Jeanné Collins
Superintendent of Schools, Burlington

December 27, 2008

SNOW DAYS

Each year, when a snow day is called, there is confusion and consternation, either because it was called too late or not called at all. Here is background on how snow day closure decisions are made and how the days are made up.

If the storm occurs during the night, our grounds crew are up by 2 am watching conditions and weather. If the roads are bad, the grounds crew may come in as early as midnight and work through the night to try to stay ahead of the snow. We are responsible for our parking lots and access to building entrances; the city does the streets.

Once plowing begins by our grounds crew, we check in with them throughout the night, and also with the Department of Public Works (DPW) to see how the city is doing with keeping the roads clear. As many of our students walk to school, we have to consider the road conditions, whether the sidewalks are cleared, roads passable, and whether CCTA is running, along with the conditions of our parking lots. Unlike rural districts, where transportation is provided on rural roads that may not be plowed, we tend to stay open unless ice is involved or roads cannot be plowed. Our facilities director, DPW, and I consult on the decision when it is weather generated. We focus our decisions on the needs of the students and families of Burlington primarily and whether they can access the schools, as for many of our students, school means food and warmth.

Timing is a big part of the equation. We have canceled due to snow turning into freezing rain after dawn and we were unable to salt fast enough. If this happens late in the process, we may call school off too late for the snow tree calls to reach all staff. We cannot control this timing- mother nature does that. Obviously, in the best of situations, we prefer to know early and to start the notification process, if at all possible.

We call cancellations into local TV and radio stations, and will now post on Sover.net as well, with a link to their website on our website. Thus, you may be able to hear about Burlington schools being closed before you get your call. Be aware that when a big storm occurs, such as last year's Valentine's Day storm, the broadcast network gets so many calls that there may be a delay before the names get posted on the screen. Sovernet's web page http://corp.sover.net/schoolclosings/ can help you access our information faster than the TV stations. We are also working on a phone system that will allow us to call student and staff phone numbers at the same time to notify you of school closures. Stay tuned on this and be sure your child's school has the most up to date phone numbers for you on file.

I am interested in hearing your feedback on our process. Please email me at superintendent@bsdvt.org with suggestions or comments.