No-win (Webster’s edition): “not likely to give victory, success or satisfaction: that cannot be won”

No-win (Northwest Ohio edition): “the situation a school superintendent is in each time they have to make a decision on whether or not to cancel school.

When the calendar turns to January and the TV meteorologists start crowing, I am thankful I am not a school superintendent or administrator that makes such decisions.

For 10 months out of the year, superintendents serve as the figurehead of their district. They are proud cheerleaders for their students. They organize staff and build culture. You can see them at sporting events or school performances, proudly wearing their colors, shaking hands and smiling.

But for these two months? They are second-guessed, ridiculed, and taken to task.

No matter what decision, there is backlash. Knee-jerk reactions on social media. Criticisms in homes everywhere. Discussion at the work water cooler.

Midwest school superintendents in January and February epitomize a no-win outcome.

It’s funny that making the call on whether to have school or not is the most public part of a superintendent’s role. Balancing budget, hiring staff, driving a district’s direction are far more important.

But it is those weather-related decisions that create the biggest buzz.

Hold strong and send kids to school on a day that might go either way? “What about the kids’ safety?”

Play it safe and cancel school on one of those iffy days? “This is so weak. What are we teaching our kids? Plus, you killed a hundred extracurricular activities. Is this really what is best for the kids?”

I cannot tell you how many people have talked to me about school cancellations the past few weeks. On Tuesday of this week, I talked to one person who was completely shocked that school was canceled then immediately walked down the hall and talked to another who believed the roads were very slippery and it was a good call to keep kids home.

Everyone has an opinion, and 99% of those opinions are in black or white.

I believe life is lived in the gray, and that is also where superintendents must live when taking in multiple factors, including consulting actual experts like the National Weather Service.

No matter what, people will comment and complain.

Hey, it gives us something to do in the dead of winter!

One interesting aside to that whole discussion is that I’ve run into a few people, like me, who spent time in harsher climates, where snowfall and subzero temperatures far surpassed the number of times they’re found here.

To a person, we are surprised by what appears to be a very low bar for canceling school. Where I come from, if there are fewer than four inches of snow, forget about it. Put your boots and snow pants on and go, because you ain’t staying home.

But I digress.

Maybe the bar starts a bit lower here than in other places, but it is up to the decision maker to interpret where the bar resides. That might mean dealing with fog, ice, snow, wind, cold, or anything else Mother Nature throws at us.

Superintendents are well-compensated in their roles and we’re lucky to have some tremendous ones leading our next generation. As a fellow leader, I have a ton of respect for what they do.

That respect reaches a crescendo about this time of year, when, whether they veer down Path A or Path B, they are greeted with a flurry of snowballs.

Alpena native Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier in Findlay, Ohio, the Sandusky (Ohio) Register, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin, Ohio, the Norwalk (Ohio) Reflector, and Review Times in Fostoria, Ohio. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.