Winter weather: To cancel or to not cancel school?

Often times throughout the winter in Northern Maine a School District is faced with the decision to cancel school or to keep school open.  Unfortunately there's never a 100% correct answer.  If we cancel school, then they have to make that day up and they aren't thinking about education.  After all, making a day up in June for something that was canceled in December has limited educational value. However, if we don't cancel school and brave the storm, we are not being safe and are placing children in danger.

Please consider the following:  SAD27 is a very large district.  The weather in Eagle Lake can be very different than the weather in St. Francis.  Also, please remember that decisions regarding school cancelation or delay have to be made up to 2 and a half hours before school actually starts because some of our busses get started on their bus runs at that time.

For each decision made regarding canceling school for weather will be the right decision to some people and the wrong decision to other people.  At the end of the day, we are only human and weather can be unpredictable.  That being said, please remember the parent has the final say in whether or not they feel safe sending their child to school.


On behalf of SAD27, I apologize in advance for every time it appears we have made the wrong decision regarding school cancellation.  We will continue to make the best decision at the time, using the information that we have.