While kids in Westland waited for the bus dressed in lots of layers on Tuesday, Jan. 20, kids in Dearborn Heights School District No. 7 were snug in their beds with school called off due to the cold.
Students in schools that closed for cold weather earlier this week might say it’s because they flushed more ice cubes down the toilet or put more white crayons under their pillows than students at open schools. However, superintendents and weather experts say closing school for a weather event is usually a district-by-district and case-by-case choice.
There is no one condition or metric that guarantees school will be canceled due to weather, but there are a number of factors school district leaders weigh when making the call.
What goes into the decision?
From the types and timing of weather conditions to the capacity to clear sidewalks and the number of total days allotted for snow days by the state every year, superintendents have a lot to consider when making the decision…