When it comes to severe winter weather, East Tennessee schools have one priority in mind: safety.
"Our number one priority is the safety of our children, so we have to make decisions based on that, while at the same time trying to get them here for instruction," said Anderson County Assistant Director of Schools Greg Deal.
Several school districts told 10News they consult with their transportation directors, highway departments, the National Weather Service and sometimes the sheriff's office when it comes to deciding whether to close for weather.
Districts say they try to make the call as early as possible.
"We know that waiting until the morning is not really good because it puts a hardship on parents as far as childcare," Deal said. "So if at all possible we try to make the call by, in time for the six o'clock news the evening before."
Some districts say timing is also a tricky component to the decision.
"It takes about an hour-and-a-half for our buses to mobilize," Roane County Director of Schools Dr. Leah Rice Watkins said. " Which means whatever decision we make, we have to have an hour-and-a-half to get our bus drivers in, get buses in place, and then there's obviously transporting all the students which takes about an hour-and-a-half, so you really have about a three-hour window in there that we have to make the call."
Watkins said there are winding and hilly roads that buses have to travel on, and that's even more difficult in severe weather. She added she also has to consider the safety of teenage drivers.
Watkins said they take the obligation to students' education seriously.
"So to call school out is certainly something that we don't want to have to do because parents have work schedules and have made arrangements, and we know the importance of being able to give that advance notice," Watkins said.
Knox County Schools has its procedure for school cancellations due to weather posted on its website. Here is a link to the procedure.