North Michigan News

The decision to close school for weather related reasons includes several important factors. On evenings when road conditions are the concern, the Superintendent, Transportation Director and a few other designated people will get in their cars, usually around 3A.M. to drive on several of the most challenging roads around the county to check the conditions. Our goal is to predict what conditions will be like at the time students are picked up and dropped off for the coming school day. Weather radar reports from the National Weather Service are reviewed, and there is consultation with the Alpena County Road Commission. There are also calls with Superintendents from the surrounding counties. Then an informed decision is made utilizing all the information from these sources. On the rare occasion when conditions change rapidly it may require a late closure call or an early dismissal. Please remember that conditions may vary drastically across our 640 sq. mile service area! We don’t do delayed starts like some smaller districts can, due to the time it takes to make two full runs around Alpena County to pick up students. It doesn’t allow enough time to meet the state instructional time requirements for a school day. Each bus run is a total of about 700 miles of driving by our outstanding drivers. 

When temperature is the question, similar consultation occurs. There is no district policy listing an automatic temperature that results in closure. The general temperature expectation for closure is a sustained -25 degree wind chill. We provide Facebook, School Messenger, and app updates on bus delays as an attempt to avoid prolonged exposure to cold temperatures for our students. Frostbite is always a concern, and the risk is calculated using wind speed/air temperature and time of exposure.(graphic attached) Each of these factors can vary greatly across our large district coverage area.

We would like to remind our families that YOU are the best judge of the conditions at your individual location. As a parent, it is your right to decide if it is safe for your child to attend based on your individual situation. Please call the school to excuse your child if you decide it isn't safe for them to attend. Families that keep their child home should be sure to find out about work that was missed and make it up like they would for any absence.

Once a decision has been made, school closure information is available in our local media, district social media, our website, through our app and comes to our families by your choice of phone, text or email. 

Original source can be found here.