A Season of Achievements and Bright Spots

Today marks my final post for 2025. The holiday season is upon us and we are just a few days away from a well deserved break. It is always a great deal of fun to see our students and staff enjoy these special days with us here in the district, from the Gingerbread House Project to the Twelve Days of Christmas. It has brought special joy to see such great participation from students, staff, and even principals getting in on the fun! In just a few short days, our buildings will close to allow all of you to enjoy and celebrate this special time of year with your loved ones. On behalf of all of us here at Hudson Schools, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and prosperous and peaceful New Year. 

This year, really this past twelve months have been defined by a shared commitment to excellence. As we take just a few moments to reflect, I am filled with immense pride in what we have accomplished together. It is not just a time to celebrate the season, but the remarkable growth, accomplishments and spirit of our entire school community. 

It has been a year of significant academic achievement for our district, marked by outstanding public results. Yesterday the Iowa Department of Education released updated district level ratings on the Iowa Performance Profile. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Hudson Community School District has been designated a high performing school district, outperforming the state metric by every measure. This of course follows outstanding building level ratings that were released before Thanksgiving. This rating validates other metrics that we have come to rely on and underscores this point: we have fantastic schools here in Hudson! These scores are more than mere numbers, statistics, and comparisons. They represent milestones in our mission to ensure every child reaches their full potential. Seeing our students excel and set high standards for success gives us hope for the future they are building for themselves and this community. 

While our newly renovated and expanded high school opened in 2024, it was this year when we fully began to reap the benefits in this state of the art space with significant program expansion. Our teachers have worked hard to widen horizons for our students, introducing new innovations and projects designed to ensure these young people are future ready. Initiatives ranging from the new coffee shop in the high school, to unlocking the doors and developing professional skills through our CAPS program. Regardless of the path our students choose, these programs are designed to provide the tools needed to navigate an everchanging world with confidence and skill. 

At the same time, we remain mindful that with our growth comes it's own set of challenges. We recognize the effort it takes to balance high expectations with the well-being of our community. However, the strength of the Hudson Community School District lies in our ability to face these moments together. Our collective resilience and the way we support one another ensure that our schools remain a place of safety, inspiration, and belonging for everyone. 

So, we look forward to 2026 and we are energized by the momentum we have built together. We wish you a holiday season filled with rest, reflection, and the company of loved ones. I look forward to seeing you in January renewed and with a sense of pride in our community. Again, on behalf of the District, we wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

Making the Call

It's not even the middle of December and it already feels like it's been a long winter. A message from one of my text group(s) of superintendents first pinged this morning at 5:27. The inquiry was to take the pulse on the forecast for today. In the following interim period, there were four messages amongst the group before I responded at 7:01 with the tongue in cheek response, "Is it spring yet"? In the epoch leading up to this post, there have been countless messages between this group that represent those of us in the Cedar Valley and another group that reaches a bit further into our rural areas. (Perhaps they are not countless, I am just too worn out at this point to count them! In any event, I'm sure you get the point.)

My first year as superintendent was 2010, and when hired I shared with Ann that no matter what, we had to be moved before winter arrived. I knew it would be difficult to make weather related decisions when living an hour away. We ended up moving the day before Thanksgiving, and that evening winter arrived. It didn't really let up until springtime. I'd have to go back in the records to make certain but if memory serves me correct, we had double digit snow days that school year. Since then, I can't recall a season since where it has been as active as it has been so far this year. 

It's been a decade and a half, and not a lot has changed when it comes to making these type of weather related calls. You'd think with such leaps and bounds in technology our ability to pinpoint when it is going to start snowing, the type of snow to expect, and the volume that will land in our driveway; would be much more precise. Except that isn't the case. 

While the timing of each winter weather event dictates the lead time for notification, we do our best to communicate these decisions in a timely manner. Believe me, I understand the stress disruptions to the school day can cause for our families, especially those with young children. My goal is always to be both timely and firm. In other words, if I say that we are going to have a delay the last thing I want to do is pull the rug out from under you and change to a cancellation. If that may be the case, I'll try and tell you in advance. That is why the message from 12/10/2025 included the 'coded phrase' additional updates will be provided no later than 8:00 a.m. In this instance, there was a chance the delay could have become a cancellation. Understanding that lead time is important for you, if it is possible to make those announcements the night before we'll do that also. However, as some of my colleagues learned from the last event, there is risk in that as well. 

So, a bit about the process. Superintendents in Iowa typically start receiving briefings from the National Weather Service (NWS) a couple of days prior to the event. I know from experience that a briefing 48 hours in advance of a storm is going to go through substantial changes before finally arriving at our doorstep. Then, the NWS provides additional updates in about 12 hour increments. About a day before, we are able to get on a Zoom call with the NWS to hear about the latest forecast, storm trajectory, and accumulation predictions. Shortly thereafter, the messaging groups become quite active.

I have two active messaging groups. The primary one is the the superintendents in the Cedar Valley and probably has the most relevancy to our decision making process. The other reaches a bit further out into the rural areas that impact and touch the district. This is helpful to sometimes get a feel for what is going on at the edges of the district.

As you might imagine, superintendents talk a lot in the lead up about timing, plans for school, and whether or not the activity schedule will also be impacted. Pay attention to the chyron scrolling at the bottom of the screen the next time we have a weather event and you are watching the local news. More often than not, you will see school cancellations or delays all begin to populate at roughly the same time. While these are local decisions and conditions in one district may differ from the other, effort is made to coordinate announcements. Superintendents are regular people to and, no one wants to be the first and no one wants to be the holdout!

The day of the event starts early, usually no later than 5:00 a.m. Every superintendent I know is physically out in the snow testing road conditions. No one is shy about calling or texting a colleague before 5:00 a.m. We are all up. Our district is roughly 57 square miles, which geographically speaking is a relatively small footprint. Even so, it is not realistic to drive every road. My route is somewhat predictable. I do that by design so if I get stuck (it's happened) or go in the ditch (not yet), I can call and have someone come pull me out with pretty precise directions to where I'm at. Typically I'll head south on Holmes, sometimes all the way to Eagle (a bit rarer), West Griffith across the highway and up Lincoln ending at Hansen's. Then I decide whether or not I'm going to head down Watters Road eastbound or west. If east, then I'll head up to Grundy County Road (I don't do this as much anymore since that road is now paved. I can tell you some stories about when it wasn't!) Once on Watters I like to head northbound on Hollis. Sometimes I'll turn east on Strayer, but if not I'll pick that up on the return leg of the trip which will include a southbound traverse on Metz before intersecting Hudson road and heading back home. While this route far from covers everything, it does provide a pretty good representation of road conditions in the district. 

Most of the time, I have a pretty good sense of where we're headed by the time I get to the intersection of Griffith Road and Holmes (yes this is pretty early in my trek). But, to do my due diligence I'll typically run the whole route and consult with my colleagues before ultimately sending out those text alerts our students are so eager to receive and notifying local media. 

Early on I used to perseverate about making the right call. In those years long since passed, I actually still worry about it, although not quite so much. It is very satisfying when I get it right. At the same time, I kick myself when I get it wrong. I have to remind myself that we can only make decisions based on the information we have at the time, and the forecast that is provided to us by the meteorologists. Frankly, I don't think it matters too much which meteorologist one subscribes to; none of them are perfect. 

That's about it! As you have read this post today I think the takeaway is that whatever processes and procedures we have in place, there is always an exception to the rule! Oh, and as I look out the window in the central office.....I see that it's snowing.