
By Adam Henschel
In the wake of one of the wackiest winters Cape Cod has seen in years, students and Mashpee residents were left baffled at the decisions school administrators made regarding weather-related early dismissals, delays, and snow days.
In an interview, Mashpee Superintendent Mrs. DeBoer said that she must take "the long view" about school cancellations, with student safety and what's "best for the town" at the top of her mind has she makes the snow-day call.
"I don’t know if I ever feel like the bad guy," Mrs. DeBoer said, "but I do know the buck stops with me, which puts a lot of responsibility in my hands. I do know as long as I put the students first and do what's best for this town and district I can sleep at night."
Mashpee took an approach that seemed different than neighboring schools, and even different than their methods of the years past. Mashpee students often found themselves the only students in the region sitting in class on numerous occasions this winter, causing some students to question why Mashpee is different than other districts.
In the wake of one of the wackiest winters Cape Cod has seen in years, students and Mashpee residents were left baffled at the decisions school administrators made regarding weather-related early dismissals, delays, and snow days.
In an interview, Mashpee Superintendent Mrs. DeBoer said that she must take "the long view" about school cancellations, with student safety and what's "best for the town" at the top of her mind has she makes the snow-day call.
"I don’t know if I ever feel like the bad guy," Mrs. DeBoer said, "but I do know the buck stops with me, which puts a lot of responsibility in my hands. I do know as long as I put the students first and do what's best for this town and district I can sleep at night."
Mashpee took an approach that seemed different than neighboring schools, and even different than their methods of the years past. Mashpee students often found themselves the only students in the region sitting in class on numerous occasions this winter, causing some students to question why Mashpee is different than other districts.
However, Superintendent DeBoer ensured that no student was caused harm due to the poor weather conditions in the 2017 season. For this reason, the Mashpee staff doesn’t take the ridicule personally as their job has been a success by the simplest of standards: no fatalities, accidents, or injuries.
Whether or not the decisions were always correct remains a matter of debate among students. Here is what Mrs. DeBoer had to say on the matter:
What conditions merit a snow day?
Mrs. DeBoer: As long as we can transport students to and from school safely we will have school. And it depends on the conditions of the roads specifically.
How much is the Mashpee Department of Public Works [DPW] involved in the decision making?
Mrs. DeBoer: I always get Catherine Laurent's [head of the Mashpee DPW] opinion to get the conditions of the roads in Mashpee. Then I also usually check with police and fire, depending on how bad it is.
Who are all of the people involved in the decision making?
Mrs. DeBoer: Fire, Police, Catherine Laurent, as well as all of the superintendents in the neighboring districts. There is a group chat between all of the superintendents that goes off non-stop the night before where the districts weigh their options together.
Have you ever second guessed a decision?
Mrs. DeBoer: Yes, so we had one where there was no school on a Thursday and a two hour delay on Friday but when I looked back on Thursday as the day was progressing, it didn’t really get bad until a little bit later, so we most likely could have gotten everyone home safe. But the problem is parents aren’t always prepared and getting the little kids home can be more difficult.
How much do the decisions of other schools influence the decisions of Mashpee?
Mrs. DeBoer: There's a little bit of, well it's not peer pressure, but the last one where I was the only school that didn’t call it, the other schools called me the lone wolf. I talked to Catherine, I looked at the Mashpee weatherbug, and channels 5 and 7 had started to change their forecast to a milder snow so I decided to stick to our plan of having schools.
How much do the thoughts and opinions of the students play a role in the decision making?
Mrs. DeBoer: I appreciate student input, and I think sometimes students live in the moment and want the day off, as we all want a day off (she laughs), where I have to think more of the year and how it affects us long term. I mean I appreciate it but sometimes they might not know as much as I know.
So they don’t affect the decision much?
Mrs. DeBoer: Even sometimes parents will send me emails but no matter what you can only please about 50 percent of the people at any one time.
Do you ever think you’ve made the wrong decision?
Mrs. DeBoer: As long as in my decision making it's all about student safety, I’m fine with it. Even if the weather turns out not to be the way it’s supposed to be, I have to put safety first.
Do you think Mashpee approach on snow days could be classified as aggressive?
Mrs. DeBoer: I don’t think any of us look at it that way. It's what's best for our town.
Do you ever feel like the bad guy in the decision making process?
Mrs. DeBoer: I don’t know if I ever feel like the bad guy, but I do know the buck stops with me, which puts a lot of responsibility in my hands. But what I do know is as long as I put the students first and do what's best for this town and district, I can sleep at night. It’s all about what happens to the kids.