The process for determining delays often starts at 4:00 AM or sometimes the night before. I've gone to bed at night when a blizzard-like storm has been predicted only to wake up early the next morning to find that there was a wind shift and the storm missed Plymouth, but hit Warsaw and Wawasee.
We have employees that drive our roads in the morning and during the day if warranted. We communicate with the State and County Highway Departments concerning the conditions of the roads and if they believe they can keep the roads open and safe for our busses. We have several good web sites that give us an hour-by-hour forecast weather specific to the Plymouth School District and not a general forecast for the the Michiana area. We use all of these resources to make a decision and the final decision is made by me the Superintendent of Schools.
In regards to today's call, the roads were in acceptable shape this morning when we delivered children to the schools. It was -9 degrees wind chill, which according to the National Weather Service, children can stand outside waiting for a bus for at least 30 minutes without the worry of frostbite. As the day passed we continued to monitor the weather web sites and the county and state plowing schedules. I determined that the safest time to take children home would be at the end of school. This would give the county and state time to remove and snowfall or drifts caused by this morning's snowfall. In addition, by waiting until the end of the school day we aren't afraid that we'll send a young child home to an empty house.
Tomorrow morning the forecast is for heavy snow and wind chills over -20 degrees. These wind chills predictions decrease the outside time to only 10 minutes before the chance of frost bite. Also by calling a delay the night before we give parents a chance to line up child care for their children if needed.
6 comments:
I think Mr. Tyree does the best that he can with the information that he has, it isn't as if anyone can foresee exactly what the weather may or may not do. Perhaps people could try to be a bit more understanding. It's a tough call to make and I am sure he doesn't take the responsibility lightly, he's a parent too and he is only trying to do what is best for the children.
So you would rather have a bunch of adolescent kids drive on streets that aren't plowed?
School tomorrow?
Adolescents and parents always have the choice for their children to ride the bus!
Maybe Anonymous at 9:19 has never had to make a call based on the best info available at the time, impacting the safety and/or education of hundreds of families. If he or she has, then he or she should know that no matter which call Dan makes someone is sure to be unhappy about it. If not, lucky you. There are many variables to consider, and many Monday-morning quarterbacks to criticize the outcome in hindsight.
Blame the city for not plowing, not Mr. Tyree.
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