Nina Stavropoulos ’17: Snow days may seem like relaxing days off from the stresses of the school week and a few more hours of sleep, but for the administration and maintenance crew, they are anything but that.
The night before any indication of snowfall, T.J .Locke, The Greville Haslam Head of School, and the maintenance crew go through extensive preparations and evaluate the possibility of a possible delay or snow day.
Locke says, “I’m on the phone usually late in the night with our maintenance team. The crew gives me the green or red light in terms of whether we can even have people on campus. Usually some people make a joke that the safest place to drive during a snowstorm is on campus because they do such an amazing job here.”
Additionally, Locke discusses the possibility with others around the community. He says, “Baldwin, Shipley, Agnes Irwin, Haverford and a bunch of local heads of schools share what we are thinking either the night before or the next morning.
Additionally, because we have so many students that take buses here, we look at what the local public schools are doing.”
Mark Notaro, Director of Operations, also is involved in the decision-making process. He says, “A big part of our plan revolves around whether we can remove enough snow to make the campus safe for a normal opening.”
Campus safety is not the only factor taken into consideration for a snow day, but also local public school closures. Locke says, “A lot of our kids can’t get to school if the public schools close, they won’t have rides from their buses. I also have to think about teachers who come from far distances. If it’s not safe for them to come, that’s when we end up closing.”
Even before the snow commences, the crew has much preparation to do. “Preparation may include sleep,” Locke says. “They will make sure they get some sleep because they know they are going to work around the clock. When the big snowstorm came, they would sleep here at school and then get back out there.”
Either before or after a big snow storm, many of the members of the maintenance crew end up sleeping on campus. Common locations to rest include the Newtown Post, the maintenance shop, or their offices. Notaro explains, “Depending on the storm, the crew does sleep on campus sometime. The guys will bring sleeping bags and find a comfortable sofa or spot on campus if we know we will have a foot or more of snow. We don’t want anyone operating any equipment if they are too tired. We encourage them to get as much sleep as they need before we allow them back into a truck or piece of equipment.”
As soon as the decision for a snow day is decided between Locke and Notaro, the phone calls, emails, and text messages are sent to the Episcopal community. Locke also uses his Twitter as a quicker and convenient way to reach out to the community, and hears an engaging response from the students as well.
Locke says, “Kids will always send me funny pictures and tell me that conditions are awful. I know everyone likes a day off, but we want people to be safe. I think the kids have a good time with it, though.” Notaro continues, “The guys take pride in doing everything possible to make the campus safe and accessible anytime there is inclement weather.”
The benefits of the on campus-crew do not go unnoticed by Locke either as he notes, “Since they know our school and are part of keeping this campus clean all the time, it a point of pride for them. It would be very costly without them.”
Although snow days may be the topic of student’s concern every time a snowflake falls, more goes into the decision than meets the eye.