussed the morning’s situation and forecast with Daniels and made a decision by about 5:30 a.m. Mackey also said he followed this same pattern of deadline and for the same reasons.
Both districts expect some buses to depart between 6 and 6:30 a.m., and staff, such as criteria workers and custodians, arrive at around 6 a.m.
Mackey said Unadilla had to make special consideration because the district covered a large and diverse geographical region causing differences on how badly the weather impacted certain areas. “When one part of our district is severely effect while the rest of it is not, that’s when decision get tricky,” he said. Mackey said UV even maintained a small number of 4x4 vans and SUVs that could pick up students in the more remote locations of the district during isolated bad weather.
Norwich transports 1,900 students twice daily along 30 bus routes.
“We make the best decision we can at the time. At the time, it’s 5 a.m. in the morning and if the conditions are dangerous, I’m not going to take the chance of putting a bus into a ditch,” O'Sullivan said.
“I think it’s one of the hardest decision you can make. A handful of people will almost always complain no matter what you decide. Our only determination in making the call is responsibility for student safety,” said Mackey.