What does it take to close school in Marathon County? There's no exact formula, districts say

In anticipation of once-in-a-generation-cold temperatures, school districts around Marathon County and the rest of the state are faced with a tough decision: to close or not to close.

Students in most Wausau-area school districts will go to sleep Tuesday night with their alarm clocks off, as administrators have already decided to close schools on Wednesday, though that decision is not always arrived at easily, several district administrators said Tuesday.

In the case of extreme cold, districts typically decide to close not because it's too cold to sit inside a classroom, but because many students have to wait at the bus stop or walk to school and being outside in such low temperatures can be dangerous.

For many schools, there are no strict guidelines or magic formulas administrators follow when they decide whether or not to close schools. Districts have to take into consideration a variety of factors, but students' safety is always the top priority. 

"Each situation is a little bit different," Marathon City School District Administrator Rick Parks said.

Districts often check weather forecasts, assess road conditions and consult with the school bus company when deciding whether to close schools due to inclement weather, Parks said.

"On a snow day, like on Monday, we're out driving the roads," he said. "Myself and the bus company, we're out driving the roads between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning just double checking and making sure things are OK."

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Districts will also consult with each other and local municipalities. Wausau School District Communications Coordinator Amy Arlen said her district is in contact with the Marathon County Highway Department, the sheriff's department and other superintendents to determine if conditions are safe for students to come to school. 

"We take all the information we have at our disposal to make a decision," Arlen said. 

On days when districts decide not to close, but parents feel it's not safe for their children to get to school, Parks and Arlen both said it is the parents' right to keep their children home, and if they call the school, their children will be marked with an excused absence. 

Since it wouldn't be a Wisconsin winter without snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures, some school districts, such as Wausau, have snow days built into the schedule. Parks said his district does not build in snow days, so sometimes their school calendar has to be rearranged to make sure students attend the required number of school days each year.

Many Marathon County schools were closed Monday due to the snow, and local districts like Colby, D.C. Everest, Marshfield, Merrill, Mosinee, Wausau and Wittenberg-Birnamwood made the call on Tuesday to close Wednesday in anticipation of wind chills predicted to reach almost 60 degrees below zero. 

"We like our students in our schools, and we will welcome them back with warm classrooms, and they will have a hot meal for school lunch," Arlen said. "We're always happy to have kids in our schools."