In the stillness of the predawn hours, Ed Rachford, interim superintendent of Flossmoor Elementary District 161, was checking weather reports.
By 5:30 a.m., he was on the phone with bus company officials and superintendents from neighboring districts before deciding that school would be in session.
“It’s the toughest decision a superintendent can make,” said Rachford, who has only canceled school two or three times in 20 years as a high school superintendent. “We’re in the business of education, so closing is a major decision. . . . We sit on the horns of the dilemma.”
Those decisions played out all over the Chicago area Thursday, and the hodgepodge of results showed just how difficult the choices can be.
Some schools, including all Chicago public and Catholic schools, closed. Others remained open. Within consolidated districts, some elementary schools closed while high schools remained open–and vice versa.
The ensuing confusion had many parents vainly trying to outsmart busy signals on official weather-emergency numbers or patiently watching lists of schools scroll across the TV screens, wondering if their schools had been inadvertently left out.
When there’s tons of snow and even the snowplows are having trouble navigating streets, deciding whether to close schools is a cinch.
When it’s bitter cold like Thursday but things look pretty normal, what’s a school system to do?
Perhaps no one understands the confusion better than 13-year-old Charles Thompson, who, for one day, was king of the school.
That’s because he was the only pupil inside Stowe Elementary School on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Chicago Public Schools officials had decided Wednesday night to close but opted to keep school buildings open for kids who had nowhere else to go or had logistical problems. The Chicago schools, public and Catholic, will be closed again Friday.
Charles found himself with everyone’s undivided attention, polishing his test skills and doing some writing drills. His younger brother, who had arrived with him, took one look at the empty school and jetted off to a friend’s house, Charles said.
With impressive academic dedication, however, Charles remained. For his efforts, the school rewarded him with a cheeseburger-and-soup lunch.
“I’m kinda happy because it gives me time to practice all day and study and stuff,” he said. “But I thought more kids would have come. I wish I had someone here with me like a friend.”
To close or not to close? For administrators, the decision requires expertise in meteorology, transportation and even sociology. Their choices can affect thousands of people, rippling out from schoolchildren to parents to employers.
The hesitancy over closing was best illustrated in High School District 214, based in Arlington Heights, which opened until noon before closing.
There were other issues that muddied the waters: Some high schools were in the midst of final exams, which would have created a scheduling nightmare. And with Martin Luther King Day on Monday, few administrators were keen on giving kids an unscheduled five-day holiday.
There also was the matter of being out of practice. After three mild winters, the last time most administrators had called off school was almost three years ago–Jan. 18, 1994–when the mercury plunged to 21 below zero with a windchill of 60 below.
“Generally my experience is half the people are upset if you don’t close and half are upset when you do,” said Jerry Petersen, superintendent of High School District 218, serving Oak Lawn, Blue Island and Palos Heights.
“At the high school level, kids are at least 14 years old and smart enough to dress warmly,” Petersen said. “On the other hand, if I had an elementary district and 50 below windchill, I might be nervous about putting a 5-year-old at a bus stop.”
Maureen Partynski of Lockport was anxious.
“I’m just a clueless kindergarten mom who has never been through this before,” she said.
Partynski dutifully bundled up her kindergartner and drove to the bus stop, waiting with her daughter. After 10 minutes passed without a soul in sight, it dawned on Partynski that school was canceled.
“I had never been through the drill before. Does a snow day mean a cold day? And every time I turned on the radio, it seemed as if I just missed the long list. The radio just kept repeating the news of the Chicago public schools and Catholic schools, and I wanted to yell, `What about the rest of us?’ “
After some hasty child-care arrangements, she reached her job at an Oak Forest bank only to find that four of the 20 employees were home dealing with the fallout from their school closings.
“It was your basic nightmare morning,” she said.
The modern-day logistics of dual-career couples factor heavily in closing decisions as well.
“I am very reluctant to close schools,” said Roger Gravelink, superintendent of Downers Grove Grade School District 58. “There are many students who would be left home alone because their parents work.”
There’s also another consideration: If the elementary schools are closed, high school administrators know that older brothers and sisters are needed at home to care for their siblings.
“It’s a safety issue,” Gravelink said. “Children are safer in school than to be home alone.”
But safety is in the eyes of the beholder. One parent was upset that the Highland Park/Deerfield schools kept their doors open, especially with many other surrounding districts closed.
“It’s absurd,” she said. “No matter how the kids get to the building, they’re going to be exposed to the elements at some time. This is patently irresponsible.”
Sometimes, there’s even a bit of regionalism that creeps into the decision making. David Van Winkle, superintendent of Valley View High School District 365 in Romeoville, said: “I came from an area in the Northeast where the average snowfall was 150 inches . . . where people think it’s natural to be out in the snow. That mentality, along with a host of snowplows, helps keep the schools open.”
The Illinois State Board of Education leaves closing decisions to each district, and schools usually make provisions for weather-induced shutdowns, building in about five days per year into their calendars, officials said. The state does not penalize districts for weather closings.
“Probably one of the biggest misconceptions is that schools are kept open because the district might lose money,” said Van
Winkle.
“The other is that the decision to remain open forces parents to send children out. The parents only have to call school and the absence will be excused.”
Lori O’Hara understands the quandary from both sides–as a parent with two children in Northbrook Elementary School District 28 and as a social worker in the Lincolnshire schools.
“I heard from my employer between 5 and 6 a.m., but the room mothers who make the calls for my own two daughters don’t usually start calling until 7 a.m.,” O’Hara said.
She spent the next hour glued to the TV, but found much of the information inaccurate. Ordinarily, she would check the Internet, but she had a house guest sleeping in the room with the computer. “So I just waited.”
Her two daughters, of course, were thrilled. O’Hara planned to take them to Northbrook Court “to blow some steam,” but after that, she was out of ideas.
“We’d go see a movie . . . if we hadn’t just seen everything during Christmas vacation.”
