We should have gone. We should not have gone. Good call! What about a delay? Thanks for taking care of our kids. Keep making these kinds of decisions! You should wait until we have at least 3 inches of snow and ice before cancelling school. Thanks for changing the delay policy. I am now stuck home with my three kids today! As a staff member trying to navigate the roads, I say thank you. There is no snow on my road, so why are you cancelling school? Just cancel school for those living outside Man-O-War. When will we graduate? Are afternoon and evening activities cancelled? Will there be school tomorrow?

These are a few of the comments, questions and opinions we get when we deal with weather-related decisions about whether to have school. Please know that we take these decisions very seriously. We have a crew that gets out on the roads around 2:30 a.m. and drives as many roads in the county as possible until around 4 a.m. At that time, the crew comes together and discusses the conditions to determine whether it is safe to put our buses, families, staff and teen drivers out on the road. This is not easy because the road conditions at 4:30 a.m. might be very different by 10 a.m., so part of the decision has to rely on the weather forecasts.

At any rate, the crew, which is made up of transportation, law enforcement and risk management folks (many of whom are parents) comes up with a recommendation and shares it with me at 4:30 a.m. After we discuss it, we post the announcement on Channel 13 and on our Web site and contact all the media outlets, normally by 5 a.m. Sometimes we have to wait a bit to post the decision because a storm might be approaching us.

All decisions are made with safety as the only priority.

This year we have had to close our schools six times and dismiss early once. We had only two makeup days built into the calendar. So after using Feb. 15 and March 7, we have extended our school year by four days, through May 30.

We realize that closing school can create hardships and inconveniences for our families. Please know that we do understand and try to avoid it. However, the bottom line is that we will make every decision based on what is best and safe for our kids.

If the roads are not safe in our opinion, then we will not send our families out. Also, there are times when one side of the county is clear and the other side is covered with snow or ice, but we have to make the call based on the overall conditions of the entire county. Also, please know that we appreciate the road crews that clear the main roads, as they do an excellent job. Most times it is not the main roads that stop us from attending school; the secondary roads usually are what create the problems.

Our board has enabled us to revise an administrative policy to allow us to logistically use one- or two-hour delayed starts. Although the weather conditions have to be right to choose these options, we think they might help us get into school a few more times when we would have otherwise had to close. Thanks to our board members for their leadership.

I want to say thank you to all of you who have been understanding, patient and supportive during these times. It is good to know you are out there!