How Hamilton County decides on whether to close schools

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Hamilton County Schools and day cares are also closed Tuesday.

School leaders would prefer to have students in class if possible, but they’re also careful to not put students, teachers and staff in danger.

More factors than just weather go into their decision to close.

One of the issues that complicates the prospect of closing schools, is whether or not to also close the daycares at many of the area elementary schools. They don’t always close at the same time.

STEVE HIGHLANDER, SCHOOL BOARD:
“Dr. Johnson and his staff try to open our child care if at all possible, but if it’s not safe for the child care workers to come, then we can’t have that. And you have to hit that happy medium, or they do, between making the decision too early, and the weather shifts, the pattern shifts, and yet they want to make it early enough to meet the parent’s needs.”

And selectively closing only certain schools, the mountain schools for instance, is not as clear-cut as it may sound.

HIGHLANDER:
“….if the teachers all lived in those proximities, they might could go there or not, but when you’ve got teachers that live on the mountain and teach in the valley, then you have personnel problems.”

And even if the weather situation were timed in a way that passenger vehicles would likely be safe, that’s not necessarily the case for buses.

TIM HENSLEY – DEPT. of EDUCATION PIO
“You have to look at it a little bit differently as well because we have school buses, these aren’t, you know normal vehicles that are on the road, these are the big heavy school buses and they require certain area sometimes to turn around and to be able to maneuver, so we have to look at it from the aspect of is it going to be safe for buses to be on the road as well.”

With 6 built in weather days still left in the school calendar, administrators would prefer to be overly cautious.

HIGHLANDER:
“I think most of the board members, and Dr. Johnson agrees, that if we err, it should be on the side of caution, and safety for the children. Because we don’t want any children hurt. Or any personnel or drivers hurt.”

In Chattanooga, Ashley Henderson, News 12 Now.