Snow days are killing us

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

I think that you are underestimating the logistical differences in clearing a city like Philly and an area like you are in. First Philly only gets half as much snow a year as you guys do, so they have not spent the money to develop the infrastructure to clear the snow. In a year like this with unusually heavy snow fall it is extremely hard to stay ahead of the weather. Most of the North East has already hit their yearly averages for snow fall (in many cases causing them to exhaust their budget for snow removal) and it is not even February yet.

I recently moved from Upstate NY to Western VA. Their attitude towards snow is completely different. We got 3 inches in VA the other day and the Area colleges got a day off. In upstate NY we got 12 inches one night and classes were only delayed by an hour so they could clear the walkways. Having the investment in infrastructure to handle snow is key. I thought it was crazy that places here closed with so little snow but then on my drive to work it became apparent why, there were cars off the road everywhere.

Cars off the road in western VA does not have a huge effect on traffic. However a similar problem in a city like Philly (with ~5x the population density of Toronto) would be devastating). The obvious solution to this is to buy more snow/ice removal equipment. That just isn’t possible for most of these cities. They are already having trouble with finances, cutting sports and other school programs, taking more money away from other programs to help pay for snow removal is just not an option.

As far as missing build time because school is closed goes, all of the schools I have worked with (6 schools in 3 states inculding public and private) prohibit any meetings of school groups, even off school grounds during snow days. It is a lot to ask a teacher who mentors a team to permit the students to meet when if word got back to the school about it that teacher could face disciplinary measures.

I agree with you that Philadelphia, PA has roughly 5x the population density of Toronto, (according to wikipedia) It also has roughly HALF of the area (in the "City" field, on wikipedia, since I'm not really sure how to compare them otherwise).

Increased population density, and reduced area should make snow removal easier, NOT harder. There's less area, and therefore less snow to move. You also mentioned that Philly gets roughly half the snow Toronto does.

Toronto is also home to the North Americas widest and busiest highway (Our 401 is 16 lanes wide at its widest point through Toronto, and handles an average annual daily traffic of 425,000 cars (2004 numbers)) and the Downtown core's density is so high, that there is nowhere for them to put the snow they plow off the roads. There is no doubt that both cities would come to a screeching halt in the face of a abnormally large snowfall. However, when I hear this same issue every year coming from teams north of the Carolinas, I have to wonder how "abnormal" this really is.

This is besides the point I was trying to make however, and that most people live within a 30-60 minute walk of their school no matter what the conditions are. Whether its safe to drive a motor vehicle to get to school or not, you CAN get there, and so its reasonable to appeal to the school board to allow your team to continue work, even when classes have been cancelled. Perhaps reminding them that your team's sponsors have put up LARGE dollars for your students to have the learning experience that participation in FRC affords them, but that they're unable to take advantage of it due to the school board's policies. My understanding of why school boards call snow days is an issue of safety. They don't want the kids getting hurt in accidents on the way to school. Show them how you can be safe, and they might change their tune.