Snow Day Decision-Making

Snow Day Decision-Making
Posted on 03/08/2018
Dear CPS Community:

No Superintendent enjoys the work of calling, or not calling, a Snow Day.

Over the course of the day we have received many messages from the CPS community including some messages of relief or support for our decision to stay open; as well as a number of messages questioning whether we made the right judgment call.

I want to express appreciation to the CPS teachers and staff members who arrived on time or even early and worked to help the school day run as smoothly as possible. As neighboring districts announced cancellations, I am sure that most of our students and many of our staff looked out at their snow-covered cars and wished for us to close.

I would like to share some of the key points that came through in the messages and phone calls we received today. To summarize:
  • What is the rationale for closing schools vs. keeping schools open?

  • Concern about whether travel to school was safe for students

  • Concern about whether staff commuting from other, more hard-hit communities was taken into consideration

  • Questions about the impact of staff absences on the quality of learning in schools today

  • Ideas for improving communication with families about both decision-making and our decision to remain open.

Every storm has its own unique challenges, but I want to start by providing an overview of the full decision-making process that we use in determining whether to close schools or stay open. In general and in the case of this storm, the following steps are followed:

  • CPS begins to consult with City officials a couple of days before a major storm is forecast to strike.

  • The City subscribes to two private weather services, which are able to provide targeted and frequently-updated forecasts that are pinpointed to conditions expected to occur in our community.

  • We consult with the Public Works department about their planned storm response, including their projected ability to plow bus lanes and school parking lots. In a major storm, these areas would be lower priority than main thoroughfares. Depending on the timing, if a parking ban is being put in place, that will often trigger us to close school. In this instance, the City did not institute a parking ban.

  • We are in close communication with City safety officials about whether any unsafe conditions are occurring such as downed trees or power lines.

  • When a storm’s path is too difficult to predict the night before, members of CPS administration will drive the streets of Cambridge, to evaluate whether conditions are safe around schools and along student pedestrian routes. Typically, this is happening between 4-5AM, as was the case early today.

  • If the Governor or City calls a State of Emergency, the decision to close is straightforward. In this instance, there was no State of Emergency called.

While we do take note of whether other districts have canceled, we also keep in mind that every community has its own challenges to contend with. As an urban school district with staggered school start times, delaying school has traditionally been viewed as too complicated to be done safely. However, as a result of the questions being raised by our community, we will be reviewing whether our capacity to announce and supervise a delayed opening may have changed over time.

Although conditions were generally calm here in Cambridge, we recognize that it was difficult for staff members to make it into the City from many neighboring communities. We also understand that some families will choose to keep their children home from school. In general, most schools reported above average teacher and student absence. One school in particular experienced a significantly higher number of staff absences and we are working to analyze the reasons that this occurred given that the impact on other schools was much less.

We appreciate the engagement of our community in advocating for the safety of students and staff. While I believe that it was safe for students to get to school today, I am less certain about whether staying open was the most productive decision. Please know that your questions and concerns have been heard and we are especially committed to analyzing our practices in terms of the impact of staying open on staff members who live in other communities.

I hope that this information provides some reassurance that we took this storm very seriously and made a decision based on the information we had available. We will learn from this experience and continually strive to improve our practices.

Sincerely,

Kenneth N. Salim, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

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