by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
In October, St. Cloud school district superintendent Willie Jett released the 2014 district school closing/adjusted day announcement to faculty and staff.
Little did he know, in a few short weeks residents would be awakened on a Monday to a nasty blizzard underway, forcing all area schools to close (see related story).
The schools’ weather policy deals with closings, delays and dismissals.
The three area superintendents (St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Sartell-St. Stephen) will work together as one in case of weather-related emergencies, and alerts will be posted the night before, or by 5:30 a.m. of the affected day.
- When a morning emergency closing or a late start is required, every effort will be made to make and communicate a decision by 5:30 am. of the day under consideration.
- In case of a late start, early dismissal or school closing, all student activities and practices will be cancelled. Such activities include Kidstop and all classes of Community Education, Early Childhood, Adult Basic Education, ESL and Area Learning Center.
Besides the obvious winter-weather hazards of snow, winds, ice storms, extreme cold – fog can also be treacherous, making driving potentially dangerous, and that factor will be taken into account, too, when officials are pondering whether to shut down schools.
Parents should be aware media weather alerts will be announced via Skylert, which is the school district’s text, email and call-out service. It’s posted on the district’s website, Facebook page, Twitter and on the St. Cloud Times website at sctimes.com.
The purpose of the weather-related closing plan is to help parents/guardians of students to be better prepared to deal with emergencies and to reduce their potentially dangerous effects.
Parents are also encouraged to plan ahead for childcare arrangements in case of a late start or early dismissal from schools.
