Feb 13, 2007 7:00 pm US/Eastern
So How Do Superintendents Decide Snow Days?
by Peg Rusconi
SOMERVILLE (WBZ) ―
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Ask Somerville Schools Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi about snow days, and he'll tell you about the one he didn't call. "December 9, 2005 when I went from being a brilliant prognosticator at 1:30 pm to one of the more foolish people in Massachusetts."
CBS
The Valentine's Day Nor'easter may lead to one of the trickiest decisions of the school year... whether or not to cancel classes because of the snow.
Ask Somerville Schools Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi about snow days, and he'll tell you about the one he didn't call. "December 9, 2005 when I went from being a brilliant prognosticator at 1:30 pm to one of the more foolish people in Massachusetts."
No one expected the storm that missed us that morning to blow back with a vengeance in the afternoon. "Most of us used to love snow as kids and now it's not such an enjoyable event anymore," said Pierantozzi.
"It's an odd decision in that it's so public, it's so visible it's so immediate and it affects so many lives," said Newton Superintendent Jeff Young.
Young's snow day routine mirrors that of his counterparts -- monitoring the forecast, checking with public works, police and other superintendents. "Safety is invariably the prevailing factor in this, try to do what's right, knowing that sometimes it will be wrong," said Young.
Sandra Ferreira thinks snow days should be called sparingly. "In a really bad snow storm in a situation that's really impossible to go out then it's supposed to be a snow day. Otherwise, it's complicated because we work."
"We try to make the best decisions we can, all superintendents do," said Pierantozzi.
The salt piles are ready around the state and so are superintendents. It seldom matters what the decision is. Dr. Young said he gets more phone calls about snow days than any other issue.
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