Snow Doubt About It: North Shore Schools Face Hard Calls On Storm Days

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Those of a certain age remember the ritual well.

On the day of an anticipated snowstorm, the alarm would be set even earlier than on a typical school day. Instead of getting up and getting ready for the bus, the radio or television would be locked on the news as the crawl at the bottom of the screen — or in a certain bygone era the booming voice of WBZ-AM's late Gary LaPierre — revealed which districts would enjoy the magical wonders of a day off from school.

Those romantic days of blizzards yore are often cited in modern times when robocalls and social media blasts proclaim a "snow day" the night — and even the afternoon — before the first flakes even start to fly.

That collective hard-knock existence is amplified on days when early efforts to get out in front of the impending storm are rewarded with the second-guessing that comes with a snowfall that turns out to be, well, uninspiring, at best.

Such was the story that played out across much of the state on Tuesday when forecasts of potentially "the biggest storm of the season" hitting at the height of the morning commute turned out to be, for the most part, a glorified dusting judging by typical New England winter standards.

In the crosshairs are the superintendents who are under pressure to make their calls earlier and earlier so that parents can plan for child care during a day off from school instead of having to scramble when the name of the hometown district gloriously rang out from the transistor radio across the living room at 5:45 a.m. as once was the standard.

"Snow Day anxiety is a real thing for superintendents," Marblehead Superintendent John Buckey told Patch on Tuesday morning. "The text chains started early (Monday) and continued throughout the day to see who was doing what and when. No one wants to be the first to make the call or to be the only one out there."

Buckey even noted as much Monday afternoon when he sent a message to the school community acknowledging that Lynn, Peabody and Salem had already called off school for the next day, but that he and his staff were still watching the weather to determine the right call.

That call was ultimately made shortly after 4 p.m.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

"As more and more North Shore districts made the call, I needed to consider staffing concerns with employees who are parents and who would have childcare issues as a result of their districts being closed," Buckey allowed. "I will always err on the side of caution.

"Today was simply a bum call; my meteorology skills did not serve me."

With Beverly checking in at a robust 1 inch of snow as of late Tuesday morning and Marblehead piling up a whole 0.8 of an inch, according to the National Weather Service, it was an easy second guess.

But the reality is that most superintendents no longer feel they have the luxury to wait until the plows start rolling to tell families whether or not the buildings will be open in the hours ahead.

"Now, if the call is going to be made, superintendents want to try to give families as much notice as possible," Buckey said. "For Marblehead, half of our staff lives outside of our community.

"I appreciate the frustration that waiting until the last minute to decide causes some and the frustration of calling too early causes others."

So while Tuesday's snow-day call was warranted in some Central and Western Mass. towns that topped eight inches of snow overnight, as well as others along the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border that got socked in line with forecasts of four to six inches, it will surely be referenced on the North Shore — Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott all also called "snow days" either Monday afternoon or early evening — in June when students and teachers head to school on that extra 85-degree day to fulfill the 180-day state requirement.

But in an era where superintendents are no longer often afforded the luxury of waiting until the crack of dawn to make a decision on whether to let the school buses roll, they must be willing to shrug off the stray blown call when it does not look so hot under further review.

"As superintendents will readily admit," Buckey conceded, "we are never going to make the right call in everyone's mind."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)