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<DOCID>School_Closing_Explained.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Bill Whitman</AUTHOR>
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Good afternoon, everyone:

There have been several complaints about today's process in cancelling classes. I will explain the process and address today's cancellation.

When we are experiencing inclement weather, the normal process begins at around 4 a.m. with a consultation between the on-duty Public Safety Officer and the Grounds Supervisor. If they believe conditions on campus and in the Sault Ste. Marie area may warrant a decision to delay or cancel classes, the Public Safety Officer will call and advise me. I will then call the Chippewa County 911 Center and the local State Police Post to gather information on road conditions, and I will check weather reports for the area. 

Once I have gathered this information, I contact the President, communicate the information to her and then discuss our options. 

If the decision is to continue with the normal class schedule, I will call the Public Safety Officer and inform the officer of the decision. I will further instruct the officer that if conditions change, I should be contacted immediately in order to review our decision. 

If, however, we decide to delay or cancel classes, I then make a series of phone calls. I first call the Public Safety Officer and the Grounds Supervisor to communicate the decision. I will then contact our Director of Public Relations to have the decision put on the LSSU Portal and communicated to news media outlets.  

A two-hour delay may be made for several reasons. Sometimes we have a two-hour delay to give the grounds crew more time to plow and clear away ice and snow. Other times we do it to give students and employees more time to get to campus or to monitor changing weather conditions and to create some flexibility in deciding whether we need to close the University.

Additionally, my department, in conjunction with the grounds department, continues to monitor conditions throughout the day always with the possibility of cancelling classes.

One thing should be realized, the closing of local K-12 schools is not a valid determining factor in closing the University. The primary criteria that goes into K-12 schools' decision is safe bus transportation of students. Also, realize that K-12 teacher contracts allow the school district to add additional instructional days when K-12 schools close for snow. The University does not have that option.

Today, we did not make a decision to have a two-hour delay until approximately 6:30 a.m. This delay was prompted because we initially felt we would have roadways, pathways and parking lots on campus cleared. However, weather conditions continued to worsen and the grounds crew could not get ahead of the falling and drifting snow. The Grounds Supervisor believed a two-hour delay would give his crew the additional time to get the campus ready. After speaking with the President, it was decided we would have a two-hour delay.

Eventually, we decided to close the University primarily because we could not get our parking lots cleared. A contributing factor was scheduled snow removal from several of the resident-student parking lots over night. Students in those lots were told to move their vehicle to lots K, E and J lots overnight. Student vehicles were moved into lots K, E and J but then got snowed in overnight and the grounds crew was not able to properly plow those lots.  

Without those lots being plowed and most of the resident student vehicles still snowed in, there was virtually no parking available for faculty, staff or commuter students.   We are hoping to have the lots cleared by the end of today, Feb. 7.

I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and ask for your continued patience in dealing with a difficult situation. 
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