Since the first snow has fallen many students have been hoping for a snow day and Friday they got their wish.

While to many might expect calling a snow day to be quite simple, the process is long and includes many variables and people.

First, district officials drive around to check conditions in different areas and report back to District Superintendent Shawn Woodward.

Ultimately, it is Woodward who makes the decision regarding school cancellation.

District officials look at visibility, temperature, and road conditions.

James Koehler, LPOSD Transportation Director, said that they look for any conditions that would affect the wellbeing of students.

This involves many factors, which makes the process quite lengthy.

“Normally on any given day that we predict a lot of snow in the morning, I go out around four AM,” Koehler said.

As far as visibility and road conditions are concerned, roads must be safe and drivable.

If it is too difficult to see or roads are too icy, school could be canceled by the superintendent.

Temperature is another important variable in the decison to cancel school. Some students must wait for buses, so if the air temperature is dangerously low school will be canceled with or without snow on the ground.

According to Koehler district officials also look at the wind chill around the time students will be picked up, and that is a factor that goes in to the decision.

“Any kind of stormy conditions that we wouldn’t want to put kids out in…we consider that,” Coler said.

Many different conditions determine whether school is cancelled or not, so as snow and cold temperatures persist students can check the status of school via the school cancelation hotline (208 263-2312) or sign up for alerts by texting “Join” to 56360.