{"id":99088,"date":"2026-01-28T19:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/99088\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T19:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:30:40","slug":"how-does-easton-area-school-district-decide-snow-days-the-superintendent-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/99088\/","title":{"rendered":"How does Easton Area School District decide snow days? The superintendent explains."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"GO6Q25DDKFE7LIQ4JNE5NFZYFU\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lehighvalleylive.com\/weather\/2026\/01\/how-much-snow-fell-in-lehigh-valley-a-look-at-which-towns-were-hit-hardest.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">A major snowstorm over the weekend<\/a> dumped a foot of snow on Easton, with other areas in the Lehigh Valley reaching 17 inches. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"6UNTL5NC7ZGP3KKLO4HRAKXCZY\">Snowy and icy conditions on the roads have remained since the weekend, causing Easton Area School District and others to make decisions on closures and two-hour delays. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FUBJJBK24JFQXFF6NN4LBNAEXM\">Easton Area Superintendent Tracy Piazza addressed recent snow-related school closures during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4HOwW6TYKP0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tuesday evening\u2019s school board meeting<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"DA47YLTWTJDZTLQS244NC7SNAU\">Piazza said decisions surrounding weather-related closures often draw mixed reactions from the community. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"NP6QYNIP5BHDTB7I25R4GYUUWA\">\u201cIt is a decision that is a no-win for me. You know, somebody is happy with the decision and somebody else is not happy with the decision, but it is not made in isolation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"A5O5JL7WKBAZNCHUTJFG7G3OKE\">The district closed schools Monday, held a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pa.gov\/agencies\/education\/programs-and-services\/schools\/school-services\/flexible-instructional-days\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">flexible instruction day<\/a> Tuesday and operated on a two-hour delay today as dangerous road conditions persist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"TZ7DJ7GPWJGSRDUJCVCK43BC44\">Piazza explained that the decision involves consultation with district leadership, including Director of Operations Ken Case and Assistant Superintendent of Operations Josh Ziatyk. Case assesses road and neighborhood conditions early in the morning to determine whether it is safe to transport students to school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JWTOYKVQEZEHFDAFTGSAV6SO4E\">\u201c[Case] is out there on the roads, looking to see how safe they are, and if we can get our kids to school safely,\u201d Piazza said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CBBAM5S6FVBBDAR574KWK6PW2Y\">The district also coordinates with transportation officials and reviews whether school grounds are cleared in time for arrival, the superintendent said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RE46YSAQVFETVLEF3WK4VVZDDA\">She noted she consults with approximately 15 superintendents from districts ranging from Pocono Mountain to Quakertown to monitor weather reports and maintain regional consistency when possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HNPJACRSCZCHHOJ6JPWPCGSJNU\">Piazza said districts sometimes make independent decisions based on local conditions, but collaboration helps ensure students\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VTBMZMXY4VAM5AM3SHF3PWRFSY\">Piazza explained the district made the decision to hold a flexible instruction day, hoping students could connect remotely without connectivity issues. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FFKAMHPHFZBI5G4SEJZ2S23HCI\">\u201cIt is my understanding for some of you that it was [an issue], and so we apologize, and we will certainly take into consideration the attendance of all of our students,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XYLODE5JMVDERDW2QY3FLCQTPY\">Piazza said weather conditions remain unpredictable given frigid temperatures for the remainder of the week. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4HFAQP77KFEJDD6HHCJHKH425M\">\u201cIt is going to be cold throughout the entire day and probably the entire week,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we\u2019ll have to just pay attention each evening as to the decisions we\u2019re going to make.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major snowstorm over the weekend dumped a foot of snow on Easton, with other areas in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-99088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}