Being in Michigan, snow days and cold days are long awaited and somewhat expected vacations throughout the winter months for high schoolers. However, this year has gone by without either. Whether the blame lies with El Nino or the school district, the fact is there has not been a snow day nor a cold day.  The major question among most students is whether the Troy School District will give “free days” if there are no snow days declared.

“We do not have a specific number of snow days built into our calendar,” superintendent Richard Machesky said. “There are up to six days that will be forgiven by the state. So if you do not take those days you still have to be in school. If you do take those days then the state typically will forgive those days, because as a school district we are required to have a certain number of days and a certain number of instructional hours. If you do not make those days and hours we will have to make them up.”

Even though there will not be a “free day” given out to counterbalance the absence of snow days, students should be aware of the amount of work that goes into announcing a snow/cold day.

“The process is pretty simple. We have a director of maintenance and operations. If there is going to be a large snowfall over night, he will drive around the district at around 2 a.m.,” Machesky said. “Then he will call me at around 4 a.m. to let me know how stuff is progressing and what the snowfall looks like across the district. Another thing that happens is all the superintendents in the local area will have a conference call at around 4 a.m. with our meteorologist from Michigan State University. We basically report out how it is within our districts. So we will decide as a group what we are going to do.”

Throughout all this, the main concern comes down to the safety of the students and staff.

“The other piece is that it comes down to if it [is] possible for the city to get into all of the subdivisions in a timely manner so that buses can get into the subdivisions. That is a big consideration,” Machesky said.

This again can vary depending on the time the snow hits, what type of snow falls and the type of roads in the district. For example, Oxford has a lot of gravel roads so it will be harder for their city to clean up the roads in time for school. Also, if the snow hits at midnight then there is plenty of time for the city clean up. However, if the snow falls at 4 a.m. it will become more difficult to clean up. This results in the superintendant making a final judgment call.

In order for a cold day to be declared, there are different procedures and guidelines used to determine the situation.

“Cold weather is where we look at what the wind chill is going to be for a sustained period of time, primarily during bus stop times between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.,” Machesky said. “If the sustained wind chill temperatures are about 25 below, then that is typically the point where we will call a cold day because students and staff are prone to frostbite.”

The lack of snow days and cold days this year is unusual.

“I do not remember there not ever being a snow or cold day, so this is odd,” Machesky said. “Typically we would have had at least one snow or cold day, but there is probably going to be one. More than likely we are going to get hit with some weather here at some point. We just have been really fortunate with El Nino.”

To all the students out there praying for a snow day, here is what Dr. Machesky has to say.

“Being a student once for quite a few years, I understand the excitement around snow days. [Students should] not get disappointed on those occasions when there is not a snow or cold day. The decision around those snow days is really based upon the best of our information,” Machesky said.