TRAVERSE CITY — When the winter weather gets rough, school administrators rely on a team of individuals to help them make the decision to close schools.
District leaders around the region said they gather information from drivers who test the roads, county road commissions, transportation departments and each other prior to making the call to close schools for safety reasons.
Superintendents are responsible for making the decision to close school and typically do so between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., before school buses are scheduled to leave on their routes and before most families have left for the day.
“We obviously prioritize student learning, but safety comes first,” Traverse City Area Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Christine Thomas-Hill said.
Superintendents consider whether buses could get stuck and if new student drivers can handle the road conditions but, even if school is open, “it’s always the parents’ decision whether to send a student or not,” Thomas-Hill said.
To understand what the road conditions are like, districts deploy drivers to test the drivability of roadways prior to making any decision.
“Benzie is one of the first districts in our area to have drivers out on the roads,” Benzie County Central Schools Superintendent Amiee Erfourth said.
The director of operations and director of transportation travel to each of the four corners of the county, she said, to try and get a sense of the road conditions for the 350-square-mile district. They then return to the transportation department by 5:15 a.m. to share their thoughts and experiences.
“Our bus drivers are some of the very best around, along with caring deeply about our students and also about students being able to get to school on time. Our Transportation Director Mary Radtke is a very strong advocate for her drivers and is keenly aware of what type of driving conditions her drivers can handle.,” Efrourth said.
TCAPS, another large district, has five or six drivers with assigned areas who start driving around 3 a.m., Thomas-Hill said. Drivers share their findings with the director of transportation, who then calls administration.
“Sometimes our superintendent (Dr. John VanWagoner) gets out there, too, if he’s concerned or wants to know a little bit more. He’ll get out there and run some routes to see what the conditions are like because he’s responsible for the decision so he wants to know what’s going on,” Thomas-Hill said.
The district covers nearly 300 square miles, from Karlin to Old Mission Peninsula and crosses Leelanau and Benzie county boundaries. They keep in “constant communication” with the Grand Traverse Road Commission about conditions and their efforts to clear the roadways, Thomas-Hill said.
She said making the call can be a “challenge” because “what’s happening on the east side is different than the west side, and we have to consider the district as a whole.”
Smaller districts, like Suttons Bay Public Schools, also uses drivers to determine if snow, limited visibility, drifting, ice or extreme cold are an issue, Superintendent Casey Petz said.
Petz said he works with the transportation director, chief operations officer, and their operations team before making a decision. Their team is out driving the roads from 4:45 to 5:15 a.m. most days during the winter months to come to a consensus, he said.
Beyond the conditions that morning, districts look at how road commissions are managing the roads and the weather forecast. TCAPS takes any weather advisories, watches and warnings into consideration and when they’re supposed to end, Thomas-Hill said.
All three districts consult with other superintendents in the region prior to making a final determination. Thomas-Hill said it is “always helpful” to speak with other school districts, especially those that border TCAPS.
“The superintendents chat quite early, and so we always know what they’re doing and what they’re seeing, which helps. We have more people, more eyes and ears,” she said.
Superintendents making the final call realize the decisions can inconvenience families.
“We are always grateful to our families and staff for adjusting quickly when school closes and also showing up for when we can safely operate,” Petz said. “The winter months are very hard on all of us, and our families do a great job adjusting to every changing conditions and circumstances.”
Erfourth said that canceling school is one of the hardest decisions that she has to make as a superintendent.
“I know the weight of these decisions and the importance of the lives we are impacting by making these decisions … Every single life here is valuable to me and I know the heaviness of that responsibility,” she said.