How much snow must fall to keep a Juneau kid from hitting the books? The short answer: more than a foot in a night. The long answer: it depends.
The National Weather Service reported a foot of snow at its Mendenhall Loop Road offices as of Monday morning. The dump kept many school buses behind schedule as City and Borough of Juneau plows worked to clear the town’s main arteries after Sunday’s lingering storm.
Five yellow buses had brief trouble with the snow, Juneau School District officials said, with one Douglas bus having to don chains to drive itself out of the thick white blanket. Yet school remained open Monday, leaving some parents and teachers to wonder why.
The decision to cancel school isn’t an easy or popular call, JSD’s David Means said. It’s an early-morning decision based on the best available information from the bus operator First Student, CBJ and the National Weather Service.
‘The decision is being made at about 4 or 5 in the morning based on the best info we have,” Means said. There is no set amount of precipitation for which the district will close schools.
The last time JSD called a snow day, in Means’ recollection, was under the tenure of former superintendent Peggy Cowen in 2007 or 2008. He said Monday was the closest call current superintendent Mark Miller has had to make.
When parents learned school was still on, the district received “quite a few” calls from parents concerned for the safety of commuting kids, but Means said he’d also expect calls if the district canceled school. That’s the nature of calling a snow day — it’s just an unpopular decision to make.
Father of two Brett Dillingham looked outside this morning and thought the kids would have the day off. When he learned that schools would be kept open, he decided to avoid the bus and drive his kids to school himself.
On the way, he noticed kids walking in the middle of the street.
“We knew there was going to be a lot of snow unless the forecast was dead wrong,” Dillingham said. “It’s snowing a lot, so let’s either have a good, long delay or let’s shut school down for the day. I just don’t understand the call.”
The city started plowing this morning with Juneau’s main thoroughfares, working its way into neighborhoods and side roads, where several buses got stuck. Thane Road, where one bus was delayed, was still unplowed as of 10:30 a.m.
A snow day would mean an administrative headache for JSD, Means explained. Because the school district is required to hold 180 days of instruction a year, students would have to make up the snow day during a teacher in-service or a holiday, both of which would be hard sells to teachers and parents.
The school district is currently about three-fourths of the way through the school year. They have one in-service day left. Those are usually reserved for teachers to catch up, train or plan.
