Snow days have parents scrambling

Most Mahoning Valley schools are approaching
or have met their calamity-day limit.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

When school gets canceled because of bad weather, Gina Gresko of Austintown must make other arrangements for her 10-year-old son.

Gresko works at a computer printing company and her hours vary depending on the day. On Tuesdays, after school at St. Joseph School, Anthony goes to Child-First Daycare, Westchester Drive. He’s been going to that facility since he was an infant.

When she has to bring her son in earlier or on a different day than usual, she counts on the administrator to save Anthony a place.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays, Anthony stays at St. Joseph’s after-school program unless school is canceled. Some days when Gresko’s quitting time is earlier in the day, she’s at home when he finishes school. Her employer also allows her to bring her son to work if she can’t find a place to take him. He sits quietly in her office, she said, playing his GameBoy.

It isn’t always convenient.

Several years ago, when Anthony was in kindergarten, school was canceled for five days.

“I had to call off work,” Gresko said.

Sandra Maskarinec, administrator of Child-First Daycare, said the facility had 14 more children Tuesday during the school day than usual.

It doesn’t generally tax her day care, though, because many people with younger children and babies opt to stay home with their children during bad weather rather than venturing out, she said.

That frees up staff who typically work with the younger children to watch over the older children who arrive earlier than when school is in session.

Maskarinec makes other provisions too.

“I usually keep one day extra in food — something that will keep,” she said.

Area school superintendents say a lot of factors and consideration go into a decision to call off school.

“It’s a tough decision,” said Robert Wilson, Lakeview schools superintendent. “It’s probably the toughest nonacademic decision that we have to make.”

Safety is the most important element.

Lakeview pupils in Trumbull County attended school Tuesday while all Mahoning County schools were closed.

Lakeview has one more calamity day left — they’ve used four — before pupils and teachers have to make up a day.

They may run out today.

An additional 2 to 4 inches was expected overnight Tuesday, and then an additional inch during the day today.

With the 2.2 inches of snow that fell Tuesday morning, this is the second-snowiest February on record in the Mahoning Valley.

As of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, 24.6 inches of snow had fallen on the area this month. No. 1 on the February list is 2003 with 26.4 inches.

The average snowfall in February for the Valley is 10.4 inches. In Poland, Tuesday marked the sixth day this school year that classes were canceled. Districts get five days before they have to start making up missed time.

For many Mahoning districts, Tuesday marked the fifth day. The first was in December because of snow, with three consecutive days earlier this month called off because of wind chill and snow depth.

For Poland, Lowellville and Struthers, high winds on Jan. 30 knocked out power, causing another school cancellation. Poland’s makeup day is June 9.

The Youngstown City School District used up its fifth calamity day Tuesday. Any additional school days canceled by bad weather will have to be made up at the end of the school year in June, a district spokesman said.

Both Wilson and Dr. Robert Zorn, Poland superintendent, said bad weather gets superintendents out of bed around 4 a.m. to check roads and forecasts.

Zorn said he drives to each district school, ensuring lots are plowed and power is on. He checks passability of roads as well as snow depth.

When he returns home, he checks weather on the Weather Channel, Internet and local broadcasts. Mahoning superintendents also call one another. Trumbull County schools are divided into regions, and all of the superintendents in a region decide together about whether to cancel or conduct school.

In Mahoning County, the superintendents all collaborate.

Zorn said that the superintendents considered a two-hour delay Tuesday, but with additional heavy snowfall forecast, they decided on cancellation instead.

“Safety has to be the No. 1 concern,” he said. “We have to look at not only can we get the kids to school safely, but can we get them home safely too.”

Douglas Heuer, Austintown superintendent, said the district’s maintenance supervisor and transportation director also hit the roads during bad weather to provide input in the decision of whether to cancel school.

Like Zorn, Heuer said he considers not only snow already on the ground but what’s forecast to fall through the day and how it may impact afternoon transportation of pupils.

Eileen Jonda, a prekindergarten teacher at Poland-Boardman Child Care Center, U.S. Route 224, Boardman, said only two additional children attended the center Tuesday because of school cancellations, but she was expecting more today.

“More people are already calling to make arrangements because we’re supposed to get more snow,” she said.

The center manages the influx by asking staff to stay later when needed.

Gary DeFrance, CEO of Concepts of Learning Daycare & Headstart, Glenwood Avenue, Youngstown, is aware of the struggles of parents who have to work.

“If I can get here and staff can get here, we open,” he said.

Like other day-care facilities, Concepts saw children who normally come after school arrive earlier Tuesday but managed with staff.

“I worked in the mills and other places that don’t just shut down,” DeFrance said. “Most of the time even when the city schools are closed, we’re open. That’s when they need us more.”