Temps plunge to -35 School closes on January 7th
By Carol Boynton
Lewiston Journal Editor
The Arctic air blew into the area with intense northwest winds leaving us in a brutally cold situation that triggered school closings throughout the frigid area last week. The wind chills were near -35 when Superintendent Jeff Apse made the decision to keep kids at home for the day and closed a day of school and all activities.
The afternoon kept us in a -25 as the winds prevailed and calmed down a little towards evening. According to the weather stations a storm system from the northwest was in store for us and temperatures stayed below zero to the single digits and teens above zero later in the week.
There is always a decision to make and reiteration of that process can always be restated for clarification. Superintendent Apse had this to say in a prior letter for Parents and Guardians as to understand that decision making process:
With the winter season approaching there is a good chance that we may end up having to close school due to the weather. I wanted to take some time to share with you a little bit about how we make the decision to close schools, share some reminders about the school calendar and snow day make up days, and to also request that you help remind your children to dress for the changes in weather.
We get 176 days each year to educate your children so closing school is a decision that we do not take lightly. We base our decision on the accuracy of weather forecasts and actual road conditions. When it comes to weather forecasts, they are not accurate all of the time, so we work to validate the accuracy of the forecast as much as possible prior to making the decision to close. Sometimes it seems like every other school in the area is closing, and it can be frustrating for some people when they see we haven’t closed and other neighboring school district’s have. We have found that weather conditions in neighboring school.districts can be quite different than what we are experiencing in our district resulting in school districts making different decisions.
Based on our daily school schedules we have a small window of time to make the decision to either start school late or close school. Due to the time needed to prep some of our schools’ daily programs, the first decision to close or start late needs to be made by 5:30 a.m. on the day of the closure so that we can notify students, parents, and staff in a timely manner. If the first decision is to start late, we have a two hour window after the first decision was made before the final decision to close or stay open needs to be made.
The winter season is a busy season. Weather becomes more of a concern, and monitoring the weather becomes part of my daily and nightly routine. When severe weather is pending, my mornings will start at 3:30 a.m. This provides me with an opportunity to check for any weather updates since the previous evening, check radar, and check MnDOT’s road conditions report. After checking for updates and reports, I will take a sampling of the conditions by driving around our school district. I try to hit some of the more difficult spots that we ask our buses to drive. The route I drive (depending on the weather) usually takes me about an hour to complete. Along with driving around our district, I check on the actual conditions in our neighboring districts by calling the superintendents in those districts. I will also check from time to time with Winona County.
Sometimes, I make a decision that parents and guardians do not agree with, and based on what people are hearing on the radio, seeing on the TV, and or seeing out their own window, they would prefer to keep their children home on a severe weather day than to send them to school. That is ultimately a choice that a parent or guardian needs to make. We’ll support and respect your decision to keep your children home on a severe weather day. If you feel that keeping your kids home on severe weather days is the best decision for your children, please follow the procedures our schools have for excusing absences, and please keep in mind, should your child stay home on a day that school is in session that they will be responsible for making up what they missed.
Our district’s practice has been that if we have to close school more than three days due to emergencies we will make up the extra days. We took a different approach to building the 2014-2015 school calendar than we have in previous years based on recent weather trends. Six days have been built into the calendar to be used as make-up days if necessary. Our potential make-up days are February 20, 2015; April 6, 2015; May 8, 2015; May 15, 2015; May 22, 2015; and June 5, 2015. If we do not have to use these days as make-up days, they will be ‘No School’ days for students. As the winter season progresses we will keep you updated on the status of snow day make-up days.
If we have to close school we districts can be quite different than what we are experiencing in our district resulting in school districts making different decisions.
Based on our daily school schedules we have a small window of time to make the decision to either start school late or close school. Due to the time needed to prep some of our schools’ daily programs, the first decision to close or start late needs to be made by 5:30 a.m. on the day of the closure so that we can notify students, parents, and staff in a timely manner. If the first decision is to start late, we have a two hour window after the first decision was made before the final decision to close or stay open needs to be made.
The winter season is a busy season. Weather becomes more of a concern, and monitoring the weather becomes part of my daily and nightly routine. When severe weather is pending, my mornings will start at 3:30 a.m. This provides me with an opportunity to check for any weather updates since the previous evening, check radar, and check MnDOT’s road conditions report. After checking for updates and reports, I will take a sampling of the conditions by driving around our school district. I try to hit some of the more difficult spots that we ask our buses to drive. The route I drive (depending on the weather) usually takes me about an hour to complete. Along with driving around our district, I check on the actual conditions in our neighboring districts by calling the superintendents in those districts. I will also check from time to time with Winona County.
Sometimes, I make a decision that parents and guardians do not agree with, and based on what people are hearing on the radio, seeing on the TV, and or seeing out their own window, they would prefer to keep their children home on a severe weather day than to send them to school. That is ultimately a choice that a parent or guardian needs to make. We’ll support and respect your decision to keep your children home on a severe weather day. If you feel that keeping your kids home on severe weather days is the best decision for your children, please follow the procedures our schools have for excusing absences, and please keep in mind, should your child stay home on a day that school is in session that they will be responsible for making up what they missed.
Our district’s practice has been that if we have to close school more than three days due to emergencies we will make up the extra days. We took a different approach to building the 2014-2015 school calendar than we have in previous years based on recent weather trends. Six days have been built into the calendar to be used as make-up days if necessary. Our potential make-up days are February 20, 2015; April 6, 2015; May 8, 2015; May 15, 2015; May 22, 2015; and June 5, 2015. If we do not have to use these days as make-up days, they will be ‘No School’ days for students. As the winter season progresses we will keep you updated on the status of snow day make-up days.
If we have to close school we will contact local radio and TV stations, post the announcement on our district’s website, and notify families and staff via our emergency telephone notification system. We made updates to our emergency telephone notification system and conducted a test earlier this week. If you have updates that you would like to make to your contact information or if you would like to have your contact information removed from the emergency notification system please contact the High School Office at 507-523-2191 and let them know of any of the changes you would like to make.
Finally, as the weather changes, please discuss with your children the importance of dressing for the weather. We have the winter clothing conversation in our household each year and our boys know our expectations. Your kids may not be interested in wearing hats, mittens, boots, scarves, and heavier jackets, but staying safe and staying warm should take precedence over trying to look good.
