LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - With flakes and flurries in the forecast, many Kentucky kids are looking forward to the potential of snow days.
WKYT spoke with school officials about what goes into making the decision to call off classes.
"It's definitely a much more complicated process than Superintendent Dustin Howard walking on his front deck and looking out and seeing if it's white or clear," Clark County Schools Superintendant Dustin Howard said.
In Kentucky, the superintendents are those who make the call on when to delay, dismiss early or cancel school.
"It's a very thorough, well thought out and intentional collaboration between literally the entirety of our community and surrounding communities sometimes," Howard said.
"We have a team of individuals that drive the county. It's a very unique county in terms of an urban and rural landscape, and we check roads, look at forecasts and look at what's actually on the ground if we have had an incident of snow," said Fayette County Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Myron Thompson.
CNN reported that Spencer County and Lewis County are among some of the least snow-resilient counties in the state, with Fayette County having an average of 2-3 inches in order to cancel school.
"It's really a unique situation when we have a delay for the most part, we are either going to school or we are going to have an NTI day or just a complete cancellation depending where we are in the school year," Thompson said.
"Safety is our number one priority, so when you are looking at do you come to school do you not. Essentially, can we get everyone here safely? And when I say everyone, I mean everyone," Dustin Howard said.
In Clark County, the decision made to cancel school will be called by 5:15 a.m. since the first bus goes out around 5:20. And if the decision can't be made in advance, school officials will work in the overnight checking roads, school parking lots and sidewalks to make sure students coming to school in all forms of transportation will be able to get to classes safely.
"If I am on the fence and it's 50/50, I am always going to pick the safety 50 and just know that at Clark County, our staff, myself love kids enough to sometimes inconvenience folks," Howard said.
Both districts shared that their main priority is safe learning and will do their best to use NTI days first to stay on track to complete the curriculum. However, if there is a power outage or multiple NTI days in a row, they might make the call to switch to a traditional snow day.