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How Michigan districts decide when to call off class
For the student, it's as simple as looking up their district on the news and seeing if they will have class the following day. But when it comes to canceling school, there is a whole order of operations that gets baked into the decision. That's why, during freezing cold spells like the one afflicting Michigan this week, some districts had school off this week — and others did not.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - For weeks, Southeast Michigan has dealt with cold, snowy temperatures, forcing many school districts to declare a snow day, keeping students and faculty away from campus to prioritize safety.
So how do school districts determine when to close or keep their campuses open?
Big picture view:
When extreme weather is predicted for metro Detroit, school districts need to determine their plan of action. To close school or not, that’s the question.
However, how do school officials determine when to cancel classes due to snow or cold?
FOX 2 went to Royal Oak Schools for answers.
"We first of all consider student safety," said Royal Oak Schools Superintendent Dr. John Tafelski. "Whether they’re walking to school or waiting for a bus, they want to go outside for recess. All of those things are factors, but then we also need to maintain a certain number of hours and days with the state of Michigan."
On Tuesday, Royal Oak Schools held classes, but the state’s largest school district, Detroit Public Schools Community District, canceled Tuesday classes as a way to protect many of their students who walk or wait for the school bus from frigid temperatures.
Bitter cold wind chills in Metro Detroit
Today is the coldest morning of the week so far in Metro Detroit, with some areas waking up to wind chills as low as -15.
Local perspective:
Oakland University also made a decision to implement an emergency closure Tuesday due to severe weather.
"Things like timing of the storm, how cold wind chills will be, how long it will take to clear campus so it’s safe for pedestrian traffic movement throughout campus," said Oakland University Police Department Chief Mark Gordon. "That’s a lot of it. Cold temps, the salt does not work very well, so if we have high winds connected with the storm with kind of an open campus, so we know it’s going to take time for crews to clear roadways and parking lots, all of that is taken into consideration."
School leaders say it all boils down to safety.
"We work with someone from the National Weather Service as superintendents, and we get the best advice that we can, and sometimes we do call based on forecast. And as we know, not all forecasts come to fruition, so it is tough sometimes," said Tafelski.