By Melody Gustafson
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Because weather forecasts are unreliable, Dean Jeff Nolte consults with a number of people each day before making the call.
Unless an official national weather emergency is declared, the decision to close is made after a subjective process in which Nolte consults with various people, including business manager Henry Trenkelbach, dean's assistant Candy Solterbeck and Salem campus maintenance supervisor Chuck Schaffer.
"The dean has got a lot of judgement calls to make, and it is an elaborate process," Trenkelbach said.
Everyone reports to him the conditions of the roads and sidewalks, the severity of snowfall, and which other schools, if any, cancel.
"While the road conditions are of concern, the real decision comes down to whether or not the maintenance staff can get the lots and sidewalks clean before students, faculty and staff arrive," Nolte said. He also said that we all "live and work in the snow belt" so everyone should tool up with their tires, sand bags and four-wheel drives and expect to have to brave the storms.
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Because weather forecasts are unreliable, Dean Jeff Nolte consults with a number of people each day before making the call.
Unless an official national weather emergency is declared, the decision to close is made after a subjective process in which Nolte consults with various people, including business manager Henry Trenkelbach, dean's assistant Candy Solterbeck and Salem campus maintenance supervisor Chuck Schaffer.
"The dean has got a lot of judgement calls to make, and it is an elaborate process," Trenkelbach said.
Everyone reports to him the conditions of the roads and sidewalks, the severity of snowfall, and which other schools, if any, cancel.
"While the road conditions are of concern, the real decision comes down to whether or not the maintenance staff can get the lots and sidewalks clean before students, faculty and staff arrive," Nolte said. He also said that we all "live and work in the snow belt" so everyone should tool up with their tires, sand bags and four-wheel drives and expect to have to brave the storms.
"Safety should always come first. However, cancelling class should be a last resort," said Nolte.
If weather does compel Nolte to cancel, he must notify President Lester Lefton's office before the official messages are sent to media stations and individuals. Secondly, the dean or assistant dean must call the Marketing Communications Office so that the proper web alerts will go out to those who opted for the cell phone notification option. Then the computer technology officials enter the closing times on the Flashline page.
Solterbeck said she then begins contacting the radio and television stations. "I try to send out a mass email as soon as the dean calls me," she said, then recited an exhaustive list of the broadcasters she contacts: WFMJ of Youngstown, WKBN of Youngstown, WSTV, WVBP, WMBA of Beaver Valley, WTOV News 9, WPXI, 1430 WEIRAM, Froggy 104.3 and The River 106.3.
"When I call, I try to get a live person, but I can't always," she said, and the automated system only allows her to select from "cancel morning" or "cancel evening" options. This is one reason why that window of afternoon classes is often not cancelled, while the morning and evening ones are.
KSU has a written policy that regulates deadlines for cancellation, according to Solterbeck. Morning classes must be cancelled by 5:45 a.m., afternoon classes by 10 a.m. and evening classes by 3 p.m. For those who aren't sure, morning classes are those that end by noon and afternoon classes end by 4:15.
Trenkelbach noted that the custodial and maintenance staff labors heavily to clear snow and ice for everyone's comfort and safety in the early hours, all day, and sometimes all weekend. Salem has plowing four-wheelers and both campuses, including the City Center, each have their own Ford plow truck for this purpose.
If weather does compel Nolte to cancel, he must notify President Lester Lefton's office before the official messages are sent to media stations and individuals. Secondly, the dean or assistant dean must call the Marketing Communications Office so that the proper web alerts will go out to those who opted for the cell phone notification option. Then the computer technology officials enter the closing times on the Flashline page.
Solterbeck said she then begins contacting the radio and television stations. "I try to send out a mass email as soon as the dean calls me," she said, then recited an exhaustive list of the broadcasters she contacts: WFMJ of Youngstown, WKBN of Youngstown, WSTV, WVBP, WMBA of Beaver Valley, WTOV News 9, WPXI, 1430 WEIRAM, Froggy 104.3 and The River 106.3.
"When I call, I try to get a live person, but I can't always," she said, and the automated system only allows her to select from "cancel morning" or "cancel evening" options. This is one reason why that window of afternoon classes is often not cancelled, while the morning and evening ones are.
KSU has a written policy that regulates deadlines for cancellation, according to Solterbeck. Morning classes must be cancelled by 5:45 a.m., afternoon classes by 10 a.m. and evening classes by 3 p.m. For those who aren't sure, morning classes are those that end by noon and afternoon classes end by 4:15.
Trenkelbach noted that the custodial and maintenance staff labors heavily to clear snow and ice for everyone's comfort and safety in the early hours, all day, and sometimes all weekend. Salem has plowing four-wheelers and both campuses, including the City Center, each have their own Ford plow truck for this purpose.
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Some may remember the mysterious power outage at KSU-EL during Fall semester of 2009, of which no cause was ever reported, according to Trenkelbach. He said that although Dean Nolte was torn at 2 p.m. about cancelling, the situation necessitated it because the building was losing heat, there was no light, and the computer access was down at the otherwise unaffected Mary Patterson Building. The server is at the Main Building.
The electric company claimed the power would not be restored for hours, and conditions were unacceptable for that long a period. In the days following, rumors wafted through circles of an exploded transformer, but no one at the campus is certain.
