Letter from the Superintendent - October 2015
One of the most difficult decisions that we make during the year are weather related closures and delays. There are two sides to these days for parents. On the one hand, having a child travel under difficult weather conditions is very worrisome for all involved. I think we are all aware of the attendance requirements of the department of education which state that a child must be in school unless there is a legitimate excuse such as illness, family emergency, etc. Weather would certainly fall into the category of legitimate reason if travel is truly dangerous. This is a parental choice and we respect that.
The evaluation of weather conditions can be difficult at times since our district is geographically very large. Things can be perfectly fine in Bartley but terrible in McCook. We try to evaluate travel conditions over the entire district and try to do this in a timely fashion. Bad weather can pop up pretty quickly in our state, so at times late starts end up changing to a complete cancellation. At times we get students to school and then have to send them home early because unexpected bad weather comes our way. In all of these school delays or cancellations, you have many parents that have to make tough decisions and may need to scramble to find daycare, stay home from work themselves (which can create issues for the parent because when school gets cancelled doesn’t necessarily mean that work gets cancelled), or maybe it really doesn’t matter if your child is older and can be on their own. The point I’m trying to make is that what is OK for one parent could also be a problem for another. We don’t make these decisions lightly and want you to understand that. Be safe, be conscientious of your child’s attendance, and we will make the best decision we can make with the information we have available at the time.
Thank you for your continued support of our students.
Sincerely,
R. Todd Porter