Winter Weather

It is beginning to get a little white around the edges outside.  Last night we experienced our first measurable snowfall of the year.  When it snows, it is pure magic for the children around here.  Last week we had a few flurries in the afternoon a couple of days and you would have thought it was Christmas morning as excited as the children were.

As we move into the snow season, I would like to remind you of a few things.  First, the students (K-8) will be going outside unless the combined air temperature and wind chill is below zero.  Please make sure that your child has the appropriate cold weather gear for the snow.  Hats, gloves, boots, and snow pants are an absolute necessity!  Our middle school students go outside too, so please make sure they bring a coat.  An important note here: a hooded sweatshirt does not qualify as a winter coat.  I would prefer that the middle school students also have hats, gloves, and boots as well but recognize the 'coolness' factor when they get ready to come to school in the morning.

When it comes to delays and cancellations, I try to make these decisions as quickly as possible but there are many extenuating factors that can slow down the process.  Since we rely on transportation services from Linn-Mar and Marion, the decisions made by those two districts bear a lot of weight when I am trying to decide what to do.  As a general rule of thumb, we will typically follow the Marion Independent School District.  School related announcements are on the television stations as well, and I focus my attention on KGAN and KCRG since they are our local network affiliates.  However, the quickest way to learn about a delay or cancellation will be to check the website.  These type of announcements will be posted on the main page of the website in a large yellow box at the top of the screen.

Oh, and for those of you that think it is way too early to start talking about snow days: we had our first cancellation last year on December 9th!

Happy Sledding!!