Closings, Delays, and Cancellations

Last week I met with the National Weather Service out of Des Moines to discuss the upcoming winter weather season. During inclement weather, school superintendents rely on the resources provided by the service to help make decisions regarding changes to the school day. These services include bulletins, webinars, and direct line communication to the meteorologists. The purpose of our meeting was simply an opportunity for them to hear feedback on the quality of their service and to see if I found it helpful. Sure it's helpful. The fact is, I rely on those reports quite a bit. However, had I known it would have foreshadowed what I found in my backyard this morning, I may have declined their offer: 

Yep, it's October 29th and that is our first measurable snowfall of the year. When I went to bed last night it was snowing a bit. Luckily the weather forecast did say this snow wouldn't stick to the roads and schools would not have to  make any changes to their schedules for today. Nonetheless, according to the forecast, we could see another measurable amount on Halloween. I kind of feel bad for the kids that are going to be out for 'trick or treat' that night. Most of those costumes aren't built for cold weather! 

This early arrival of winter is a good opportunity to remind everyone to please sign up for our text and email service for weather related school announcements. You can sign up by going to our website and scrolling to the very bottom of the page: 

You can either select to receive a text alert or an email (if you want to sign up twice, you can get it in both versions if you like). Whenever a school wide announcement is made regarding weather, the very first posting is through this system. So if you want to know about a closing, delay, or cancellation even before the news, sign up right here! Following that, we post to all media outlets. I would also encourage you to please refrain from calling any of the offices. During these events, the office staff is typically very busy making last minute arrangements for buses, rides, or they simply don't know the answer to your question because a decision hasn't been made yet. 

Let's hope this mornings snow wasn't a sign of things to come!