By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
ssoldan@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — The recent blast of cold and snowy weather has prompted a spike in snow days for both Goodrich and Brandon school districts.
“We are on four of six snow days,” said Carly Stone, Brandon School district superintendent. “Anytime after six we can submit a waiver to the state and ask for more, but those are not always granted. If they’re not granted, we have to add time at the end of the year. Safety and security of our kids and staff and families is always top priority. It’s a hard decision with everything going on. We are very thoughtful to reaching out to the road commission on the status of roads and when they’ll be clear, and that’s impacting our decisions.”
The district can petition the state after April 1.
While snow and slippery roads are a factor in the recent school closing, the wind chill and air temperature are also considered. Such was the case over the past week statewide where temperatures struggled to get into the low teens during the day.
“Wind chills around 15 to 20 degrees below zero typically are the zone that leads to schools closing,” said Mike Baszler, Goodrich School district superintendent. “This has to do with timing for the potential of frostbite.”
Goodrich were at five days through Thursday, said Baszler,
“On top of all this we make decisions with our transportation team and the other 21 Genesee School Districts,” he said. “There’s a lot of communication and it’s Michigan where the weather can change in an hour. As a rule we try to have a decision by 5:30 a.m. to close or open schools.”
“On those bitter cold days we consider safety at the bus stops,” he said. “We also take into account our diesel buses which have a hard time on the cold mornings. The last thing you want to do is have a bus break down out on a route.”