Grayson County Schools Closing Guide

Are we having school in Grayson County?

Depends. Mostly, until spring, it's unlikely.

And finding out just exactly when/whether Grayson schools will open can be confusing.  This morning, for instance.  At 7:00 a.m. the Galax radio station, WBRF, announced a two-hour delay for Grayson Schools.  By 7:30, WBRF was saying Grayson Schools would open "regular time, repeat, regular time."  The Grayson Schools' new computerized alert system was calling me saying that school was either two hours late (7:00 a.m.) or closed (7:45 a.m.).   The bus never came, so I guess the computer was correct the second time.

So I decided to write a Grayson School Closing Guide for confused parents, teachers, radio and TV people (who sometimes sound amused when Grayson County is the only school cancellation in the entire southeastern U. S. for a week solid).  Our school closings only seem random and illogical.  Actually, there is a rhyme and reason to when and why Grayson County shuts down our schools.

IN THE WINTER

We might be having school in Grayson County if:

• There is no accumulating ("sticky") snow.
• There is no wet snow that melts as soon as it hits the ground.
• There  are no forecasts of impending snow.
• There are no snow flurries.
• No snow flurries have occurred at any time, even if it's presently sunny and warm.  If there are snow flurries in the air any time in the morning on any given day, school will be let out at 1:00 p.m. even if it's 40 degrees out.

We might choose to educate Grayson children, possibly even until 3:00 p.m., provided that:

• Freezing rain is not falling.
• Freezing rain is not forecasted.
• Ordinary rain is not falling, which might freeze.
• Rain did not fall yesterday which might have frozen overnight.

Note:  None of the above applies if any of our ancient radiators are malfunctioning and part of the classrooms are inadequately heated in any school, in which case school will be announced "delayed" for two hours while people try to fix the radiators, and then announced "closed" when they don't get fixed.

IN THE SPRING AND FALL

For early spring and late fall, refer to the above guidelines for Winter.

In late spring and early fall, Grayson Schools reliably remain open, unless:

• It is hot—88°F or above.
• It is not actually all that hot, but some of the air conditioners are malfunctioning.
• The weatherpersons are forecasting a hot day.
• There are high winds which cause power failures in any one school in the county.  No, we have no generators.  If we ever had any generators in Grayson County, they are probably in storage along with the chains they once put on the bus tires.

IN THE SUMMER

School will close in mid-June sometime because of all of the school closings during fall, winter, and spring.  However, make-up school days will often end at 1:00 p.m. if the June temperatures reach 88°F or above.  The state of Virginia allows us to count short days as full school days, instead of making us keep school in session through July to make up for all the actual hours of instruction our children have missed.

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

We are committed to education in Grayson County.  As such, Grayson County holds regular school hours on every scheduled school day upon which there is

A.  no unpleasant weather of any kind; and
B.  no reason whatsoever to expect any. 

Example:  Suppose, as a parent, you get up at 6:00 and you see no snow outside, it has remained above freezing temperatures all night, and overcast skies and 70 degree temperatures are forecast with no rain or wind expected whatsoever.  Go ahead and get your kids ready for school.  Unfortunately, there is no way to check the status of radiators and air conditioners, but you have about an 75% chance of your kids being in school, maybe even all day.  I'd have a backup plan if I were you.

Postscript
My cousin called me from Minnesota last winter when there were four feet of snow on the ground up there, and her kids were (gasp!) in school.  "We have snow routes," she explained.

Snow routes.  What a concept.  Evidently, in Minnesota, they are prepared to educate their children in case of wintry weather during the winter.