As of: January 20, 2024, 5:15 a.m
By: Leoni Billina
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Classes were canceled in many districts in Bavaria on Wednesday (January 17th).
A spokesman for the Ministry of Culture explains why the decisions are not made uniformly.
Munich - There is moderate black ice chaos in Bavaria: On Wednesday (January 17th) the red alert was in effect throughout the entire state, the German Weather Service warns of black ice, train traffic was restricted and flights were canceled.
So far so good.
But things got really chaotic when all parents and students asked whether there would be school on Wednesday or not.
It was only on Wednesday night that it became clear that school was completely canceled in many districts.
Due to the predicted slippery ice, school is canceled in many districts in Bavaria.
© IMAGO
The problem: The decisions in which regions the students have to stay at home and in which not are not made uniformly.
But who actually decides whether classes are canceled?
So-called steering groups make the decision about school cancellations
“This decision is not made centrally in the Ministry of Culture, we are not meteorologists,” says Andreas Tabbert, spokesman for the Ministry of Culture, to our editorial team.
Local steering groups in the respective districts or administrative districts would decide whether lessons take place or not.
“These steering groups include representatives of the municipalities, the school authorities and the school principals,” explains Tabbert.
Ultimately, the core of the question is whether public transport works.
“It makes no sense to keep the schools open if the majority of students don’t come.” Ultimately, this is also the reason why the decisions of the respective regions are different and are made at different times.
“The local steering groups look at the forecasts, discuss whether public transport will run or not and then try to make a decision.”
The steering groups report their decision to the Ministry of Culture – in theory
Once the decision has been made, the respective steering groups report to the Ministry of Culture using an online tool.
This, in turn, publishes the school closures on lehrsnutz.bayern.de.
At least that's how it works in theory.
In practice, a fraction of the school cancellations were published this way by late Tuesday evening.
The Ministry of Culture website was often unavailable anyway.
Later, the automated reports page was replaced with a table.
Unfortunately, there are also many schools and districts missing there that closed on Wednesday.
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“Basically, the steering groups are in a quandary,” says Tabbert.
If schools were closed too early and there were no problems after all, it would be just as bad as if the decision to close schools was made too late - after all, parents would have to find alternative care for their children.
There was discontent in Ebersberg: the decision to cancel classes was only communicated to parents and students in the early hours of the morning (7 a.m.) - far too late.
The district administrator was then forced to personally apologize.
The steering groups have no time constraints
There is no requirement as to how far in advance the steering groups have to decide about school cancellations, says Tabbert.
“Weather conditions can still change overnight.
The respective groups do this to the best of their knowledge and belief.” In addition, schools would also offer emergency care for students who cannot stay at home.
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