GRAND RAPIDS — A right of passage in every kid’s life… a snow day! They can be fun and exciting for most but also a pretty challenging decision for school districts. How do they make these decisions and what all goes into it? We talked to the superintendent at Forest Hills and Grant Public Schools to see how it works.
It's something most students look forward to every winter season. It’s also a big decisions school districts don’t take lightly which takes a team of people to make the call.
"There's more to it than you think, but first and foremost, we want to make sure that everybody's safe," said Brett Zuver, Grant Public School Superintendent.
"We every morning begin at 3:30am with our first maintenance person that comes in. So even if we see something that's surprising, he knows to start the call tree, they get other people out and looking at things," said Dan Behm, the Forest Hills Public Schools Superintendent.
Both Forest Hills and Grant Public Schools Superintendent agree it’s a tough decision to make. While each district has it’s individual challenges they have to think about the snow but also temperatures, visibility and brand-new high school drivers out on the roads.
"Ice is probably our biggest concern. If we have anything that turns to ice, our buses can make it through six inches of snow without too much of an issue. But you put a half an inch of ice, and that really changes things for everyone on that," said Behm.
Ice plays a big factor not only for districts in town but especially for those that live more in the country and off dirt roads.
"With a lot of our roads being out in the country and being dirt roads, the snow gets packed and if it if it's like today and the sun's out a little bit it'll freeze that top layer and then it gets really cold at night and they can turn into skating rinks pretty quickly. It's literally impossible for buses to travel down those routes," said Zuver.
Impossible road conditions can lead to several days off school making concerns with students having access to free and reduced meals and childcare.
"In a lot of people's minds, they think yes snow day vacation. But we've got so many families where both parents are working and they're having to find childcare for their students and for their kids," said Zuver.
Many districts still offer programs for childcare and meals when closed which families can make their own decision to take advantage of if needed. As schools start to move away from exclusive virtual learning many superintendents know there’s something magical about enjoying a snow day with no distant learning.
"I think it's great that we keep kids kids and it's nice sometimes just to have them experience that cultural thing that many of us have experienced before and that's a snow day," said Behm.
At the end of the day every superintendent at every school district has their main focus on one thing.
"My stomach, head and heart hurt until we know everybody's here safely," said Zuver.
"We always say if we're going to make an error, let's error on the side of safety," said Behm.
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