The tide on weather-related closings began to turn for Friday’s classes, as Chicago Public Schools and other area districts announced plans to reopen amid forecasts for single-digit highs and subzero wind chills.
Districts that chose to reopen Friday, along with a handful that reopened Thursday, cited a variety of factors that went beyond meteorology, including the size and flexibility of their district, the number of students who walk to school, and the number of emergency days off they had left to spare in the year.
Several announcements came with a warning and a plea to send students out with hats, coats and gloves, as temperatures Friday were predicted to remain frigid, according to the National Weather Service.
“While temperatures are expected to remain cold, we are welcoming our students back to class on Friday,” said CPS school chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett in a news release.
Thursday evening’s announcements followed a handful made the day before, when the decision to reopen was more controversial.
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When Superintendent of Township High School District 214 David Schuler explained in a 600-word statement his reasoning for reopening the second-largest high school district in the state Thursday, a flood of criticism on Facebook followed.
He expressed concern that by remaining closed the school would use three of its allotted four emergency days for the entire school year before Friday.
In one of the district’s high schools, Elk Grove High School, social studies teacher Jim Arey said classes Thursday were complicated by an hourlong power outage.
Adding to that stress is the fact that final exams are next week, said Arey, president of the District 214 Education Association, which represents 850 teachers and counselors.
“We’re being challenged on multiple levels right here,” Arey said.
Not all schools that chose to open Thursday faced a rough road.
Colleen Barrett, principal at St. Francis Xavier School in Wilmette, said she was surprised at how silent her inbox was when she announced that classes would resume after Wednesday’s closure. The school decided to start late, at 8:45 a.m., and students were allowed to forgo their uniforms to dress in as many layers as possible, she said.
Like other superintendents in the area, she made her decision after communicating the last few evenings with other schools in the area, including the Wilmette Public School District.
“There is not a perfect science to it,” Barrett said. “What is most important to me is that we do what is best for our community.”
Districts decided to remain closed also said they do not make their decision lightly. Last year, CPS canceled classes four times due to subzero temperatures and wind chills. Prior to that, CPS had been shut down just four times since 1999, all because of snowfall of more than 20 inches.
“As the overwhelming majority of our students walk to school, when weather conditions become extreme and could be dangerous, we must make decisions to protect student safety and well-being,” CPS spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said in an email.
Other factors came into play in Barrington School District 220, whose large size and complexity makes deciding whether to close particularly difficult.
The immediacy of social media and the accuracy of weather forecasting affects decision-making, according to Superintendent Brian Harris. His district decided to remain closed Thursday, a call that he made around 5:30 Wednesday evening.
“Some districts, we have to consider our facilities. We have to consider out transportation,” Harris said. “Everybody’s scenario is different.”