KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tuesday’s snow storm forced nearly all area school districts to close.
At the Shawnee Mission School District, it's the district's superintendent who makes the final decision to close schools because of nasty weather.
The decision comes after talking with other school superintendents in the area and getting advice from the district's Operation and Maintenance team.
“They’ll be outside, going through and looking at the roads," David Smith, the district's chief communications officer. "We have to look at our facilities — can we get the facilities cleaned? So that’s another thing that we look at,” said Smith said.
He said there are no set guidelines that determine school closures when there's inclement weather. Timing the arrival of bad weather also makes a difference in deciding when to close schools.
“Sometimes five inches of snow — the quality of the snow is such that it’s easy to clear and not a problem whatsoever, we can have school" Smith said. "Other times, an inch of ice can be a complete disaster. Sometimes, the event comes overnight and we have to wait until the morning to really see how things are.”
Danielle Kohler, a mom of two kids in the North Kansas School District, says she spent all of Tuesday sledding and enjoying the snow with her kids.
In a lot of ways, she loves the time off for her kids.
“If they have a younger child and they have to find somewhere to go, or they have to take off of work, I can see that being a problem." Kohler said. "However, it seems like in the last few years, since there are so many people working from home, it doesn’t seem as big of a issue."
Optional enrichment activities were offered online through the school district.
While the district already has three snow days built into the school calendar, Kohler would rather have her children enjoy the day off.
“I feel like if you’re going to have a snow day, you might as well actually have a snow day,” said Kohler. “I feel like they’re not missing much as far as a loss. I mean, if it was an extended period of time, its harder to get them back on track, but I don’t think a day here and there for a snow day is much of a problem.”
Virtual learning is in place at both North Kansas City and the Shawnee Mission School District should they close for snow more than three or four times.
Smith says it is not something they want to have to do.
“Virtual learning and the preparation that it takes to do that well is challenging," Smith said. "We have the systems in place, but for a one-off weather event, its too complex to try to get all of that machinery in motion."
If school districts across the metro end up canceling more days than they planned for, it could mean adding school days in May or extending school hours during the year.
“That would be something we need to do in conversation with our union and the school board would eventually make that choice,” said Smith.
Kohler says if given the option, she would pick the latter.
“Normally, when I see the calendar at the beginning of the year of what the last day is, I normally plan that as the last day,” said Kohler.
Smith said the Shawnee Mission School District has a number of schools with before and after school care during the year.
During weather events like the ones this week, they open four of those weather sites for families who need supervision for their children.
