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January 2005
Dear
Parents/Guardians:
The winter season is
upon us. Our district staff understands that our decision to open or close
schools in bad weather has a big effect on families. We also understand
that our students are better served—academically and socially—by being in
school. But as always, our top priority is the safety of our students.
how do we make our decision?
Please understand
that we make the decision to open or close the schools in bad weather
based on a careful analysis of all relevant factors. As superintendent of
schools, I am responsible for the final decision. My decision is based on
recommendations from the Director of transportation and the Director of
building facilities and other factors such as:
►
Information on road conditions from transportation staff and from the
police. We
must give careful consideration to the most dangerous roads in the
district. Even if your street looks clear, travel elsewhere in the
district may be quite dangerous.
►
Amount of snow and ice accumulated.
►
Whether precipitation is continuing.
►
Building conditions
(Do all buildings
have electricity and heat?)
►
Parking lot conditions.
Administrators talk to maintenance and custodial staff members who are
responsible for clearing and treating school parking lots and sidewalks.
►
Temperature and wind chill.
Please remember that
some of our students walk to school and many must wait outside for the
bus.
►
Weather predictions.
We prefer not making
our decision based on weather predictions, which are not always accurate.
But sometimes this is unavoidable.
►
Young drivers.
We must consider that some high school students drive to school.
how is the public notified?
Tune to television
channels 3, 6 or 10 and radio stations WLEV (Allentown 100.7 FM) or KYW
(Philadelphia 1060 AM) for up-to-date information on school closings.
Central Bucks school closing number is 755. You can also check our
district web site
www.cbsd.org for information. Please remember, no alert system is
perfect and in the past one system or another has had technical
difficulties.
Do not call the
school unless it is an emergency.
when is the decision made?
I must make the
decision by 5:30 a.m. or earlier so we can notify radio and TV stations
and post the decision on our web site. If I wait longer to announce a
closing, some parents will have already left for work, leaving their
children unsupervised.
will we close school if conditions worsen?
It is difficult to
reverse our decision about opening schools without endangering students,
even if weather conditions worsen. Once we make the decision to open the
schools, parents rely on it and leave for work. Many students will return
to unsupervised bus stops and empty houses if we send students right back
home. We may need to have an early dismissal if conditions worsen during
the school day, but we will make all possible attempts to give adequate
notice to parents first.
Although my staff and
I do our absolute best in this process, we know that often no perfect
decision exists. If you do not feel as though it is safe for your child to
attend school, use your best judgment on whether he or she should attend.
Also, discourage teenagers from driving in bad conditions and offer them
alternatives if weather conditions worsen.
We hope that this
explanation helps everyone understand the process that our district staff
uses to make the best possible decision for all in our district.
Sincerely,
N. Robert
Laws, Ph. D
Superintendent |
