U-46 could start classes late rather than be canceled in snowy weather

When snowy weather hits, students typically might wish for classes being canceled so they can head to the nearest toboggan hill.

Not so fast, say administrators at Elgin Area School District U-46, which this year is adopting a late-start policy for bad-weather days.

School administrators might delay the start of classes by two hours rather than close for the entire school day.

That would allow maintenance crews extra time to plow parking lots and walkways and for temperatures to rise enough for safe passage of students and employees, U-46 CEO Tony Sanders said.

"It does not replace the potential of full snow days when we have a true blizzard," Sanders said. "Snowboarding days are still a possibility."

Flexibility with school start times has been a challenge for the state's second-largest school district educating more than 38,000 students.

The fact that other suburban school districts could pull off late starts when U-46 couldn't has vexed officials for years, Sanders said.

Sanders said the trade-off for starting school later on bad-weather days was canceling preschool and the before-school SAFE program.

As for students' reaction, "half are going to love you and half are going to hate you no matter what you decide," Sanders said.

Among the suburban school districts that have moved to daily later start times for older children are: Barrington Area Unit District 220, Geneva District 304, Libertyville-Vernon Hills High School District 128, Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Woodland District 50 in Gurnee, and various Northwest Suburban High School District 214 campuses.