A frigid forecast for next week may lead to school closings.
“It’s got our attention for sure but it’s too far out,” said Bowling Green City Schools Superintendent
Francis Scruci on Friday. “If what they’re predicting is actual numbers, we’ve got to err on the side of
protecting the safety of our children.”
According to the Wood County Emergency Management Agency, chances of light snow will continue through the
weekend and forecast models show a developing storm system for possibly late Sunday night and through
most of Monday in the lower Great Lakes. Measurable snow is likely, but exact amounts are not yet known.

Also on the radar is “polar/arctic air” moving down from the north pole area that will arrive for
Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
“This could be the coldest air we have seen in many years,” the agency stated in a Facebook post.
“If the forecast is true, it’s certainly going to play havoc with students being in session,” said
Superintendent Jim Witt, of Lake Local Schools. “We’ll have to play it by ear.”
There is no “hard and fast” rule about when to cancel at Lake, Witt said. Generally, if there’s a
windchill of 20 degrees below zero, school is canceled, he said.
“We certainly don’t want them exposed. We also worry about staff members driving in and making sure
buildings are able to be heated,” Witt said.
“We also have in the vicinity of 200 student drivers, and as much as I and our staff members harp on them
to bundle up and wear hats and gloves, they still don’t do that. God forbid, they would slide off in a
ditch.”
On the flip side of closing, Witt said 46 percent of the Lake student population gets free and reduced
lunches.
“If we miss a couple days, that is bothersome to school superintendents. Then we sit and worry about kids
not being fed for an extended period of time."
Witt said that the weather days racking up really doesn’t factor at Lake. He said a few years ago the
legislature changed policy and hours are counted for attendance, rather than days, and Lake is
comfortably over the minimum.
Scruci said the general rule for closing school is a zero temperature and windchills around -20.
“Obviously we’ve got to consider closing on those days,” he said.
Scruci also watches how many hours the cold temperatures are forecasted. If it is spikes at -6 and warms
up, Bowling Green schools won’t close, he said.
“If it’s consecutive hours of sub 15, then it is not safe for our kids.”
He hasn’t seen a lot of frostbite, but on Friday when temperatures were 9 and wind chills were -11, he
saw students coming to school in shorts.
“If it’s too cold for school, then it’s too cold for the Conneaut Hill sled ride,” Scruci said.
He will make sure buses are running and sidewalks are clear to prepare for the cold.
The district has had two snow days, and the 7 inches recorded the weekend of the Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday was a blessing.
“That was a stroke of luck for us,” Scruci said, adding he favors good weeks and bad weekends. “We can’t
educate kids if we can’t have school.”
Perrysburg Schools Superintendent Tom Hosler said he weighs the walk to school in his decision to close.

“We think of the students who have to walk to school and how long does it take a first-grader to go three
quarters of a mile? That negative 15-degree windchill becomes a real pressure point for us. Next week
we’re looking at wind chills lower than negative 30,” he said.
The bus situation is also a factor, Hosler said.
“Buses behave differently in the cold. We put in additives in the fuel, but some of the bus fuel lines
are pretty long and fuel line freeze-up is a concern. Some models of buses can also have air brake
issues.”
Losing school time is difficult, but safety is the top concern, he said.
“Most superintendents don’t think about hours, but safety. You just go out and make the best decisions,
the safest decision for the kids. We live in Ohio and it’s the north, so we can’t close for every time
it snows half an inch.”
If they feel the temperatures are dangerous for kids to be outside, Eastwood Local Schools will close,
said Superintendent Brent Welker.
“We will monitor the weather conditions,” he said, “and if we feel it’s not safe to transfer kids to and
from schools, we will consider delaying and closing.”
The district has used three snow days, including one this week when the pipes froze at the middle school.
That issue has been corrected.
If the temperature prediction holds true Tuesday night, the district may close Wednesday, said North
Baltimore Local Schools Superintendent Ryan Delaney.
If the wind chills hit -20, schools will close, he said.
“We wouldn’t open. That’s a whole new record low,” Delaney said.
Elmwood Local Schools Superintendent Tony Borton also has an eye on the forecasts.
“I’m real concerned for next week. There’s no way I would put anyone on the road with that kind of
temperature,” he said.
Borton said his decision will be based on both the air temperatures and wind chills. Staff will monitor
the buildings in person and remotely, and start buses each day.
Waiting at the bus stops is a concern of Borton’s. But he is also worried about the students who drive,
that their vehicles may break down or go off the road.
Dan Creps, superintendent
for Rossford Schools said that staff will monitor windchill
factors. 
“Obviously we put our students’ safety as the
first and foremost priority,” he said. 
He said with their plug-ins and additives to the diesel fuel, the buses are not a major concern for them as they have little or no
problems with their buses. They also do not have many walkers at their schools, with only perhaps a few at Indian Hills. 
The boilers and buildings are regularly monitored even on the weekends. 
“We have maintenance people who are assigned to that. They walk the entire school, even on the weekends,” Creps said. 
At this point having to make-up any lost days should not be a problem. 
“Since they know go by
hours, we have plenty of hours beyond our requirements on hours. So we are nowhere near any concerns in that area,” Creps said.