Waking up and hearing a parent say it is a snow day in a quiet, hushed tone will often make a high school student fall back asleep, until they realize this would be the third day in a row of studying for a science test that might be the next day.

Last year, Xavier High School had nine snow days and nine early outs or late arrivals due to the winter weather. Xavier already had its first two hour delay of the school year on November 11 and Cedar Rapids also documented record low temperatures of -6° degrees on November 12. According to KCRG.com, the record for the earliest measured inch of snow in Cedar Rapids happened on October 18, 1972 until this year when Cedar Rapids had about 4.1 inches of snow on Halloween. This is at least the fourth time there has been snow on Halloween in Cedar Rapids with the last time happening in 1989. Early signs of formidable winter weather can sometimes place concern on the students and the school year as a whole.

“While schools with younger students may worry about the safety of buses in bad weather, I worry about the safety of students driving. With hundreds of drivers trying to make it to school on time, safety is a huge concern. Any cancelation or delay gives students more time to travel safely. That is always more important than anything we have to reschedule at school from that day,” Principal Angela Olson said. 

The Xavier community is notified about a two hour delay or a snow day through an alert that goes out of PowerSchool. It could be a text message, phone call, email or all three. Mr. Nick Ireland, Xavier’s Communications Director, also posts on Twitter and Facebook and it is on the news in the morning. 

Some students at Xavier would prefer to not repeat what happened last year. 

“I would not want to repeat (the weather) last year so we could get out of school earlier in the spring. It can also sometimes be difficult to not be able to leave the house because of the roads not being good and it being really cold,” junior Amber Latteyer said. 

When the weather is bad in the winter, Xavier follows the direction of the Cedar Rapids School District on whether to have a snow day or a two hour delay. 

“If it is easy to make a decision, I will receive a text message from the Cedar Rapids School District around 5 a.m. Sometimes they have more trouble determining the condition of the roads so it can take longer. A few times last year, however, the weather was so bad they were able to communicate as early as the day before,” Olson said. 

It is predicted that Xavier will have up to three snow days this winter according to Olson so prepare to keep studying for those tests.