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Got a Snow Day? Varied Approaches to School Closings in Connecticut Towns

Harriet Jones
/
WNPR
Water Street in Stonington during Tuesday's storm.
Most towns make their decisions independent of state or federal input.

Approaches to getting information and making decisions for Connecticut school closings vary widely among the state's towns. For some school districts, it’s almost like a science. 

Take Torrington, for example. The district pays about $3,000 a year to a weather alert service in Burlington for daily weather updates and for consulting services. This helps officials determine if and when to close school due to bad weather.

Torrington school officials are part of a network of schools in Litchfield County that contract with the same weather service for this process. When the weather is bad, superintendents from most of the schools in that county gather on a conference call with a meteorologist to discuss what they each want to do.

A spokesman for Torrington Schools said that the decisions are rarely unanimous, and that each superintendent makes her or his own decision on whether or not to close school.

In Greenwich, the process is less formal. Kim Eaves, the district’s spokesman, said that the process has been the same for a while. It involves consultation with town officials, police departments, weather experts, public works people, and emergency services personnel. These decisions often take place before 5:00 am.

Most towns makes these decisions independent of state or federal input.

Under certain circumstances, mandatory closings might be likely, according to Kelly Donnelly, a spokesman for the State Department of Education. If travel bans are in place, that could make bus transportation difficult, Donnelly said.

It’s unclear if schools are required to close during a declared state of emergency. The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection could not be immediately reached to clarify the process.

David finds and tells stories about education and learning for WNPR radio and its website. He also teaches journalism and media literacy to high school students, and he starts the year with the lesson: “Conflicts of interest: Real or perceived? Both matter.” He thinks he has a sense of humor, and he also finds writing in the third person awkward, but he does it anyway.

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