December 4, 2024 • 16 mins
Snow days—love them or hate them, have you ever wondered how the decision to cancel school is made? Plus, are you sure you're signed up to get the alert if we do cancel? Tune in to find out!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everybody, welcome to episode 8 of T-Bird Talk.
(00:10):
Join us as we explore the world of Circle Public Schools, sharing inspiring stories,
delving into the inner workings of our district, exploring innovative education and celebrating
the achievements of our students and educators.
Whether you're a student, parent, educator or just passionate about education, T-Bird
Talk is your go-to source for community conversations and behind-the-scenes insights.
(00:31):
Get ready for a journey into the heart of Circle Public Schools where excellence meets
innovation.
I'm Superintendent Don Potter.
And I'm Sarah Potter, Director of Community Relations and Development.
Today we're here talking about weather cancellations with Assistant Superintendent Michael Janssen.
Yeah, weather is finally changing and you know it's getting to be winter time and we're
(00:52):
here to kind of talk about our cancellation processes and how we come about that and the
things that we do behind the scenes to cancel school and certainly there's no hard and fast
rules to cancel those.
There's a lot of factors that go into that and the weather and so Mr. Janssen as Ms.
Potter said is here to talk to us a little bit about that and he and I team up together
(01:16):
to make sure that we do that.
So let's get into it.
So first there's a lot that goes into a weather cancellation.
Can you guys kind of take us through the process that you know most people might not really
think about?
Well and I would add to that that you know it's not just weather it's more so about the
(01:38):
safety.
We have a lot of students, a lot of employees that are driving out on the roads and so it's
a matter of just making sure that they can do so safely and that we can return them home
safe at the end of the day.
Absolutely.
There's so much to consider as we decide that but usually a weather event is usually forecasted.
(02:05):
We have two or three days and so we're kind of looking at that for a couple days.
Going through, meeting with National Weather Service, getting their bulletin packets, diving
into that.
We prepare our sidewalks with the brine.
We prepare our entryways, parking lots and start working on some things like that in
(02:27):
preparation of it.
So those are the things that we as we move forward those are the things to consider as
at the beginning.
So it starts way before the actual weather event.
Yeah and you guys are online meeting with other school districts right?
Kind of talking through with the National Weather System.
Usually it's the National Weather Service providing their information to us and then
(02:53):
there's a website that we use to look at and see what's forecasted to come in, when it's
going to come in, how much is going to come in and so on and so forth at certain times.
However, as we know it's a forecast, it's not a guarantee and so we continually look
at those things throughout the week or the days leading up to the weather event whether
(03:15):
that be extreme cold, whether that be snow, ice, whatever it is we look into that and
we do that on a normal situation too with thunderstorms and all of that.
Potential flooding with the Whitewater River and things like that.
But then you know so we've had that preparation ahead of time a little bit in order to kind
(03:37):
of know the event is coming and we hope that we get that warning.
However, then there's also that you know we watch the night news during the night where
we're constantly or at least I am I know Mr. Potter's character is that he's waking up
it's not a very good night whenever there's a possibility of freezing rain or snow coming
(03:59):
in you know we're up checking throughout the night and then normally by about 445 in the
morning we would get nervous enough that we're out on the roads and driving around.
Yeah absolutely and you know with the geographic locations of our district and the buildings
(04:20):
we have that stretch at 254 to run back and forth and checking side roads and parking
lots and so on and so forth and that makes a little bit of a challenge as well just because
of the fact that you know Greenwich area, Benton area may be getting a weather event
at that time and then El Dorado and Tawanda of course on this side have nothing and we've
(04:44):
experienced that several times in the past and makes it makes it difficult.
So say that's happened often where we're on the phone with each other and you know one
is commenting about how slick it is or how much snow there is and the other one's on
the other end of the district and there's nothing you know the parking lot is perfectly
fine and everything seems good and so we're trying to make decisions based on you know
(05:06):
where we're at and for all of the district not just the one location.
Right that's a hard thing because we may at certain times look a little bit different
than other districts just because of the fact we have some major corridor or highways that
(05:26):
run through our district that a lot of our kids and a lot of our staff and parents are
traveling and so that's a huge huge consideration when we look at 254 and what it looks like
going through there and then as we drive you know we are scheduled to cancel by 6 o'clock
(05:48):
based on varying factors you know we have cooks coming in to start breakfast we have
a lot of different things going on and so trying to be able to cancel before then however
that's not hard and fast either just because of the fact that I still drive around pretty
much until school starts on an iffy day you know just to make sure because you never know
(06:09):
when that when that weather is coming in especially you're looking at the radar and we've had
a couple times where okay we're past the 6 o'clock but we're still out driving and find
out hey it's 620 the roads have just deteriorated to the fact that we're not interested in having
school and so I appreciate you know the patience that everybody has with that but primarily
(06:30):
is for the for the safety of everyone and that makes it hard too because we might even
have some staff on the road are already at 620 but certainly having them be able to get
back to their house and be as safe as possible is our goal.
Yeah and that's so tricky because with the precipitation in the wintertime often it's
a one degree change you know that that makes it from perfectly fine to to very slick and
(06:55):
hazardous for our our kids and our staff so.
Well I remember last year I had a 15 year old driver who has to drive on the highway
and Mr. Potter was out driving and I was you know calling him saying does he drive or does
he drive with me and I think it was like 630 you said he's good he can drive.
(07:18):
He'll be good and it was 10 minutes later no don't let him drive I mean it's just things
change that fast and really that's what you guys are looking for I mean whether or not
you would let your kid drive in those situations you guys are out looking at whether or not
you would you want your staff and you want those new drivers driving in those situations.
(07:45):
Absolutely and that's that's how we approach it honestly is what do we want our our child
at that age doing those kind of things and and that was one example of you know at 630
is fine and then that temperature went down one or two degrees and that's all that matters
and it slicked off so quick that it was it was time to shut it down.
And furthermore you know Mr. Potter talked about you know 254 earlier and you know that
(08:10):
is what makes us a little bit different in that you know you go to El Dorado or Augusta
some of the ones around us where most of their driving is in 30 to 40 mile an hour speed
limits you know we need to consider that we have our students out there with drivers going
70 mile an hour down 254 and if it starts to deteriorate you know how much difference
(08:30):
that speed is for for our young kids being out there with other drivers in that situation
so.
And so we kind of talked about cancellations and late decisions what about early dismisses
that doesn't really happen times but what's your primary you know thought process or what's
(08:51):
your thought process behind early dismisses.
Yeah it's it's basically the same thing except it's later on in the day we decide you know
is it is the weather coming in and what's it going to be like at dismissal but on top
of that what's it going to be like when buses are out traveling you know at you know I think
our last bus probably gets in you know regular route bus around 430 ish and then you have
(09:17):
your your shuttle buses for practices and those kind of things and so we look at it
from the reverse side you know that while we're here at school is a weather event coming
in and how can we get kids home as safe as possible and again you know the forecast can
say okay you know we're okay you know we're going to be and then it changes on a dime
(09:39):
and that's very very difficult but we try to keep kids here at school as much as we
can on dismissal and the same thing goes on that flip side if you feel as a parent or
that that you need to come get them it's certainly certainly fine to do that and we want you
to to make sure that that's something you consider and sometimes we're working with
(10:01):
our athletic directors and things like that to discuss you know all right we we've made
it to the end of school but you know by the time practices are over it's looking pretty
hazardous and so sometimes we're canceling practices or changing game times communicating
with rec things like that because it's not a safe condition for our kids to be be out
(10:22):
at in the evening hours a little bit so which that reminds me too is when we do cancel school
all activities are are canceled as well and we don't you know based on that we do not
change our decision on whether we cancel school or not based on what activities we have going
(10:44):
on the primary decision is solely that so if we have a homecoming game or we have something
it doesn't matter we're we're we're gonna make the the decision based on whether it
should be canceled at that moment in time or not the other thing too is you know we
have built-in snow days so we don't have to go into June that is also not a considerate
(11:05):
well how many snow days have we used already it doesn't really matter we're gonna base
our decision on what is the safest that we can we can be but also not you know it's kind
of a fine line too when the first snowflake drops we can't just say well you know we're
canceled yeah so you have to you have to really balance that and make sure that you're you
(11:26):
use some common sense there as well and some of the most frustrating ones are you know
we're getting to that time of six o'clock in the morning and you know they've told us
it's coming it's coming and and no snowflake has fallen yet and so we're like okay you
know do we do we pull the trigger now or do we wait and the further we postpone that decision
you know even though they've they've told us for sure the weather forecast it's coming
(11:50):
in you know do we wait till seven to see the snowflakes start to fall or or how do we do
that so some of the days those are the most frustrating ones are are those when the weather's
really supposed to change during the day to unsafe conditions but yet it hasn't happened
yet or it doesn't happen well it may it may not happen well and that's just it I mean
(12:11):
we we can look to our west because most of those storms move from from from the west
towards us and we can look and kind of see what's happening in there and in the future
radar which I think the future radar sometimes is is not as accurate as what we would hope
but we do rely on the National Weather Service to to to call them and say hey what what are
(12:32):
the expectations here and and and really not just for Greenwich but for this whole 254
corridor and that that makes a huge difference.
So when we are expecting this weather we want to make sure that you know how to get notified
and as a district our primary notification system is parents where so you do want to
(12:55):
make sure that you are signed up to receive your parents where notifications but how are
what are some of the other ways that we communicate to our families.
We usually when when we make the decision to to cancel we'll we'll get it on the TV
stations as quickly as possible KSN, old school, yeah watch the ticker yeah absolutely and
(13:20):
then we call radio stations we put it on our website I believe we put it on Facebook as
well and so there's a just a lot of avenues but I think parent squares you're going to
be your primary focus it sends you a text message sends you an email make sure you get
signed up for those.
I think you get to hear a phone call for weather canceling yes yes and you also get a phone
(13:45):
call so there's there's multiple ways that that that you can be informed on whether school
is canceled or not and you know going back to what you had said before sometimes we send
a parent square message that says hey take take some time this morning take a little
extra time but you know by by eight o'clock that everything's going to be okay the temperatures
warming up that type of deal so pay attention to those even when we do have school because
(14:10):
we might try to provide some alerts out there to just take some extra time and again going
back to my own personal experience I I do appreciate that because I haven't been on
the roads and Mr. Jansen and Mr. Potter they are driving the roads and so it is kind of
nice to hey is everything clear going back to parents where this is a really good time
(14:33):
to check your notification settings and customize those settings.
Sometimes you can be getting a lot of messages and you may have turned some things off so
I will attach a link to go in and make sure that you have the notifications that you want
whether or not it's text from the district text from your individual schools the weather
(14:57):
notifications come from the district so I would say you know keep those text notifications
or keep those instant notifications on for the district so you get those absolutely.
Mr. Jansen we appreciate you joining us today and thank you for all the work you do to keep
our students safe in those early mornings and late nights appreciate you doing that
(15:21):
to stay up to date with what's going on Circle Public Schools make sure to follow us on Facebook
at Circle USD 375 and visit our web page at USD 375.org if you're a parent or guardian
as Mr. Potter said make sure to check out the information sent to you through ParentSquare.
Do you have a question for us or a suggestion for an episode email us at media at USD 375.org
(15:45):
we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for joining us for episode 8 of T-Bird Talk and Thriving 375.
See you later.
Thank you very much.
Hello everybody, welcome to episode 8 of T-Bird Talk.
(00:10):
Join us as we explore the world of Circle Public Schools, sharing inspiring stories,
delving into the inner workings of our district, exploring innovative education and celebrating
the achievements of our students and educators.
Whether you're a student, parent, educator or just passionate about education, T-Bird
Talk is your go-to source for community conversations and behind-the-scenes insights.
(00:31):
Get ready for a journey into the heart of Circle Public Schools where excellence meets
innovation.
I'm Superintendent Don Potter.
And I'm Sarah Potter, Director of Community Relations and Development.
Today we're here talking about weather cancellations with Assistant Superintendent Michael Janssen.
Yeah, weather is finally changing and you know it's getting to be winter time and we're
(00:52):
here to kind of talk about our cancellation processes and how we come about that and the
things that we do behind the scenes to cancel school and certainly there's no hard and fast
rules to cancel those.
There's a lot of factors that go into that and the weather and so Mr. Janssen as Ms.
Potter said is here to talk to us a little bit about that and he and I team up together
(01:16):
to make sure that we do that.
So let's get into it.
So first there's a lot that goes into a weather cancellation.
Can you guys kind of take us through the process that you know most people might not really
think about?
Well and I would add to that that you know it's not just weather it's more so about the
(01:38):
safety.
We have a lot of students, a lot of employees that are driving out on the roads and so it's
a matter of just making sure that they can do so safely and that we can return them home
safe at the end of the day.
Absolutely.
There's so much to consider as we decide that but usually a weather event is usually forecasted.
(02:05):
We have two or three days and so we're kind of looking at that for a couple days.
Going through, meeting with National Weather Service, getting their bulletin packets, diving
into that.
We prepare our sidewalks with the brine.
We prepare our entryways, parking lots and start working on some things like that in
(02:27):
preparation of it.
So those are the things that we as we move forward those are the things to consider as
at the beginning.
So it starts way before the actual weather event.
Yeah and you guys are online meeting with other school districts right?
Kind of talking through with the National Weather System.
Usually it's the National Weather Service providing their information to us and then
(02:53):
there's a website that we use to look at and see what's forecasted to come in, when it's
going to come in, how much is going to come in and so on and so forth at certain times.
However, as we know it's a forecast, it's not a guarantee and so we continually look
at those things throughout the week or the days leading up to the weather event whether
(03:15):
that be extreme cold, whether that be snow, ice, whatever it is we look into that and
we do that on a normal situation too with thunderstorms and all of that.
Potential flooding with the Whitewater River and things like that.
But then you know so we've had that preparation ahead of time a little bit in order to kind
(03:37):
of know the event is coming and we hope that we get that warning.
However, then there's also that you know we watch the night news during the night where
we're constantly or at least I am I know Mr. Potter's character is that he's waking up
it's not a very good night whenever there's a possibility of freezing rain or snow coming
(03:59):
in you know we're up checking throughout the night and then normally by about 445 in the
morning we would get nervous enough that we're out on the roads and driving around.
Yeah absolutely and you know with the geographic locations of our district and the buildings
(04:20):
we have that stretch at 254 to run back and forth and checking side roads and parking
lots and so on and so forth and that makes a little bit of a challenge as well just because
of the fact that you know Greenwich area, Benton area may be getting a weather event
at that time and then El Dorado and Tawanda of course on this side have nothing and we've
(04:44):
experienced that several times in the past and makes it makes it difficult.
So say that's happened often where we're on the phone with each other and you know one
is commenting about how slick it is or how much snow there is and the other one's on
the other end of the district and there's nothing you know the parking lot is perfectly
fine and everything seems good and so we're trying to make decisions based on you know
(05:06):
where we're at and for all of the district not just the one location.
Right that's a hard thing because we may at certain times look a little bit different
than other districts just because of the fact we have some major corridor or highways that
(05:26):
run through our district that a lot of our kids and a lot of our staff and parents are
traveling and so that's a huge huge consideration when we look at 254 and what it looks like
going through there and then as we drive you know we are scheduled to cancel by 6 o'clock
(05:48):
based on varying factors you know we have cooks coming in to start breakfast we have
a lot of different things going on and so trying to be able to cancel before then however
that's not hard and fast either just because of the fact that I still drive around pretty
much until school starts on an iffy day you know just to make sure because you never know
(06:09):
when that when that weather is coming in especially you're looking at the radar and we've had
a couple times where okay we're past the 6 o'clock but we're still out driving and find
out hey it's 620 the roads have just deteriorated to the fact that we're not interested in having
school and so I appreciate you know the patience that everybody has with that but primarily
(06:30):
is for the for the safety of everyone and that makes it hard too because we might even
have some staff on the road are already at 620 but certainly having them be able to get
back to their house and be as safe as possible is our goal.
Yeah and that's so tricky because with the precipitation in the wintertime often it's
a one degree change you know that that makes it from perfectly fine to to very slick and
(06:55):
hazardous for our our kids and our staff so.
Well I remember last year I had a 15 year old driver who has to drive on the highway
and Mr. Potter was out driving and I was you know calling him saying does he drive or does
he drive with me and I think it was like 630 you said he's good he can drive.
(07:18):
He'll be good and it was 10 minutes later no don't let him drive I mean it's just things
change that fast and really that's what you guys are looking for I mean whether or not
you would let your kid drive in those situations you guys are out looking at whether or not
you would you want your staff and you want those new drivers driving in those situations.
(07:45):
Absolutely and that's that's how we approach it honestly is what do we want our our child
at that age doing those kind of things and and that was one example of you know at 630
is fine and then that temperature went down one or two degrees and that's all that matters
and it slicked off so quick that it was it was time to shut it down.
And furthermore you know Mr. Potter talked about you know 254 earlier and you know that
(08:10):
is what makes us a little bit different in that you know you go to El Dorado or Augusta
some of the ones around us where most of their driving is in 30 to 40 mile an hour speed
limits you know we need to consider that we have our students out there with drivers going
70 mile an hour down 254 and if it starts to deteriorate you know how much difference
(08:30):
that speed is for for our young kids being out there with other drivers in that situation
so.
And so we kind of talked about cancellations and late decisions what about early dismisses
that doesn't really happen times but what's your primary you know thought process or what's
(08:51):
your thought process behind early dismisses.
Yeah it's it's basically the same thing except it's later on in the day we decide you know
is it is the weather coming in and what's it going to be like at dismissal but on top
of that what's it going to be like when buses are out traveling you know at you know I think
our last bus probably gets in you know regular route bus around 430 ish and then you have
(09:17):
your your shuttle buses for practices and those kind of things and so we look at it
from the reverse side you know that while we're here at school is a weather event coming
in and how can we get kids home as safe as possible and again you know the forecast can
say okay you know we're okay you know we're going to be and then it changes on a dime
(09:39):
and that's very very difficult but we try to keep kids here at school as much as we
can on dismissal and the same thing goes on that flip side if you feel as a parent or
that that you need to come get them it's certainly certainly fine to do that and we want you
to to make sure that that's something you consider and sometimes we're working with
(10:01):
our athletic directors and things like that to discuss you know all right we we've made
it to the end of school but you know by the time practices are over it's looking pretty
hazardous and so sometimes we're canceling practices or changing game times communicating
with rec things like that because it's not a safe condition for our kids to be be out
(10:22):
at in the evening hours a little bit so which that reminds me too is when we do cancel school
all activities are are canceled as well and we don't you know based on that we do not
change our decision on whether we cancel school or not based on what activities we have going
(10:44):
on the primary decision is solely that so if we have a homecoming game or we have something
it doesn't matter we're we're we're gonna make the the decision based on whether it
should be canceled at that moment in time or not the other thing too is you know we
have built-in snow days so we don't have to go into June that is also not a considerate
(11:05):
well how many snow days have we used already it doesn't really matter we're gonna base
our decision on what is the safest that we can we can be but also not you know it's kind
of a fine line too when the first snowflake drops we can't just say well you know we're
canceled yeah so you have to you have to really balance that and make sure that you're you
(11:26):
use some common sense there as well and some of the most frustrating ones are you know
we're getting to that time of six o'clock in the morning and you know they've told us
it's coming it's coming and and no snowflake has fallen yet and so we're like okay you
know do we do we pull the trigger now or do we wait and the further we postpone that decision
you know even though they've they've told us for sure the weather forecast it's coming
(11:50):
in you know do we wait till seven to see the snowflakes start to fall or or how do we do
that so some of the days those are the most frustrating ones are are those when the weather's
really supposed to change during the day to unsafe conditions but yet it hasn't happened
yet or it doesn't happen well it may it may not happen well and that's just it I mean
(12:11):
we we can look to our west because most of those storms move from from from the west
towards us and we can look and kind of see what's happening in there and in the future
radar which I think the future radar sometimes is is not as accurate as what we would hope
but we do rely on the National Weather Service to to to call them and say hey what what are
(12:32):
the expectations here and and and really not just for Greenwich but for this whole 254
corridor and that that makes a huge difference.
So when we are expecting this weather we want to make sure that you know how to get notified
and as a district our primary notification system is parents where so you do want to
(12:55):
make sure that you are signed up to receive your parents where notifications but how are
what are some of the other ways that we communicate to our families.
We usually when when we make the decision to to cancel we'll we'll get it on the TV
stations as quickly as possible KSN, old school, yeah watch the ticker yeah absolutely and
(13:20):
then we call radio stations we put it on our website I believe we put it on Facebook as
well and so there's a just a lot of avenues but I think parent squares you're going to
be your primary focus it sends you a text message sends you an email make sure you get
signed up for those.
I think you get to hear a phone call for weather canceling yes yes and you also get a phone
(13:45):
call so there's there's multiple ways that that that you can be informed on whether school
is canceled or not and you know going back to what you had said before sometimes we send
a parent square message that says hey take take some time this morning take a little
extra time but you know by by eight o'clock that everything's going to be okay the temperatures
warming up that type of deal so pay attention to those even when we do have school because
(14:10):
we might try to provide some alerts out there to just take some extra time and again going
back to my own personal experience I I do appreciate that because I haven't been on
the roads and Mr. Jansen and Mr. Potter they are driving the roads and so it is kind of
nice to hey is everything clear going back to parents where this is a really good time
(14:33):
to check your notification settings and customize those settings.
Sometimes you can be getting a lot of messages and you may have turned some things off so
I will attach a link to go in and make sure that you have the notifications that you want
whether or not it's text from the district text from your individual schools the weather
(14:57):
notifications come from the district so I would say you know keep those text notifications
or keep those instant notifications on for the district so you get those absolutely.
Mr. Jansen we appreciate you joining us today and thank you for all the work you do to keep
our students safe in those early mornings and late nights appreciate you doing that
(15:21):
to stay up to date with what's going on Circle Public Schools make sure to follow us on Facebook
at Circle USD 375 and visit our web page at USD 375.org if you're a parent or guardian
as Mr. Potter said make sure to check out the information sent to you through ParentSquare.
Do you have a question for us or a suggestion for an episode email us at media at USD 375.org
(15:45):
we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for joining us for episode 8 of T-Bird Talk and Thriving 375.
See you later.
Thank you very much.
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