Snow days — the joy of kids everywhere. A day where we get to sit at home, eat junk food and dread the return of school the next day.  Of course, most students have no idea how these days off are decided. It turns out that quite a lot goes into the choice. Safety is one of the biggest concerns. According to the 204’s Winter Weather guidelines, “the safety… of our students is always a top priority.” However, there is a lot more that goes into the decision as well. Though district superintendent Karen Sullivan has the final say on whether or not we have a snow day, many other people’s input help her make that decision. Dr. Robert McBride and the principals of the other high schools in the district help alert her to “events that are happening at our buildings,” events such as field trips that may need to be cancelled or rescheduled, and how that cancellation affects the student body. They also provide information about their particular school such as sidewalk and road conditions. he district further  considers weather forecasts and the state of the buses in deciding whether or not to cancel school for the day.

The school year schedule has 5 emergency days built into it; these days are designed to allow us to make up unexpected closures such as snow days in the summer. Once these five days are used up snow days can still be called; however, they will not be made up at the end of the year. Once snow days are decided on the district sends out a tweet @ispd204 and posts the information on the district website. In order to make room for changing weather conditions, all snow days can be announced as late as 6:00 a.m. of that day. However, the choice can be made sooner if conditions are better known beforehand.