“I wish I could be wrong as often as the weatherman,” superintendent Matt Ward said.
The hard decision behind calling a snow day falls on Ward’s shoulders. To back his decision many factors have to be taken into account. Despite this Ward meets many challenges and even takes them on personally.
“The weather’s so unpredictable,” Ward said.
To help with Ward’s decision he receives emails from Butler County Emergency Management. Alongside the help from Butler County, Ward receives copious amounts of help from the National Weather Service through emails and video calls.
“You can’t always rely on the weather predictions, sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong, sometimes they’re unpredicted,” Ward said.
The help Ward receives is a valuable resource; however, the importance of this situation warrants that he obtain more information himself.
“We’re always on the roads,” Ward said.
To fully scope the dangers of a snowy winter day, Ward and other important staff drive the roads around Augusta at 4:30 am.
“The city does a very good job of clearing roads in the city limits,” Ward said
Ward is not alone in this process but the decision is his. Ward makes a point to have everyone notified before 6 am.
“Safety is the main priority,” Ward said.
Among the weather conditions, Ward has to take safety into account.
“The school can be a safe place, with warm food, and caring adults,” Ward said.
Closing school can be problematic for parents now needing to handle work situations or find childcare, so Ward also considers family situations. Sometimes state requirements need to be considered as well, such as when all built-in snow days have been used. Of the snow days allowed, Augusta High School only has one left.
“If a situation arises, the district plan is to spread minutes out over the remainder of the year rather than adding days at the end of the year,” according to a newsletter sent to staff.
The state requires no less than 1116 hours per school year, and students are required 28 credit hours to graduate, and missing school days can affect that.
“the biggest thing is the total number of hours you have to have in high school in order to graduate,” English teacher Kristiana Smeltzer said.
Furthermore, the calling of snow days can affect teachers too, lost instructional time and lost time with students can be challenging to teachers.
“As a teacher it can make planning a little difficult, trying to adjust it and get kids to where they’re even on even footing again,” Smeltzer said.
This is not an issue to some but in extreme or unfortunate circumstances teachers have to compensate.
“So I ended up editing out part of a unit for that day and honestly, most of what I had to edit was like supplemental stuff,” Smeltzer said. “It wasn’t a huge deal, but I felt it when I was writing the final exam.”
