Here's what schools consider when deciding whether to close on snow days

"Who doesn't want a snow day?” Cheshire High School freshman Peyton Coffey asked.

Cheshire high schoolers are spending their snow day eve watching the girls basketball team play.

They got the news Wednesday night that Thursday school is a no-go. The students we spoke with were pumped.

"I’m so excited about it, I get to sleep in,” Sarah Goldstein, a senior at Cheshire High School, said.

So what goes into making such a decision?

"Usually, the students are the first to tell me that there's bad weather coming and then we’ll get alerts,” Cheshire Public Schools Superintendent Jeff Solan said.

Solan said they work with local meteorologists and other superintendents to make the call. This will be Cheshire’s second snow day of the year.

Timing and the type of precipitation also play a huge role in deciding to have school or not, especially for coordinating transportation and emphasizing the safety of everyone – no matter if you walk or drive to school.

"Right in the middle of that transportation run and then the ice starts later in the afternoon again, right when our high school kids are exiting,” Solan said about the forecast for Thursday's storm.

At least 120 school districts so far are shutting down ahead of the snow -- ranging from New London to Vernon to Torrington. Click here for the full list of school closures.

"Last year, if you recall, we only had two snow days and they were both in March. It's changed a lot. We've had a lot less snow days when we were, and I think that's because of the weather pattern,” Joseph Macary, the superintendent of Vernon Public Schools, said.

Macary reflects on years where they'd average eight snow days a year.

Both superintendents say you only add on school days to the end of the year as needed, and there isn't an allotted amount of snow days.

They say the earlier they can make the call the better.

"I think for the most part you got to worry about where your faculty are coming from and where the students are coming from,” Macary said.