You've probably heard the complaints before. "It's not even snowing and they cancelled school?!?" Or "It's terrible out there this morning! Why didn't they cancel school?" No matter which way it gets called, someone seems to think they know better. Making the decision to cancel school is a daunting task for a superintendent of schools.

In Maine, most superintendents follow the same set of guidelines in their decision to cancel school. It's always a tough decision that has to be made very early in the morning by taking all the information available and using it to answer the question, "Is it safe for kids to get to school?"

post_high-school-classroom_jeff-j-mitchell
loading...

Superintendents rely on weather reports, public works crews, school bus fleet managers, and even police departments to give them the information they need to determine if kids should go to school. If the decision seems wrong to you, there's probably a very good reason it was made.

In many areas across the state, school was cancelled again the day after a major storm dumped over a foot of snow in most places. The roads may have looked fine, but many sidewalks were still not cleared, making it unsafe for kids walking to school.

Keep this in mind. We all can play Monday morning quarterback and second guess if the decision to call off school or not was a good one. In the end, trust your superintendent to do their job to keep your kids safe. It's tough being responsible for the safety of thousands of kids, but judging by the track record of our Maine superintendents, they seem to be making the right calls.

More From Q97.9