Warning: Winter Ahead

As I left the high school gym last night a very light film of ice had developed on the sidewalk and cars. After I arrived home I check the National Weather Service to see what the forecast was for the rest of the night. The National Weather Service said that freezing rain was on tap for the evening. I went to bed early expecting an early morning phone call letting me know that conditions were dangerous and we should delay or close school. Yet the phone call never came.

Deciding when to delay or cancel school because of weather is difficult. Our district covers 125 square miles and has many miles of dirt roads. This winter we have been told that the county is not going to be as aggressive with spreading salt on the roads, hoping to keep its costs down.

We live in Michigan so we expect snow in the winter. If there was a chart that identified the exact conditions necessary to delay or cancel school it would make things a lot easier. Unfortunately, no such chart exists.

My commitment is to keep our students and employees safe. As we go through this winter there will be times when we delay or cancel school. We do it in order to maintain safe conditions for our students as they travel to school.

There have been days already this year where parents have called and told me I should have delayed school because of fog. There were days last year when parents called and asked why I delayed school because of wind chill. If you ever have a question about why I made the decision that I made do not hesitate to contact me. We may not agree but I will let you know why the decision was made.

My hope is that we have a mild and dry winter so I never have an early morning call asking me to decide if we should delay or close school.