Dear SGI Families,
As an educator and a parent, I understand the mix of relief and stress that follows receiving the official closure message. While a day off is wonderful, the inconvenience of scrambling for childcare or needing to take time off work when the weather is lousy is a real challenge for many of our working families.
As the winter season rapidly approaches, I would like to clearly communicate the process and rationale behind the decision to close schools, ensuring that our families, staff, and community are well-informed.
Weather Prediction Challenges
Predicting winter weather in Western New York is notoriously difficult, and local media often sensationalizes events. We've all seen recent examples where "feet of snow" were predicted, leading to preemptive closures across the region, only for us to wake up to a few harmless flakes or even a beautiful sunny day.
Given these challenges, we adhere to a careful, methodical process to determine if schools need to be closed due to inclement weather.
The 4:00 AM Check-In
The decision-making process begins around 4:00 AM. Our experienced and diligent Transportation Supervisor, Kristin Guadagno, reaches out to the seven Highway Superintendents who manage the roads across our massive 140-square-mile district.
Crews from Ashford (West Valley), Boston, Colden, Collins, Concord, Sardinia, and Springville report on the current road conditions in their respective areas. With a district this large, it's common for one area to be experiencing a blizzard while another has almost clear roads. Despite this variation, we must make a holistic decision: the district is either "open" or "closed." We cannot safely transport some students while leaving others at home.
Seeing Conditions Firsthand
Following the reports, I make it a habit on most snowy mornings to drive around myself in the northern part of our district. Seeing the road conditions firsthand helps me better understand the reports from Mrs. Guadagno and our exceptional highway crews.
Making the Call: Factors We Consider
By about 5:00 AM, informed by conditions from across the district, my own observations, and the forecast for the coming hours, we make the final call on whether we can safely transport our students.
Road Conditions, Not Just Snow Depth: Is there a certain amount of snow that necessitates a snow day? Unfortunately, no—it's not that simple. Six inches of snow on icy, untreated roads can often be more dangerous than two feet of snow that has been cleared and treated. Road safety is our primary concern, not just the total accumulation.
Safety of Student Drivers: A common concern is the safety of our inexperienced high school student drivers. I strongly recommend that when bad weather is predicted, these students adjust their schedules to ride the bus with our experienced school bus drivers and avoid driving their own vehicles altogether. While I know this is an unpopular recommendation, we cannot close school for nearly 1,700 students due to the small percentage who drive themselves.
This is not an exact science, but we commit to making the best call possible based on the information we have at that time, with the overarching goal of keeping everyone safe while getting our children to school as often as possible.
*Note: At times, we may make the decision to cancel school the evening before based on the forecast and other regional factors.
Early Dismissal for Secondary Schools
There are times when changing weather conditions require us to conduct an early dismissal specifically for our middle school and high school students. While this decision is made with the same careful consideration as a full closure, dismissing the secondary schools early does not automatically mean that all afternoon and evening events will be canceled.
Often, an early dismissal for the upper grades simply gives our transportation team a bit more time to complete secondary bus runs and return safely before it is time for elementary dismissal. This adjustment does not necessarily indicate that the roads are too dangerous to hold after-school activities and events. Each situation is evaluated independently to ensure we balance cautious travel times with the continuation of normal student programs whenever safely possible.
How You Will Be Notified
If school is closed, we will do our very best to inform everyone by 5:15 AM, using a voice call, text, and email through our notification system, along with a posting on the SGI website and social media. The closing will also be sent to local media to be included in the familiar TV scroll. When SGI schools are closed, we will not be transporting students to any out-of-district runs, even if schools in other areas of our region remain open.
A Note on Remote Learning
At this point in time, if we are closed, we are simply closed. On a snow day, we ask that families stay safe and that our students relax, read a book, and get outside to play if it is safe to do so. If we find ourselves in an extreme winter where we exhaust our allotted snow days, we may discuss utilizing "remote learning days" as an alternative to extending the school year—but we will cross that bridge only if we absolutely must.
I hope this information offers a clear insight into the complex process of calling a snow day. We assure you that every decision is made with the best intentions for student safety and educational continuity.
Sincerely,
James Bialasik, Superintendent of Schools