Why Is School Closed Today? Unplanned K-12 School Closures in the United States, 2011–2013

Abstract

IntroductionWe describe characteristics of unplanned school closures (USCs) in the United States over two consecutive academic years during a non-pandemic period to provide context for implementation of school closures during a pandemic.MethodsFrom August 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013, daily systematic internet searches were conducted for publicly announced USCs lasting ≥1 day. The reason for closure and the closure dates were recorded. Information on school characteristics was obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics.ResultsDuring the two-year study period, 20,723 USCs were identified affecting 27,066,426 students. Common causes of closure included weather (79%), natural disasters (14%), and problems with school buildings or utilities (4%). Only 771 (4%) USCs lasted ≥4 school days. Illness was the cause of 212 (1%) USCs; of these, 126 (59%) were related to respiratory illnesses and showed seasonal variation with peaks in February 2012 and January 2013.ConclusionsUSCs are common events resulting in missed school days for millions of students. Illness causes few USCs compared with weather and natural disasters. Few communities have experience with prolonged closures for illness.

Assessing Characteristics of Unplanned School Closures that Occurred in the United States in Response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017

“…Unplanned school closures (USC), defined as closures that are not on the original calendar prepared at the beginning of the academic year, occur for many reasons such as inclement weather, natural disasters, teacher strikes, and illness outbreaks. 1 These closures can range from 1 day to several weeks in a single occurrence. 1 From August 2011 to June 2017, approximately 70 000 USCs occurred in the United States.…”

“…1 These closures can range from 1 day to several weeks in a single occurrence. 1 From August 2011 to June 2017, approximately 70 000 USCs occurred in the United States. Natural disasters were the second leading cause (after inclement weather events) and resulted in the largest number of prolonged closures (those lasting 4 or more days).…”

“…Ninety-three percent of the prolonged closures resulted from Hurricane Sandy, which wreaked havoc on New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut in 2012. 1 Until 2017, Sandy was the second most disruptive and costly hurricane in US history, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This record was broken on August 25, 2017, when Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane.…”

Oh Mother: The Neglected Impact of School Disruptions

“…Temporary school closures (TSC) represent a major challenge to policymakers across the globe due to their potential impact on instructional time and student achievement, and the prevalence of TSCs -with more than 10 million K-12 students affected in the US alone per year (Wong et al 2014) -has fueled a large interest among researchers in disentangling the effects of school disruptions on student outcomes (e.g. Mercotte and Hemelt 2008; Baker 2013; Hansen 2013; Goodman 2014; Jaume and Willén 2018).…”

Potential long-term consequences of school closures: Lessons from the 2013-2016 Ebola pandemic

“…In a study of unplanned, non-pandemic related school closures in the United States between 2011 and 2013, 79% of closures were due to inclement weather, 14% due to natural disasters, and 4% due to infrastructure issues. Only 4% of closures lasted more than four days (Wong et al 2014).…”