“This is a difficult district,” Padalino said. “You could be down in Rosendale and things could be fine, but up in Woodstock they’re terrible. And we don’t close certain schools and not others often, unless there’s a specific power issue or something. It’s the Hudson Valley, and we have our hills, and we have our creeks, and all different issues that really play into it. If you’re sitting in the City of Kingston and it’s not snowing you may be wondering why schools are closed, and on the outskirts it might be treacherous.”
Sometimes, as it did on Monday and Tuesday of this week, the district uses a two-hour delay, which while shortening the school day doesn’t count against the snow day allotment. Theoretically, the district could open on a one- or two-hour delay from now until June and it wouldn’t dip into its handful of penciled in days off as a result. And the delayed opening is sort of a superintendent’s best friend.
“Frequently, when we do a two-hour delay, we’re buying time,” Padalino said. “In some districts you do a two-hour delay because you know the weather is going to clear up, or road crews are going out. Often here it’s a two-hour delay so we can continue to assess the situation. People sometimes think when it’s a two-hour delay that we’re not closing, but sometimes we do.”
Monday’s two-hour delay was the result of a curious weather condition where it seemed like everything should have been fine, but actually wasn’t.
“The problem is the air temperature was warm, but the ground temperature was still 32 degrees,” said Falcon. “It was icy. And as quickly as [the City of Kingston’s Department of Public Works] was putting the salt down, it was freezing up.”
The option of a two-hour delay also meant the district didn’t have to go into the red with snow days, something both Padalino and Falcon said would be difficult to avoid through the rest of the winter.
“It’s January, and we’ve already had six snow days,” Padalino said. “And we still have most of January, February and sometimes March, too.”
“Everyone is saying it’s one of those old-fashioned winters,” added Falcon.
Padalino said that people in the district are generally pretty understanding when it comes to snow days, as they live in the area and know how winter can sink its teeth into the Hudson Valley. But every now and then he hears from area residents who disagree with his decisions.
“A couple of snow days ago I had 52 e-mails from people. Probably 40 of them were Thank you’s, 10 of them were ‘Why are you closing school again?’ and two of them were, ‘Why do teachers get a free day off and I have to go to work?’” Padalino said. “You can’t win. But it’s one of those things you have to remind yourself. Safety has to be first, and if we have to take a couple of days off our April break and come back to school in order to keep kids safe in January and February, that’s just what we have to do.”
Falcon put it more succinctly.
“You’re darned if you do and darned if you don’t,” she said.
While students may have been applauding the extension of their winter break last week, they may not be so thrilled later in the year. The district’s official calendar (https://www.kingstoncityschools.org/files/857842/kcsd%20cal%202013_2014.final.pdf) features a tiny box which looms large; every snow day from here on in will result in the loss of a day off later in the school year. The next snow day will shorten Memorial Day recess, with students expected in the classroom on Friday, May 23. After that, the mid-April Spring recess will see itself shortening day by day.
