Let it Snow: Snow days at NUHS

During the winter season, most students look forward to waking up to a school closing, but there are some students who prefer to stay in school to learn more and increase their education. Sadly for the snow day lovers, there are multiple things that go into deciding a snow day, meaning it’s harder for them to get that extra day off.

Mr. Jeff Bertrang, the superintendent, has been working at New Ulm Public High School for five years now. He has been a resident of New Ulm since 1992, and he took up the position to be the superintendent at New Ulm High after he was the shop teacher, principal, and superintendent at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop schools. When asked what his favorite part about being the superintendent was, he answered: “I think a bigger community and a much bigger school system, so going out.” But his most favorite part is going out to meet new people.

Snow days can put a lot of stress on the superintendent. With parents sending emails about the icy roads, to students on Twitter tweeting about the bad weather and hoping for a school cancellation, things can get pretty hectic. Bertrang does not particularly like snow days, because he still has to go to work at the district office, down by the middle school. He explains why he doesn’t like working on snow days by saying, “Since there is no one there, I have no one to talk to, because people stay at home.” Mr. Bertrang said: “I like warm, sunny days with no wind or snow.”

When having snow days, students are not able to expand their education, so an option for our district is to have a special online class to work on at home on days school is canceled. With this, students have the opportunity to continue their education instead of having to miss out on a day. When we brought this up to Bertrang, he admitted that our district has had this conversation multiple times, but it is not yet seen as a possibility because not every family has access to a computer or the internet. But still, even if all families did have access to the internet there is no way to ensure every student has a computer of their own for each of them to do their work, making it harder for larger families.

We thought that it just took snow to cancel school, but after talking to Bertrang, we learned that there is an entire process that takes place. The process obviously starts with the time of year, how much daylight, and snow. When it starts to snow, our superintendent first takes into account if the ditches are full or not. If the ditches are full, there is a higher chance we will be delayed or cancelled because there is nowhere for the snow to go except for on the roads. But if the ditches are empty, we will most likely have school because there will be little to no snow on the roads. On the subject of the process, Mr. Bertrang said, “How much snow have we had before the next snow event? So, you look at the weather forecasts, the prevailing winds coming from the northwest, and their direction and speed. There’s an actual website called airspeedsminnesota which gives you all the airports in Minnesota that report wind speed, wind direction, wind gusts, every 30 minutes. You also look at a few weather station predictions. MLC has a weather station themselves, to give you accurate weather at the time.”

Bertrang also has to talk to surrounding schools and look at road conditions. If it looks like a possible snow day, Bertrang and Dean Hosna, bus driver and transportation director for New Ulm Bus Lines, have to drive all of the township, county, and state roads to check for easy access into New Ulm. Bertrang goes on to say, “I drive the north side and Dean Hosna drives the south side of the district, and we talk on the phone about what we’re seeing, how things are looking, and whether buses get through. If they can’t, it would either be a late start or if we’re just going to cancel school. So, we look at weather, we look at air indicators, we talk to one another, we drive the roads, and that’s all what goes into determining if we have school, whether it’s a late start or no school.”

Next, we asked Jeff Bertrang how late of a notice they are able to give families on delays or cancellations. Again, there are many things that go into this, such as the weather the night before, how long it it will take to plow, if the winds are going to keep coming, or how long it will keep snowing. If all that is in place, they will cancel school the night before. If they can’t tell, they’ll wait until the next morning. Even though all of these factors are important, the most crucial conditions needed are a 35°F below wind chill with a wind speed of at least 15 miles per hour.

We talked to two students, one who likes and one who dislikes snow days to see the different perspectives of NUHS students. The first, Rebekah Hoppe, a student at New Ulm High School, put her input in about how she felt about snow days. When asked if she liked or disliked snow days she replied saying, “I don’t mind the snow, but I hate driving on the icy roads during winter.” Hoppe enjoys snow days, because it means that she gets to stay home all day and cuddle with her three cats, but when she does get out of the house, she loves to go sledding with her friends.

Although most people would assume every student loves snow days, there are some who would rather be in school. An example of someone who dislikes having school canceled is Wyatt Zuhlsdorf. When asked about it, Wyatt said, “A lot of my teachers are harder and won’t move the due dates back for our projects and assignments, so I just think it’s easier to just be in school.”

Between wind, snow and ice, temperature, and road conditions, there are multiple factors that help make the decision of a snow day. If any of these components are off, it can completely change the superintendent’s verdict, but whether we’re in school or it gets called off, students learn something new everyday.