The 4 o’clock hour is key.
That’s the time of the morning when school officials across the Fredericksburg area head out on the roads to examine travel conditions when inclement weather is possible.
As some in the region are just starting their commute to work and others are still sleeping, these administrators are already gathering information for those who decide whether schools will be open, delayed or closed. The process can begin several days before an actual weather event.
For example, Fredericksburg schools Deputy Superintendent Matthew Eberhardt said he’s been looking at forecasts for Tuesday’s snowstorm since Thursday or Friday.
He likes to check the National Weather Service’s website as well as those from WeatherBug and Weather Underground. In a potential closing situation, city officials start talking early with the municipality’s emergency manager, who is scanning weather models from the Global Forecast System and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
City officials also communicate with other local school divisions, said Eberhardt, and the Fredericksburg school system has “spotters,” namely bus drivers who live in other jurisdictions and can report conditions in those locations.
This step is particularly important to get an idea of how the weather might affect school staff — teachers, administrators and other employees — trying to get to work.
“Because we’re a small city, 85 percent — actually a little bit more — of our employees don’t live in the city, so they live in Spotsy or Stafford or somewhere else,” Eberhardt said.
Bus drivers are also tasked with checking the roads, just not in their trademark yellow work vehicles.
“They don’t go out in their buses, but we just ask the drivers to go out and ride around the roads,” he said. “Sometimes we send three, sometimes we send four.”
If Eberhardt needs more information, he also can call the city police, who can put him through to dispatch to get an idea of what officers on the roads are seeing.
No matter the ultimate decision about closing, it usually doesn’t come down to one person’s judgment, he said. Instead, it’s a consensus among him, Superintendent Marci Catlett and FCPS Director of Operations Don Upperco.
“I will say when we have to err, we always err on the side of safety,” Eberhardt said.
He also frequently sits in on the city’s emergency meetings to share information. This is important because two city schools can serve as shelters if conditions worsen significantly.
The Spotsylvania school system has a designated inclement weather team, spokeswoman René P. Daniels said in an email, and has divided the county into six regions for observation.
When necessary, observers will drive roads and report conditions before 4:30 a.m., Daniels said. Then, by 4:45 a.m., the team reports to the executive director of operations, who will contact Superintendent Clint Mitchell about what they’re seeing. The division also considers weather forecasts and reports from the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office and surrounding school divisions.
But the superintendent makes the final call, which is then shared with school families and staff between 5 and 5:30 a.m.
“When possible, the call is made the prior evening,” Daniels said.
In Caroline County, school-closing decisions also involve multiple levels of leadership, spokeswoman Kimberly Young said in an email.
“With the forecast looking ominous for this week, our team started planning last week for asynchronous learning for our students,” Young wrote. “If we miss another day of school, we will have to begin using our makeup days and since the [Virginia Department of Education] allows for asynchronous learning, we put it into place.”
Superintendent Sarah Calveric collaborates with the school’s chief operating officer along with the assistant superintendent and the directors of transportation and facilities to assess forecasts, road conditions and facility readiness. In Caroline, it’s the latter pair who go out to check the roads.
“Once a decision is made,” Young said, “it is communicated to our School Board, staff and families.”
King George County Public Schools take a similar approach, spokeswoman Amanda Higgins said in an email.
“A major factor in the decision to close schools is the safety of the roads for buses, staff and student drivers,” she said.
When possible, the school division likes to make the decision to close school early enough for families and staff to plan and prepare for the change in schedule, Higgins said, with the call ultimately being made with student and staff safety as the top priority.
And, she said: “School facilities, parking lots and sidewalks are all checked by division staff to ensure safe conditions before reopening schools after a weather event.”
In Stafford County, road-checkers start even earlier than in other jurisdictions, going out about 2 or 3 a.m., schools spokeswoman Sandra Osborn said.
Osborn is part of a group in Stafford that considers all of the factors in a potential closing situation. It also includes Superintendent Daniel Smith, the deputy superintendent, the directors of transportation and operations, and the chief of schools.
Since a fatal crash happened several years ago in Stafford when schools were left open during inclement weather, decisions about whether to close have skewed conservative around the Fredericksburg area, and Osborn confirmed that they’re still made that way in the county.
“We’re always going to do what’s in the best interest of safety,” she said.
