NEWARK The Tuesday night
snowstorm followed by single-digit
temperatures for much of the week
led to a mid-winter break for Wor-
cester County schools this week,
but the decision-making process is
complicated and not always popu-
lar, according to school officials.
With an ominous forecast calling
for a major winter storm and as
much as four to eight inches of
snow and high winds in the local
area starting Tuesday afternoon,
school officials early Tuesday morn-
ing made the decision to close the
county public schools that day. The
first snowflakes did not fall until late
in the afternoon on Tuesday, lead-
ing some in the community to ques-
tion the decision, but during a brief
Board of Education meeting on
Tuesday morning, moved up to an
early start time because of the
pending storm, Supervisor of Main-
tenance and Operations and Pupil
Transportation Steve Price explain-
ed to school board members how
the decision was made.
The planned closure on Monday
for the Martin Luther King holiday,
followed by the decision to close
schools on Tuesday in advance of
the storm, followed by the post-
storm closures on Wednesday and
Thursday had county students off
for much of the week. As of mid-day
Thursday, no decision had been
announced for Friday. However,
Friday was already scheduled for a
half-day for the end of the grading
period and schools are closed on
Monday for a planned teacher pro-
fessional day.
With just a half day planned for
Friday and Monday's already sche-
duled closure for a professional day,
it appeared likely the county schools
will be closed for six straight school
days and eight total counting the
weekend, leading to a break the
equivalent of the holiday closure.
It's clearly not the best situation for
all involved, except maybe the stu-
dents, but one school official said
this week was unavoidable given
the conditions.
Price said the process starts as
early as 3:30 a.m. He checks condi-
tions in his area and consults with
the Maryland Emergency Manage-
ment Agency (MEMA). Price then
contacts the Worcester County
Sheriff's Office, confers with his
counterparts in neighboring school
districts to get a consensus and ulti-
mately contacts Assistant Superin-
tendent of Administration Lou Tay-
lor to reach a final decision.
While some questioned the wis-
dom of closing the schools on Tues-
day when the storm ultimately didn't
materialize until the early evening,
Price said the decision was not diffi-
cult based on the rather ominous
forecast.
"It's a long, involved process," he
said. "As for today [Tuesday], the
big concern is we would get every-
body in school and start the day,
then turn around a couple hours la-
ter and send everyone back home."
Worcester County Public Schools
Superintendent Dr. Jerry Wilson is
involved in the decision-making pro-
cess. Wilson said the uncertainty
surrounding the forecast makes the
decision to open or close the schools
difficult and leaves the decision mak-
ers open to criticism one way or the
other."We always take that into ac-
count," he said. "If the storm doesn't
materialize as expected, we often
take some criticism. As far as Tues-
day goes, the thing to remember is
we'll have buses with kids still out
there at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. It's not
always the regular school hours that
lead to a decision."
The storm did ultimately arrive on
Tuesday evening, and while the
overall snow totals did not match
the predictions of up to eight inches,
enough of the white stuff did fall in
School Officials Explain How Weather Closures Decided
Baltimore Avenue in Ocean City is pictured on Wednesday morning.
Photo by Chris Parypa Photography
Page 6
January 24, 2014
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
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By SHAWN J. SOPER
NEWS EDITOR