HOW DOES THE DISTRICT DECIDE ON SCHOOL DELAYS/CLOSING?

The snow may not be falling yet, but sometime in the coming weeks, it is bound to begin. When it does, Highland School District Transportation Director Terry Elia will be up sometimes as early as 2 AM to start monitoring conditions and consult with staff at the District’s Transportation Center, as well as a consortium of Highland School District directors and outside agencies.

Actually, the snow call process begins days earlier when the first signs of inclement weather begin to appear on the weather map. Director Elia and his staff begin tracking the impending storm and developing a plan of action if the weather hits, aided by alerts from the National Weather Service and other agencies. After gathering all the information he needs, he makes a recommendation to Superintendent Deborah Haab. Then by 5 AM or so, she needs to make the tough decision, “Will school be closed?”

While the final decision is always Haab’s, she and her team always consult a variety of sources to gauge road conditions in the area before closing the District, including municipal, county, and state transportation officials, local law enforcement, and superintendents of neighboring districts. Armed with this information, she has the daunting task of deciding, hours before school is actually scheduled to start, “Will it be safe?”

“In making the decision to close school, the top priority is always the safety of our students,” explains Haab. This can be a tricky call, especially on days when the storm is not predicted to start until school is already in session. On these days, the superintendent has to make the call with no physical evidence to examine, just the word of the weather service and unpredictable weather maps. She can’t just “wait and see,” because working parents need enough time to make arrangements for childcare.

A decision to postpone the opening of school for two hours rather than closing school altogether is made in consideration of highway maintenance operations, which might require additional time to plow and sand/salt roadways; to allow morning commuter traffic to clear from the roadways; or when weather conditions are predicted to improve during the morning hours.

Haab must also consider what the conditions may be like at dismissal time. It could be very dangerous to bring students into school and have to take the chance of needing to transport them back home during an intense storm. Early dismissals are also complicated because parents have already assumed their children would be in school and have gone to work for the day.

Early closing announcements will be made as soon in the day as practical. After-school and evening activities may also be cancelled as conditions change during the day. As a general rule with rare exceptions, all athletic events and field trips are canceled when school is canceled.

There are many other factors that are taken into consideration when making a snow call, such as wind chill levels, snowdrifts, time of day, temperature in relation to bus operation, and the institutional practices of the municipalities who clear the roads. Consideration must also be given to the students who walk to school, and to High School students who drive themselves to school.

After a storm, Haab must then consider whether there is ample time for sidewalks and parking lots to be cleared for school to open. Sometimes, school must be delayed or closed the day after a storm because the snow banks are too high and there is no place available to pile the new accumulation, which means arrangements to transport the snow off-site are necessary.Every effort is made to make announcements as early as possible to allow parents time to plan for childcare.

Regardless of Haab’s decision, she reminds parents that if they do not agree with the District’s decision to remain open, they should decide themselves whether they want to send their children to school or pick them up early. Parents should also discourage high school students from driving in bad conditions and offer them alternatives if weather conditions worsen.

School closing or delay announcements for the Highland School District in the event of inclement weather or other emergencies will be announced starting as early as possible on the following:

Radio/TV Stations:

• WRWD 107.3 FM • WKIP 1450 AM • WPKF 96.1 FM • WGHQ 920 AM • WEOK 1390 AM • WPDH 101.5 FM • WKNY 1490 AM • WKIP 1450 AM • WRNQ 92.1 FM • WBNR 1260 AM • WSPK 104.7 • WHUD 100.7 • RNN TV – Channel 8

Website: www.highland-k12.org

School Weather Hotline: 691-1042