With winter weather beginning to show, many students are hoping for snow days any time there’s a chance of snow. Although the process of calling school for snow may sound easy to students, there is a lot of thought and time that goes into making the decision. It’s also not a decision a single person makes; calling school for inclement weather is decided by multiple people from multiple departments.
“I play a part in those procedures, but I’m not the only one,” Mike Heyman, director of Rockwood Transportation said. “My voice doesn’t carry everything.”
The process starts once snow starts to fall. Rockwood grounds crews will go around and check the roads to salt or plow them, if necessary. However, the amount of snow isn’t the defining factor of a school cancellation. School can also be called if the temperature is low enough to cause frostbite to exposed skin in 15 minutes, around -20℉. The decision can also be made if buildings, usually older ones, aren’t able to produce enough heat to keep it warm inside.
“We’ve got to make sure that the buildings are warm enough for the students to have a safe, productive school day,” Heyman said.
Dr. Curtis Cain, Rockwood Superintendent, is part of the team that works towards making the decision to call a snow day. Although he does usually have the final say, he relies on feedback from several departments. Cain’s main goal is to keep the students and staff of Rockwood safe while having a productive school day.
After the roads and temperature are checked by the grounds crew, everyone will get together either in person, or if the weather is bad then over a conference call.
Rockwood is the largest school district in St. Louis County and the third largest in the state, making it quite difficult to call school at times as some areas of Rockwood may be barely affected, while others may be heavily affected at the same time.
This makes it a hard choice because one quadrant could have students unaffected by weather, while other areas are affected. This causes the process to be very thoughtful and time consuming.
Dr. Cain and Rockwood officials have stressed they want students and staff to be able to have a productive day while keeping them safe, and if weather prevents that then school will most likely be called. If school isn’t called, it’s because they don’t see it as a necessary reason to have kids out.
Not only can cold and inclement weather be dangerous for students, it’s dangerous for teachers and staff too.
“We have a lot of bus drivers and teachers that live in Jefferson County or in St. Louis County or St. Charles County,” Heyman said. “So we don’t want a bunch of teachers getting hurt or in an accident, or school buses falling off the road because it’s icy.”
