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Superintendent explains how Greater Clark decides school delays and closures
Summary
Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Mr. Loffler described the district’s process for weather-related delay and closure decisions, including early-morning road checks, a roughly -10°F temperature threshold, consultation with transportation staff and peer superintendents, and a typical decision deadline of about 5:30 a.m.
Mr. Loffler, superintendent of Greater Clark County Schools, said the district’s winter‑weather decisions begin the night before and include multiple inputs from staff and peer districts. “Usually, it starts the night before. Obviously, we’re looking at forecast. We’re looking at temperature. We’re looking at road conditions,” he said.
He described an operational routine that includes consulting the cabinet and the transportation director, having staff drive routes around 4:00 a.m. to assess road conditions and aiming to make a final call by about 5:30 a.m. so families and staff can be notified. “I get up at 04:00 in the morning. Our transportation director also gets a a couple other people, staff members in the district. We go out and drive roads and look at roads, see what the conditions are,” Loffler said.
Loffler said the district uses a low‑temperature benchmark (near minus 10 degrees) among other factors, and that sometimes a delay would not improve conditions if morning and midmorning temperatures are similar. In one recent example he cited, staff reported that buses and student pick‑ups had been running without major issues during an earlier very cold morning, so the district decided to hold classes. “Reason being, we didn’t feel like a delay was going to help us because the temperature at 07:00 wasn't gonna be much different than the temperature at 09:00,” he said.
He also noted the district’s shift from using asynchronous remote learning days earlier in the year to prioritizing synchronous in‑class instruction when possible. Loffler said student safety is the top priority and that the district factors in pavement and sidewalk conditions, parking lots and functioning HVAC systems at individual schools when evaluating whether to delay or close.
The superintendent said the district balances safety with the goal of keeping students in classrooms because, he said, “Research says that it’s the best place for a child to be getting instruction in school ... in front of a teacher.” The district communicates decisions to staff, parents and students after the early‑morning assessments are complete.
