SPOKANE, Wash. — Whenever there is snow overnight, students and families all over Spokane wake up and check their phones to see if school is delayed or cancelled. But who makes those decisions?
This morning Nonstop Local had a ride-along with Becky Doughty, executive director of school support services with Spokane Public Schools (SPS) as she drove around Spokane to scope out the snow.She normally gets on the roads between 3-3:30 a.m. so she has plenty of time to evaluate the weather before bus drivers get behind the wheel, but she’s not the only one.Whenever there is a snow day, 3-4 SPS staff members drive around different areas of Spokane that could be dangerous for buses, students or staff if conditions are poor. They specially look at road conditions for drivers and the sidewalks for students that walk to school. They start with the places they feel could be the most dangerous like the South Hill.Every snow day is different and they address each one on a case-by-case basis, but there are some general guidelines that the district typically follows.Any snowfall at all and they will salt and deice their walkways.2+ inches and they will plow their parking lots.4+ inches and they put chains on buses.6+ inches is typically when they start to look at delays or cancellations. Before any official decision is made, the staff who scope out the snow (snow scopers, as dubbed by Nonstop Local reporter Noah Boelter), get on a conference call with the superintendent and several other decision makers within the district and discuss what they are seeing.They also talk to the Spokane Police Department, the Spokane Fire Department and the National Weather Service to get their opinions on how dangerous conditions are.The district does not consider cancellations or delays lightly. Some of the 29,000 students in the district rely on their school as a warm, safe place with food. To cancel a school day would take a lot (widespread snow right as the school day is starting, dangerous conditions). Each year the district has 3 days of cancellable school days that they build into their schedule in case of weather or unexpected circumstances. If they have to cancel for weather, they don’t have to make those days up. If they cancel any more days they either have to make them up that school year or they have to get permission from the state to not.Cancellations don’t happen on a school-by-school basis. Any cancellations would be district-wide.
