Schools and students monitor forecast ahead of winter storm

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The snow's leaving a blanket of white across the area, forcing school administrators to make some tough decisions. Part of the concern is for driving conditions.

We're in West Allis, in the passenger seat of our news car, where it is what transpires over the next seven hours will determine whether schools will open or not.

It's a wet, slushy snow, and the chilly overnight hours could make things slick as the temperature drops. UW-Milwaukee has already cancelled Friday classes due to the weather.

"I'm pretty excited about it because I'm a music major. So, I have like four classes on Fridays where everyone else has like one or nothing," said Adrien Schweitzer, UWM student.

These three friends left band practice Thursday night, happy for the now three-day weekend.

"I'm gonna run around in the snow, maybe do a snowball fight. You can't have a college experience without that," said Kalyan Krueger, UWM student.

Cancelling classes isn't an easy decision. Area school superintendents check in with each other. They also keep a close watch on the forecast, often holding conference calls with the Department of Public Works and bus companies and consulting with the National Weather Service.

"Some of the biggest things that we look at is really focusing on are we gonna be able to get our kids to school, whether it's via bus, parents driving them or kids driving them and that really is dependent on are the roads gonna be clear," said Jeridon Clark, Cedarburg School District superintendent.

Cedarburg has five snow days built into their school calendar. They've only used one so far and Superintendent Clark says on that day, they cancelled classes based on both the morning and afternoon commutes.

"The forecast told us that right around the ending of the day was when the big snow was gonna come, and we were concerned about getting people home. So, we actually cancelled school that day even though it looked really nice out at 7:00 in the morning," said Clark.

Back on the UWM campus, where they already know they have Friday off, students say they'll still have to pay attention to their online portal.

"It's where we see our assignments, where our resources for things like reading would be located."

"So, you're still gonna have homework?"

"Probably."

"Well, that's not a snow day then!"

"Not really, but we get to stay inside so," said Jared Felbaum, UWM student.

Administrators we talked to say they will be watching the weather overnight and plan to decide what to do with classes by 5 a.m.