School Weather Closings Explained

This winter season has brought a lot of snowstorms and a lot of cancelled school days as a result.  In fact, as of the publication of this article, we have had seven school days cancelled due to inclement weather.  Living in New England, we are better prepared than most to deal with winter.

In Woonsocket, we plan on snow because we are in a snow belt that seems to get greater amounts of snowfall than most of the state of Rhode Island.   My middle and high school years were spent in Medway, MA, which is very close to Woonsocket.  During the Blizzard of 78’ we got over three feet of snow and I had 5 days of school cancellations in a row!

In fact, every year when the School Committee approves the school calendar, we add five extra days for cancellation make-ups.  Although we have exceeded our planned five days, we are still on target to end school one day before we did in 2008 – 2009.  Of course, we still have a good portion of February left and the forecast is already looking like another storm will be coming through this week.  It is ironic that all of the major storms this year have been during the mid-week and as a result we have already had to cancel three school committee meetings as well as school for the students.

I decided to write this article because whether we cancel school during inclement weather or do not cancel school, the McFee Administration Building regularly receives communication of disagreement.  We often get phone calls and emails with the following concerns:

1. Why did you call off school; we didn’t get that much snow?
2. Why didn’t you call off school; don’t you care about my children’s safety?
3. Why did you call off school the night before; what if the forecast was wrong?
4. Why do you wait until the last minute to call off school; isn"t that very inconsiderate?

I think it might be helpful for me to explain all that is involved when a school cancelation occurs and introduce the reader to some of the unsung heroes that I work with who help me make these decisions and prepare the schools to open after winter storms.

Snow Days

Although we affectionately call these days “Snow Days,” that is only because the majority of cancellations in New England occur due to excessive snowfall.  However, we have had cancellations due to hurricanes, power outages, mercury spills, and even recently as a result of excessive snow loads on the rooftops of our schools.  The superintendent of schools holds the sole responsibility to make the final decision on cancellations of schools.  However, we do not make this decision alone or without the use of the science and technology of weather forecasting. 

Growing up we often told the joke that “the weatherman is the only person who can make a mistake half the time and still keep his job.”  However, weather forecasting has come a long way in the last several decades since computer capabilities have increased.  I personally use www.weatherchannel.com and go to their hourly predictions.  I find the hourly predictions to be quite accurate.  However, even the best forecasters cannot tell Mother Nature when to start and finish a storm.  Some storms come earlier than expected and some come later.  That is why we get some of the questions above as far as why did I call off school the night before or why did I wait until six o’clock in the morning. 

The timing and type of the storm effects this decision.  A Nor’easter tends to be a large, slower moving storm that is almost guaranteed to be a big weather event in Woonsocket and our snow belt.   Also, Nor’easters tend to be heavier and wetter snowstorms.  The wetter snow is more dangerous to drive in and is often more difficult to clean up after.  However, an Alberta Clipper is a fast moving storm that comes down from Canada and often drops less snow and the snow is lighter and fluffier.  This type of storm is less dangerous to drive in and easier to clean up after.  Unfortunately, an Alberta Clipper is often harder to predict exactly when it is going to start and how long it will stay.  

I understand that a decision to open or close schools in bad weather has a big effect on families.  I also believe that our students are better served both academically and socially, by being in school.  However, as always our top priority is the students' and staffs' safety.

Ultimately, I try to give our school community as much notice as possible when making the decision to cancel school.  If it is an obvious decision then I will make it the night before.  If there is uncertainty, we can wait until six o’clock in the morning before the buses have to begin their runs and so that we can get the information on the six o’clock morning news.  Also, many school systems have automated calling systems that can be used to generate a computerized message and call parents simultaneously.  Unfortunately, we have only been able to afford this program for the Woonsocket High School and Woonsocket Middle Schools.  Jonathan Gallishaw, the Woonsocket Education Department Director of Technology, goes online to get the computerized message to the parents and to access the Rhode Island Broadcasters Association program that sends the message out to all the television and radio stations.  

Ever since the students in Providence were stranded on buses in grid lock several years ago, the Rhode Island Emergency Management Association (RIEMA) has begun having conference calls for all municipalities or all school superintendents. During these conference calls they provide us with the most up to date forecast from the National Weather Service as well as statewide advice from the State Department of Public Works.  This is extremely helpful because they know their capabilities to keep up with a storm or just clean up after a strong storm that cannot be kept up with. 

In Woonsocket, we have always had a very collaborative relationship between the city and the schools when dealing with inclement weather.  Mayor Fontaine, School Committee Chair Dubois and I all report to each other what our colleagues in Woonsocket and other communities are doing.  Also the Woonsocket Education Department Director of Facilities, Peter Fontaine, the Woonsocket Education Department Maintenance Supervisor, Richard Plante, and Richard Lambert from the Woonsocket Highway Department are on the roads from 4 a.m., and in constant communication in regard to what road conditions they are seeing and how their staff is keeping up with the clean up.   Only after all of this information has been gathered from all of these key constituents will I make the decision to cancel school.

Snow Load Days

Just last Friday we had our first cancelation due to excessive snow loads on the roofs of our schools.  At the beginning of the week the news of a school and other building collapses took everyone by surprise.  The Rhode Island Commissioner of Education, Deborah Gist, sent out a Field Memo Alert that identified the strange weather pattern of having heavy snow and rain combined, which has placed extraordinary snow loads on many buildings.  She recommended school superintendents be vigilant in the inspection and monitoring of our schools for excessive snow loads. 

Thursday evening I was finishing a meeting with the School Committee Finance Subcommittee at 6:30 p.m. when Henry Trudeau, the Supervisor of Custodians, notified me that he was concerned over what appeared to be extreme bowing of the beams in the Citizens Memorial Elementary School cafetorium and gymnasium. I immediately called superintendent Cylke from Pawtucket, as I knew that she had just hired her own engineers to study the snow loads on the Pawtucket schools and I asked her to give me quick tutorial on snow loads.

She told me that any building built before 1978 was designed to hold a roof load of 30 pounds per square foot and while that is a robust working load, newer buildings are built to a standard of 40 pounds per square foot. She said that the unusual weather pattern of rain after snow can increase snow loads.  In fact 12 to 16 inches of snow can act like a sponge and increase the snow load when rained upon to near the limits.  Her engineers tested the snow loads on their school roofs and made recommendations for targeted snow removal to facilitate the drainage of any additional rain or ice melt.

At 6:30 p.m. Henry and I began our inspections of each and every school building in the district to see how many buildings were displaying stress.  We called Mayor Fontaine at about 8:30 p.m. to notify him of our concerns.  He was just finishing up a meeting with the city engineering firm of CDM and he brought them with him to view the problems.  He also had Chris Chianese, Woonsocket building Official come to help us with the initial assessment.  We all agreed that it was best to err on the side of caution and cancel school on Friday (our sixth cancellation.) Robert Otoski of CDM suggested that we bring in structural engineers on Friday morning to make a final assessment of the snow loads and make recommendations for remediation. 

Friday morning, Matthew Ashe of CDM and a team of five engineers came and evaluated all fourteen school buildings in the district.  The Mayor asked Joel Mathews to head up the organization of the hiring and implementation of snow removal contractors.  Joel did a great job of getting the immediate help that we needed and as of the writing of this article, much of the clean up has occurred.  The engineers have determined that the buildings that were showing distress have been remediated but that we should spend one more day preparing the other schools just in case we have more inclement weather. So once again, you can see how many people have actually had input on the decision to cancel school even though the ultimate decision to cancel school is made by the superintendent of schools.

Snow Removal

Every day our custodial staff keeps our schools clean and neat.  This winter we have seen just how hard their jobs can be when we have so much snow removal that is required in addition to their daily cleaning requirements.  Most of us have one driveway and one small section of sidewalk to shovel.  Our maintenance staff has huge parking lots to plow and our custodians have many long sidewalks and entryways to clear.   Also snow, slush, and ice melt that comes in on all of our shoes increases the daily floor cleaning requirements as well.  I must commend all of our staff for the hard work that they do even in extra difficult times like this winter. 

In Summation

When I first became the Woonsocket Superintendent of schools, I was very excited about my opportunity to make the decision for my first snow cancellation.  I was telling my directors that my father had been a superintendent of schools at the age of 29, which was one year before I was born.  My whole life I watched my father get up at 4:00 in the morning and go through the process of getting all the information he needed to make the decision and then I would watch him contact the television and radio stations. He had a list of code words for each station like “snowman” or “snowball.” I would beg him to call off school but he always based his decisions on the information he got from others and not my pleadings 

I told my colleagues that although I was a respectful child, I had a mischievous side.  I knew where my dad kept that list of code words and I had always dreamed of waiting until he went back to bed after not cancelling school and sneaking that list out and making the calls to surprise him when he woke up.  Of course I was too respectful to ever do that but I did think of it.  Ironically, Jonathan Gallishaw told me that his father was the Superintendent of Schools in Seekonk, MA for 30 years and he had the same exact memories and also never acted on them.  I guess that students will always hope for those snow days but superintendents will always make the decision based on fact and concern for safety.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Gerardi, Jr., Ph.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Woonsocket Education Department

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