ST. CLAIRSVILLE — As cold and snowy conditions persist in Eastern Ohio, many factors play a role in school officials’ decisions to delay or cancel classes.

School superintendents communicate with each other about whether schools will be canceled, according to St. Clairsville Superintendent Walter Skaggs. Officials such as Skaggs, Director of Support Services Lowell Perkins and Assistant Director of Support Services Ray Laudermilt go out to drive on the roads during adverse weather to check the conditions. Between the three of them, Skaggs said, they are checking roads and parking lots all across the city.

The district also touches base with the Ohio Department of Transportation and other entities that take care of the roads.

“The ultimate goal is we do whatever is safest for our kids,” Skaggs said. “We don’t want to put a lot of kids in jeopardy. So it’s easy to defend when somebody says, ‘Why’d you cancel school?’ What if something would have happened? I sure would have regretted it if so.”

A Level 2 or 3, and sometimes even a Level 1, snow emergency causes an automatic cancellation of classes, Skaggs said.

Some roads in the district are gravel and only a single lane in areas of Richland Township where buses travel. Skaggs said he has to take into consideration that back roads can have a lot of snow blowing and drifting on them, even once it stops snowing.

Some days when U.S. 40 and Interstate 70 are clear, the back roads are treacherous, Skaggs said, and there might not be a lot of snow, but there will still be melting and ice.

When deciding between a two-hour delay and a cancellation, the windchill plays a role. Skaggs said he doesn’t want students standing outside waiting for the bus in below zero windchill, so when the sun comes up, it warms up and makes a difference. Two-hour delays also give crews time to clear and treat the roads. Skaggs said it gives the district a chance to see if what the crews are doing is working and if not, the district will move to a cancellation.

In Ohio, school districts are required to be in school for a certain number of hours every year for the elementary, middle and high schools. If the district uses snow days, it subtracts those hours from its calendar and will sometimes be required to make up those hours.

According to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, schools should schedule excess hours above the minimum number of required hours to accommodate weather-related delays or closings. St. Clairsville schools have several scheduled days well over the minimum number — days that are built in to give the school district some leeway, Skaggs said.