After many school closings this week and potential closures in the near future due to weather, the question of what goes into a school closing decision has arisen.
News 5 went to Independence to speak to the district's Superintendent, Kelli Cogan.
Cogan said there is no special formula or process, and that each superintendent decides a bit differently.
"There are a lot of factors to consider. It's not just looking at the temperature or what the weather forecast, says," said Cogan. "At the same time, we rely on our collegues, our neighboring school districts, to find out what their plan is."
She said there are many factors, such as whether a district's buses are parked inside or whether there are more walkers than bus riders. Superintendents also check with safety forces to see if they think it's safe on the roads.
And while Cogan said they would like to make the call the night before to give everybody more notice, they simply can't always do that.
"You would like to, but we've done that before, where it's said it's going to be really bad in the morning, and then it ends up not being as bad as you thought it was. So, if we can make the call early, we will, but most of the time it's really a game-day decision," Cogan said.
The superintendent said that although they know they're never going to make everyone happy with their decision, the focus remains and will always be on student and staff safety.
You can check the list of school closings on our website to find which schools are closed, if ever needed.
