5:00 in the morning is not the time when you would want to be outside inspecting the City??s streets to see if Falls Church City can have school. Nonetheless, city and school employees, including superintendent Dr. Toni Jones, are already scouring the streets at that time to decide whether to close the schools or not.

??I am outside by 5:00 a.m. on ??weather days??,” Dr. Jones said. “I drive the streets, walk on the sidewalks, and check the school campus to see how much clearing must be done.??

The first-hand conditions play an important factor. Of course, the staff also consults hourly forecasts from the National Weather Service and reads and chats with members of the Capital Weather Gang from the Washington Post.

??But no decision is made until we actually get out and see for ourselves the conditions,?? said John Brett, Director of Communications for Falls Church City Public Schools.

The fact that many in the staff live outside the city limits complicates matters, so the decision is also based on whether teachers and staff can even come to school. An advantage of the one-hour delay is that it grants the staff an additional hour to commute to the school safely.

An additional problem is revving up the bus engines on very cold days. This is made more difficult because of the late sunrise at 7:30 a.m. The crews resort to warmers, but some buses simply cannot turn on. In general, an hour and a half of sunshine can improve the conditions substantially even with freezing temperatures. Therefore, an hour delay provides more time for the environment to heat up.

The issue of sub-freezing temperatures exacerbate the problem because the staff that salts the roads and sidewalks may only be outside for a certain period of time before it can return inside for safety purposes.

??I feel bad for them,?? said senior Anna Hennessey when she learned everything the staff did at such an early time.