Snow Days
Snow Days ~ Annually, the State of Michigan offers up to six days of grace for inclement weather, extreme illness, and or mechanical failure days. In other words, our schools can be off six times each year when scheduled to be in session. When school districts exceed the six days, district leaders can appeal for up to three additional days. The additional three days off are rarely needed, but serve as an added safety guard. During the 2018-2019 school year, we were required to cancel school 11 times for inclement weather. You may recall we dealt with the Polar Vortex last year. A year ago, most school districts exceeded the maximum limit of inclement weather days, and the Governor signed a bill forgiving the three days when Michigan was placed into a State of Emergency. In the end, by adding the additional three State of Emergency days, last school year, school districts had 12-days available to use if needed. With that, several school districts in Michigan were required to be off over 20-days. Once a District cancelled more than 12-days last year, the District was required to add days to the school calendar or forfeit school funding. While Holt Public was not required to add days to the academic calendar last year due to the additional forgiven days, many school districts did.
Starting in late October, I begin to closely monitor the weather. I watch the forecast on the news and check three different weather apps. When we are predicted to receive inclement weather overnight, I set my alarm for 3:50am to wake up to conduct a road check. As illustrated last year when Channel 6 news road with me (https://gohps.net/WLNSsnowdayvideo) , I typically travel the roads west to Dimondale, north into Lansing, south into Mason and several routes in our district. Once I return home, I start speaking with our Transportation Supervisor, who often also checks road conditions and talks to other Transportation Supervisors in our area. I also begin to talk with other area Superintendents to gauge the road conditions in neighboring districts. After another look at the forecast, a decision is made to either remain open or close for the day. This decision is made and communicated when possible by 5:30am. Inclement weather announcements are communicated initially on our website and social media sites: Facebook (Holt Public Schools), Twitter (HoltPublicSch), and Instagram (Holt Public Schools). We next send out a robo call to the number listed in Skyward and finally, we notify our media partners (TV and radio).
As you can see, a great deal of research goes into inclement weather decisions. At our core, we keep the safety of our students, staff, and families in mind when making a decision. In addition, although we are allocated six days off annually, we will not cancel school unless the conditions, road checks, and forecast require the district to close.
If you have been following our social media for the past five years, you are aware that we creatively announce our days off (here is a link to our most recent announcement on February 26, 2020: https://gohps.net/SnowdayFebruary2020. You may also be aware that I also receive countless social media pleas for a day off. While most students are good natured and kind, periodically, some social media pleas have been offensive or deemed harmful. I urge our learning community to enjoy the winter and keep an eye on our social media as you never know when the Holt Public Yeti will show up! In the end, if you choose to post a plea on social media, please be thoughtful and kind as I am aware that parents of our youngest learners are sharing the funny positive social media posts with their children!
Take comfort that if March comes in like a lion, the Yeti will be ready!
~ David G. Hornak, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Holt Public
