Every student in grades K-12 knows the excitement of hearing the phone ring at 5:45 am on a snowy morning, or watching the blue bar flash across the bottom of 69 News channel and seeing “Southern Lehigh School District: CLOSED.” However, most of us are not aware of the behind the scenes work Southern Lehigh administrators and maintenance staff do to make a student’s snowy day possible.
Southern Lehigh School District superintendent, Mrs. Leah Christman, says making the decision to close or delay school due to inclement weather is one of the most challenging responsibilities superintendents face. The grueling decision process generally begins a full 24 hours before a final decision on school closings, delays, or dismissals is made. At this time, school board and transportation officials will meet and come up with a game plan for how to tackle potential storms.
According to the “Closing or Delaying School for Inclement Weather” document located under the “parents” tab on the school district’s website, if inclement weather is supposed to occur in the evening or overnight, the first step is to send out the district’s transportation subcontractor. They will have drivers out on the road at around 3 a.m. to check roads that usually cause the most problems. SLSD spans 47 miles and includes many different geographic areas that receive and handle storms very differently.
By 4 a.m. district officials are already in contact with AccuWeather SkyGuard Meteorologists and the National Weather Service, who provide updates of weather conditions and forecasts. Simultaneously, administrators are in contact with PennDot who will lend insight into their plowing/cindering/salting schedules. Superintendents from all over the area also share local reports.
The final decision process begins around 4:30 to 5:00 a.m. By 5:15 to 5:30 a.m., the district has collected the most current information and can begin to report the inclement weather closings or delays to faculty, students, and community members.
“That call is generally made by the superintendent. She will, however, consult with our facilities director,” Southern Lehigh High School assistant principal Mr. Mark Covelle said. “Then [she] will make notifications through the website and WFMZ news; some students even get texts on their phones.”
When it comes down to the end, the school district must focus on a few main details that affect Southern Lehigh transportation. The district buses cover about 1,000 bus stops (which are all plowed on different schedules), buses travel an average of 3,500 miles per day, and the grounds department will need a minimum of four hours to clear parking lots and walkways.
When the school district is dismissed early, the individual school administrations must enact their own “in case of emergency plans.”
“We keep select staff here until all of the buses have completed their routes,” Covelle said. “If for some reason they can’t complete their routes, they come back here and we house the students until we can get them home.”
Weighing the pros and cons of school closings and delays is one of the administration’s most daunting tasks of the winter season. As snow falls outside, and visions of snowmen and snowballs dance in students and teachers heads, most fail to ponder the work and research that lies behind that exciting phone call.
