As a general rule, a windchill factor of 19 degrees will be the determining factor in closing or delaying school. How does the temperature affect the decision to attend school? When it's very cold, we get a lot of questions from families and staff about whether the school will be closed just because of the cold temperatures. Under certain conditions, described below, extreme cold can cause the school to close for the safety of our students and staff. Because teaching time is so valuable so that all of our students can achieve the highest levels, we want all students to attend school as much as possible.
Ultimately, however, families decide what is best for their children based on individual circumstances. We hope this information will be useful for our students, families and staff to learn more about our decision-making process and the steps we can all take to continue teaching and learning even when it's very cold outside. LANSING — A gust of Arctic air over the weekend caused forecasters to forecast temperatures for Monday that may not reach positive numbers, just as many school districts are returning to school. The Ferguson-Florissant School District considers a set of internal weather guidelines to help determine if temperatures are safe for teaching.
None of the three superintendents were optimistic about holding school on Wednesday, as the Lansing area received a wind chill warning starting at 4 p.m. William Stockton, 7, left, and Jeremiah Michner, 8, right, go sledding and snowboarding during a snowy day for Midland Public Schools on Tuesday, February Allison Stockton, 12, left, helps Jeremiah Michner, 8, right, take off in a sleigh during the day for public schools Midland on Tuesday, February. That will involve making some difficult decisions for school administrators, who will have to decide how cold is too cold. The temperatures and snowfall forecast for Monday made it easy to make the decision to cancel Sunday night, said John Deiter, superintendent of DeWitt Public School.
The superintendents of the DeWitt, East Lansing and Lansing school districts said cold winds of 20 degrees below zero increase the likelihood of closure. With temperatures dropping from -15 to -25 degrees below zero the next two mornings, the student-led call school patrol has been fully operational in the more than a dozen schools in the Detroit metropolitan area that returned from winter vacation this week. However, the Daily News asked local school superintendents what guidelines they use to decide whether schools should close due to cold temperatures and wind chill. State law gives each district the authority to control when it is open or closed due to the weather, and schools can cancel the equivalent of six days of school without financial penalty, according to Martin Ackley, director of government affairs at the Michigan Department of Education.
A spokesperson for Grand Rapids public schools told MLive on Friday that the district has no formal cancellation policy due to temperature, but that it will focus on student and staff safety. On Wednesday, several charter schools and private schools closed, as did the Roseville community school district. The states in the upper Midwest are already preparing for the weather, and school districts in the suburbs of Chicago are preparing for a possible shutdown due to chills and temperatures forecast to be below zero. .
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