Sandra Smyser

Dr. Smyser first gave us some statistics about the Poudre School District and how that affects her work. The district has around 29,000 students in over 50 schools and she tries to visit them twice a year. She also visits 73 different community groups to keep them up to date about the district. There are 3,600 employees in a district that covers over 2,000 square miles and has an annual budget of $250 million.

Dr. Smyser then told us about one of her days and she chose one that would be both informative and even humorous, how the district decides on a “SNOW DAY”. Dr. Smyser said it starts the afternoon before with contact with the area weather services and continues into the evening. At 2 am the city and county departments have members checking the roads to understand conditions. At 4 am there is a joint telephone call with the city, county, police, CSU, sheriff to make the decision to close or not. Dr. Smyser said that it is strictly a decision about the roads. She added that this is one of the wonderful lose-lose decisions that she gets to make. She had some humorous comments about how many students think this decision is made.