Why do school districts decide not to close school on bad weather days?

People across eastern Idaho woke up to bad weather Thursday morning. Many schools even closed because of poor road conditions.

“In similar conditions, I have seen schools close before,” said Dr. Matt Brewer, First Alert meteorologist.

But two big school districts were still open: Bonneville School District 93 and Idaho Falls School District 91.

“Anytime there is freezing rain, you don’t mess with (it),” Brewer said. “There were some schools that chose to roll the dice. I don’t know if that was the best of ideas.”

The decision to close schools is entirely up to the districts.

“It’s a tough decision,” said Dr. Charles Shackett, the superintendent for Bonneville School District 93.

Bonneville School District 93 said, “There are many variables that are considered before making this decision and safety is always the top priority.”

Starting at 5 a.m., administrators are driving up and down roads to see if it is safe enough for buses to travel. The district is also in touch with Road & Bridge department to see what the plowing progress will look like throughout the morning.

By 6 a.m., the district hopes to come to a decision and alert faculty, staff and families.

“The conditions just weren’t such that the buses couldn’t roll,” Shackett said. “The key really is if our buses can run their routes, for the most part, and (if) it’s safe enough for them to run their routes, then we keep school in session.”

However, for the upper area neighborhood in Bonneville School District 93, they were informed that buses would not be picking up students because of the ice.

“We had to communicate to the parents, get your children down to the base and we’ll pick them up,” Shackett said. “There were some accidents, there were some issues. Hindsight is always 20/20. I think we made the right decision.”

Bonneville School District 93 said that even though the decision to keep schools in session was up to them, parents still have the ultimate say whether kids attend or not.

“If they feel it’s not safe, it’s their responsibility to say, ‘We’re keeping our child home today,'” Shackett said.

In a Facebook post Thursday morning, the district said that any students whose route was canceled because of weather were allowed to stay home and the district would excuse the absence.

The district said that each student is allowed six excused absences a trimester.

“They can use those,” Shackett said. “Just because school is in session, we’re not saying your child has to come, because it’s really, the bottom line drops with the parent, and they make that choice.”

Shackett is also in contact with superintendents in the surrounding areas to check in with their decision-making progress.