Superintendent Rob Metz checked the National Weather Service’s forecast for St. Louis Park on the evening of Tuesday, January 6, and made the decision to keep schools open Wednesday.

The district has no set policy regarding cold days; the decision to close school is at the Superintendent’s discretion. Metz said he normally will close school if the air temperature is -20 degrees or lower or if the wind chill is -40 degrees or lower. While making these decisions, Metz is in contact with other west metro school superintendents and takes their choices into consideration.

“We all maintain a group email for these sorts of things,” Metz said. “So when I hear that Eden Prairie is staying open and Hopkins is staying open and Robbinsdale-Cooper is closing, I take that into account.”

Last year Park experienced five cold days and one snow day, prompting early-release and late-start cuts as well as an extra day of school at the end of the year.

Students and teachers anxiously watched the forecast on Tuesday and speculated whether school would go on the next day. A small contingent of senior boys unsuccessfully tried to tweet and post that school would not go on the following day as a prank.

Senior Adrian Gonzalez doesn’t think the district has its priorities straight when making these decisions.

“My bus was like 10 minutes late, and I had to stand outside that whole time,” Gonzalez said. “I think the districts that closed are more concerned about their students’ safety than Park.”

The reason Metz said he follows the -20 and -40 degree rule is because that is the threshold the National Weather Service establishes between a windchill watch to a windchill warning. Metz said he did not believe students were in danger by getting to school, and there were minimal complications with transportation.

“All buses started and only two ran behind schedule and the bus company called the families of each of the students affected,” Metz said.

In the future, Metz said he’d like to be more gain more transparency with the cold day decisions. He mentioned that the district doesn’t plan to make phone calls when the decision is made to keep school open, and he would like to make more families aware of that.

In regards to phone calls about school closings: “No news is good news,” Metz said. But for the students and staff who were hoping on a day-off, that depends on who you’re asking.