Early school closings due to weather

[maflynn]

So the school system my kids go to is closing 3 hours earlier due to the snow storm.

Here in the boston area we've been getting hit with a major (foot or more) snow storm every week since December.

Anyways my question is why do they close school earlier, when its usually more treacherous earlier in a storm, i.e., snow plows haven't gotten it under control. Its more disruption trying to get there because of the sudden change in time.

what happens to kids who's parents are unable to pick them up in time. I'll be leaving work soon, and it usually takes me an hour. What happens if the trains stop working because of the weather and it takes me 4 hours to get there?

To my uneducated eyes, it would seem easier, safer and less stressful if they don't change the time.

 

[Hellhammer]

I don't understand why they close the schools in the first place. If you get around a foot of snow every week, a bigger snowstorm shouldn't be a problem as you are used to having snow and have the equipment to clear the roads and stuff.

During my +10 years of studying, there hasn't been a single day when school was closed due to weather. Buses and trains are late of course but schools run normally. No shorter days, no excuses, no day offs.

I'm not trying to mock US or any other country but don't you have the proper equipment to deal with snow? Everything works normally here, no matter was it +25°C or -30°C and 80cm of snow. Like I said in the other thread, I still find it hilarious that things get a full stop in other countries when they get snow.

I do agree with your logic that it seems to cause more harm to close schools early than run them normally.

 

[bobfitz14]

just curious what schooling system are they in in Boston? but yeah, my college never cancels class despite all this snow (though many professors won't show up regardless) and all the commuter students are raging at the administration. which they should cause they're coming from all over the place including Providence.

 

[maflynn]

They're in the Revere school system.

I can see a delay in the school day to make sure that the roads are safe, but why send them out in the meat of the storm?

 

[heehee]

Do they have school bus?

When I was a kid, I used to walk 3 miles to school in 3' of snow uphill, both ways.

 

[TheShinyMac]

My private highschool in Boston will have had its 5th snowday today. I like breaks once in awhile too but we are aproaching 6 days off. We are not even required to make up the time. All the money my parents pay and they cancel classes all the time, damn jesuits.

 

[fireshot91]

Eh. We had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off last week due to inclement weather. It was actually necessary here though. The kids in this county can't drive for crap.


Then, we had Monday and Tuesday off due to the end-of-quarter Teacher Workdays. So, we had a 7-day off-period. Our snow-day limit is three, and we hit that on Thursday. So, the Friday that we got off is what we have to make up, as well as any subsequent cancellations.

As of now, our county extended the quarter until this Friday to ensure the teachers and students turn in all necessary work. And, we will be going to school on Presidents Day as our first make-up day.

 

[Tomorrow]

Here (north Texas) schools are closed outright today. Districts build a few days into the school calendar for inclement weather, so no time is actually "lost" - unused snow days are taken off in the spring.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I don't understand why they close the schools in the first place. If you get around a foot of snow every week, a bigger snowstorm shouldn't be a problem as you are used to having snow and have the equipment to clear the roads and stuff.

During my +10 years of studying, there hasn't been a single day when school was closed due to weather. Buses and trains are late of course but schools run normally. No shorter days, no excuses, no day offs.

I'm not trying to mock US or any other country but don't you have the proper equipment to deal with snow? Everything works normally here, no matter was it +25°C or -30°C and 80cm of snow. Like I said in the other thread, I still find it hilarious that things get a full stop in other countries when they get snow.

I do agree with your logic that it seems to cause more harm to close schools early than run them normally.

You live up north were they have equipment to handle winter weather.
In warmer climates they just do not have the equipment to handle the mess. Here in Houston for example any snow or ice will shut down the entire city along with schools. Reason for it the cities here do not have equipment to handle it. The city of Houston has some salt/sand trucks but no were close to what is need to cover all the roads. The city around Houston (my home town for example) do not have any trucks to put salt on the road. The State will put some on the state roads but even then not much in this area so most of the time you get nothing on the road and they only hit dangerous areas any how (intersection and bridges)

As for closing schools early they are trying to get the kids out of there and home to safety before the worse of the storm hits and before the roads get worse. Generally the roads are only going to get worse not better. 3 hours is not much time to clear the roads and prep them. So they are getting them out of there and home before hand. Also they avoid dealing with heavier traffic with the buses so another safety factor.
Lastly they have their own staff to worry about and the staff is trapped there until the last of the kids are gone so they want to make sure the staff gets home safely.

 

[Hellhammer]

You live up north were they have equipment to handle winter weather.
In warmer climates they just do not have the equipment to handle the mess. Here in Houston for example any snow or ice will shut down the entire city along with schools. Reason for it the cities here do not have equipment to handle it. The city of Houston has some salt/sand trucks but no were close to what is need to cover all the roads. The city around Houston (my home town for example) do not have any trucks to put salt on the road. The State will put some on the state roads but even then not much in this area so most of the time you get nothing on the road and they only hit dangerous areas any how (intersection and bridges)

As for closing schools early they are trying to get the kids out of there and home to safety before the worse of the storm hits and before the roads get worse. Generally the roads are only going to get worse not better. 3 hours is not much time to clear the roads and prep them. So they are getting them out of there and home before hand. Also they avoid dealing with heavier traffic with the buses so another safety factor.
Lastly they have their own staff to worry about and the staff is trapped there until the last of the kids are gone so they want to make sure the staff gets home safely.

I understand it for areas where snow is not usual but OP said they have gotten about a foot of snow every week since December. At least in my ears, it sounds like snow is normal for them and they should have the equipment to handle it.

 

[heehee]

I understand it for areas where snow is not usual but OP said they have gotten about a foot of snow every week since December. At least in my ears, it sounds like snow is normal for them and they should have the equipment to handle it.

Yup, same as Toronto, we get snow day pretty often, even adults. Snow day tomorrow.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I understand it for areas where snow is not usual but OP said they have gotten about a foot of snow every week since December. At least in my ears, it sounds like snow is normal for them and they should have the equipment to handle it.

Boston if I remember right is a little farther south so while they have may have the equipment to handle it they do not have enough to do it quickly. This means that the side and neighborhood roads are going to take a long time to clear and those are the roads buses have to travel on.

Most of the time those city can address the issues at night and not during the day. If ice/snow is coming in during the day then they are going to have an issue.

 

[tjb1]

You havent met the road cleaning crews in the US They usually wait 1-2 hours into the storm before they start plowing the road, they put the feet on the plow so high that they leave an 1" of snow on the road which gets packed into a hard layer and then salt it and turn it into slush which is horrible to drive in....instead of letting the plow ride on the road and actually getting all the snow off and using less salt. Thats how they are in Pennsylvania at least.

 

[SidewaysTakumi]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm in north Texas as well...ours is closed more for the fact that it rained and then temps dropped significantly. Were talking from like 60s yesterday (khakis and a tee shirt weather) to 20 degrees with -2 wind chill. So add that temp to the rain, you get ice. Plus inexperienced and generally dumbass drivers around here and you are in for a world of hurt. We will make up the day in April but for now I'm warm an cozy and Friday will come that much sooner!

 

[Abyssgh0st]

My school (in Texas) closed today. We've got about 6" of snow but the ice is very bad on the roads (for here, at least). It's about 15F here and with 25-35mph winds with up to 55 on the gusts. With windchill it's about -13ish here.

 

[Hellhammer]

Boston if I remember right is a little farther south so while they have may have the equipment to handle it they do not have enough to do it quickly. This means that the side and neighborhood roads are going to take a long time to clear and those are the roads buses have to travel on.

Most of the time those city can address the issues at night and not during the day. If ice/snow is coming in during the day then they are going to have an issue.

Snow can come during the day in here and it isn't an issue. And before you ask, no, we don't have a ridiculous amount of snowplows or other equipment to deal with the snow. Smaller roads won't be in top-notch condition when it snows but people will still have to get to work and school. It took over one and a half weeks for my home road to be plowed during the heavy snowfall season.

I'm just surprised how different (or should I say bad) things are on the other side of the Atlantic. We think our snowplowing system sucks when it takes them days to plow the smaller roads but it sounds like things are much worse there.

 

[Plutonius]

Boston if I remember right is a little farther south so while they have may have the equipment to handle it they do not have enough to do it quickly.

They have more then enough equipment to plow quickly.

 

[Plutonius]

I'm just surprised how different (or should I say bad) things are on the other side of the Atlantic. We think our snowplowing system sucks when it takes them days to plow the smaller roads but it sounds like things are much worse there.

Things are only worse towards the south where they don't have the equipment and don't know how to drive in the ice / snow.

In snow country, all the roads (including the small ones) are plowed soon after a storm. The only exception is when the plow equipment can't reach the road due to it being blocked by traffic.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Snow can come during the day in here and it isn't an issue. And before you ask, no, we don't have a ridiculous amount of snowplows or other equipment to deal with the snow. Smaller roads won't be in top-notch condition when it snows but people will still have to get to work and school. It took over one and a half weeks for my home road to be plowed during the heavy snowfall season.

I'm just surprised how different (or should I say bad) things are on the other side of the Atlantic. We think our snowplowing system sucks when it takes them days to plow the smaller roads but it sounds like things are much worse there.

You may not have riduculous but you are farther north in a climate that gets snow/ice more often so you need more. If you go farther north than Boston or in areas that get more snow/ice per year you will find they have more equipment to handle it.
I have noticed that people who live in those climate thinks it weird when the warm climates shut down for a lot less but forget the fact that in the warmer areas we do not have the equipment nor experience to handle it.

I live in Texas for example. My car has summer tires on it year round. Snow and ice suck to drive on much more so that with all season tires. I have no reason to bother buying all season tires or snow tires. I might need all season 2-3 times a year in north Texas and in Houston were I am now once ever few years and even then all season are not going to do much better since it is mostly ice I would be dealing with. Rest of the time summer tires work great.

 

[Hellhammer]

Things are only worse towards the south where they don't have the equipment and don't know how to drive in the ice / snow.

Above you just said they have more than enough equipment to plow quickly in Boston.

In snow country, all the roads (including the small ones) are plowed soon after a storm. The only exception is when the plow equipment can't reach the road due to it being blocked by traffic.

Well, when snow is coming 24/7, small roads won't be plowed as the equipment is used to plow the bigger roads. Trust me, it really took 1.5 weeks for my home road to be plowed and I would classify Finland as a snow country.

You may not have riduculous but you are farther north in a climate that gets snow/ice more often so you need more. If you go farther north than Boston or in areas that get more snow/ice per year you will find they have more equipment to handle it.
I have noticed that people who live in those climate thinks it weird when the warm climates shut down for a lot less but forget the fact that in the warmer areas we do not have the equipment nor experience to handle it.

I live in Texas for example. My car has summer tires on it year round. Snow and ice suck to drive on much more so that with all season tires. I have no reason to bother buying all season tires or snow tires. I might need all season 2-3 times a year in north Texas and in Houston were I am now once ever few years and even then all season are not going to do much better since it is mostly ice I would be dealing with. Rest of the time summer tires work great.

I already said I understand it in areas that usually do not get snow, such as Texas. If Boston has really gotten over a foot of snow every week, it's more than we have gotten here but again, it should be normal for them. What makes this specific storm so special?

I'm not trying to praise Finland, I'm just eager to learn how things are in the US. And maybe a bit jealous that you get snow days

 

[balamw]

What bugs me is our school system waits until the last minute to decide what to do. School closures are generally announced at 5 am the morning of, even when it was already pretty clear that there would be no school and all surrounding towns had made their decision.

Today's early closing was announced ~30 minutes after start of school. Just enough time for folks to get to work and find out they will have to head back home shortly. If they just told us up front it might have been easier to stay home.

I'm fully expecting no school tomorrow given the continuation of the storm.

B

 

[dmr727]

Above you just said they have more than enough equipment to plow quickly in Boston.

I don't know about Finland, but we're a pretty litigious society here. That might have something to do with it as well.

 

[balamw]

I already said I understand it in areas that usually do not get snow, such as Texas. If Boston has really gotten over a foot of snow every week, it's more than we have gotten here but again, it should be normal for them. What makes this specific storm so special?

Typical Boston winter storms (in the ~7 years I've lived in the area) occur every few weeks which gives us time to fully dig out. As maflynn says we've had storm after storm and are running out of placed to put the snow that's already on the ground. Also budgedt for snow removal are already stretched thin or spent.

This particular storm is large and is affecting about 30% of the US population ~100 million people in one swell foop.

B

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Typical Boston winter storms (in the ~7 years I've lived in the area) occur every few weeks which gives us time to fully dig out. As maflynn says we've had storm after storm and are running out of placed to put the snow that's already on the ground. Also budgedt for snow removal are already stretched thin or spent.

This particular storm is large and is affecting about 30% of the US population ~100 million people in one swell foop.

B

And I believe that answer the question.
I normally do not follow winter storms as well I am in Texas so we do not get hit very often but I will say I have over heard it on the news a few times which tells me it is worse than normal in how often the storms are coming in.

 

[einmusiker]

it has to do with travel. If a school bus gets in an accident after school during a storm and the district didn't close they could be held liable. My school has had 5 snow days already including today but we have 8 built into the year. If we use more than 8 they start taking from our spring break etc. when schools use all their snow days they will often have half days and close early so it still counts as a regular school day. If a school doesn't have 180 school days over the year they lose state and federal aid