It is likely that few people are happier to see warm weather return to Seward County than those who make the decision on whether schools, roads and offices need to shut down for snow days.
Consider Seth Ford, superintendent of the Centennial School District that stretches nearly the entire western border of Seward County and includes a good-sized portion of York County, as well as small corners in Polk and Butler counties.
He and his staff monitor the National Weather Service forecasts from its Omaha station for the area in Seward County, and from the Hastings station for the areas around Waco, Gresham and Thayer.
When weather may become an issue, Ford, two other administrators and the district’s transportation director are up by 4 a.m. to drive to the far edges of the district and report back on often varying conditions.
They are checking for road conditions and blowing snow, have likely viewed consulted forecasts about the predicted storm, are networking with the other superintendents in the county and the Educational Service Unit district, as well as touching base with the Seward County Highway Department.
Seward School Superintendent Josh Fields has a similar routine, using colleagues to cover his 244-square-mile district that runs from Ulysses south to Interstate 80 and then east to the county line, with just a small corner carved out by the East Butler district.
If the decision to cancel, delay or have school as normal can’t be made the night before, Fields said it needs to be made between 5:30 and 6 a.m. It is not always an easy decision, and he expects that some people will disagree because even within smaller districts, there can be wide differences in how a storm affects roads and highways.
“It might be OK for 98% of our district,” he said, but some students may be snowed in at home unable to get out of their drive or down their road due to drifts.
Malcolm Superintendent Ryan Terwilliger said open roads and good lighting are important, which is why the late start is often an option, especially mid-winter when the sun rises later. Temperatures are also a factor.
During and after a storm, main roads and highways are cleared between cities and villages, but in some storms, getting the country roads cleared takes longer. For a time during the 2023-24 school year, Centennial buses could not get down some rural roads so students had to catch the bus on specified highway and village stops.
“We’re thankful for the county and all the work they did to keep it open,” Ford said. “I do not envy those guys. I give those guys a lot of credit.”
But the county highway crew is also collecting information to share back with county officials who have to determine if Seward Public Transit will offer rides that day or whether some county programs should be cancelled.
The Seward County Board of Commissioners discussed the issue of road, program and office closings at its Feb. 25 meeting, asking county staff to bring back the existing policy on snow days for review and possible updating. The Seward County courthouse closed due to weather and road conditions on Feb. 18, facing the issue that roads in one part of the county may be impassable while in another they are fine.
Milford School Superintendent Mitch Kubicek said keeping students safe is always the top consideration for his district, which extends eastward almost to Emerald and also south of Milford. Some parts of the district have more hills and trees which cause more road issues in storms.
The superintendents remind district constituents that parents make the final call on keeping their child or children home from school on bad-weather days because they know what it is like where they live.
Students receive excused absences, though they will miss out on any activities at school that day.
Kubicek said Milford, like other districts, builds snow days into the school calendar, knowing that high schools are required to conduct at least 1,080 classroom hours each school year. Districts can schedule more hours than that knowing that weather, building emergencies, and days when school is cancelled for a state athletic tournament or other event will crop up.
Seward builds in three snow days, but Fields said if additional days are needed, students shift into remote learning to complete school from home.
There are downsides to snow days, including students missing any lessons, exams and events planned for that day.
“Anytime we call off school, we know that is less meals for some families, and that’s always a consideration,” Kubicek said.
Fields said snow days and late starts can also be challenging for parents who have to get childcare arranged quickly so they can get to work.
Seward County Commission Chair Misty Ahmic said the county also incurs costs if it closes offices for a day because staff members working at the jail, in the 911 center, and on the road as sheriff’s deputies still have to work. They are then entitled to additional compensation if others got the day off.
If the county offices remain open, staff may take a vacation day to stay home.
“I have to make that decision based on the information I am given,” Ahmic said at the commissioners’ meeting.
She consults with the county highway department, the sheriff’s department and the emergency management department who have likely been monitoring weather activity.
Kubicek said the work of deciding whether or not to call off school remains somewhat iffy.
“There’s a lot of things to consider and sometimes you are making (decisions) with very short amounts of time,” Kubicek said.
Terwilliger said the system has improved over the years.
“I have been doing this now for 15 years and we probably have more information coming and from the different weather outlets than we ever have,” Terwilliger said.
Fields agreed but noted that weather forecasting can also be wrong about a storm’s path.
