Superintendent Update: Weather, Calendar Change

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy New Year to you and your families. I wanted to provide a few brief updates for you regarding the weather, a calendar change, and an upcoming community forum.

1. The Weather

As you are no doubt aware by now, the weather pattern shaping up for Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday is presenting worrisome if not perhaps dangerous conditions. So that you are aware, when we reach sustained temperatures – direct or with wind chill - of -20°, we will at the very least delay the opening of school if there is a chance that the temperatures will rise over the course of the morning. If the temperature is not expected to rise, we will close for the day. To the extent possible, we will notify you of a delay or closure the night before so as to allow for child care arrangements. Similarly, we will watch our extracurricular travel and make decisions which best ensure the safety of our students, drivers, and traveling families.

Here are a few other things to be mindful of with such weather:

• Make sure all children including teenagers have appropriate outerwear every day. Warm jackets, hats, scarves, boots, and an extra pair of gloves in their pockets will protect them during extremely cold temperatures;
• Be sure student drivers have emergency items and warm clothes in their cars;
• Develop a plan and review it with your children in case you are not home either before or after school. If a bus is delayed, they need to know where, when, and how to get help. Tell your child that if you are not home while they are waiting outside for the bus, how long they may wait outside, where to go in the event the bus is delayed, and what the dangers and risks of extreme weather are;
• Have your child to seek help if they have the following:
  - Wet clothing boots or gloves, snow or ice next to bare skin which cannot be removed.
  - Pain or numbness or burning anywhere on their skin (especially hands, feet, ears, or nose).
  - Have waited outside longer than five minutes if temperatures have dipped into the teens, especially on a windy day; and finally,
• Be mindful of neighbors who may be in need of a check-in to ensure their safety and wellness. Having our kids read to our elderly, disabled, or otherwise needy neighbors is a great way to spend time on such days. 

I will continue to stay in contact with you on our weather-related decisions via email, our voice and text messaging system, our website and Facebook pages, and local media.

2. Calendar Change

On January 26, students will not be in session as we will have a staff conference day to address some timely policy updates, related training, and curriculum development. We are sensitive to the challenges that such changes present to you and so we wanted to provide as much advanced notice as possible.

3. Community Forum

On January 31, we will host a community forum at 7:00pm in the Waterman Auditorium when we will provide an overview of the 2018-19 Budget and an update on our current capital projects and progress on Project 2021. We hope to see you there.

Thanks very much for your attention to these items. Please stay safe and warm in the days ahead.
 

Sincerely,

Ken Slentz

Superintendent of Schools