This has been a tough couple weeks of weather calls and we are still not through January! As I am writing this I just finished a long morning cruise, roads look pretty good but now fog has entered the picture. All I can say is spring can't come fast enough!
Due to some recent fanfare on Facebook, I thought I'd share what actually goes into a weather call. Contrary to the Carnival Skit the students did on me last year (which was hilarious), I actually do more than drive around my block twice😀! The following is a breakdown of the process in making weather calls for Central.
1) Northeast Iowa schools get excellent support and updates from the National Weather Station in Lacrosse. These include up-to-date emails, powerpoint presentations, and live webinars specific for schools. I also like to use the app Weatherbug, which is based at the MFL Mar-Mac High School building in Monona.
2) A group decision. Superintendents, administrators, and transportation directors from around the area are out traveling roads as early as 3:30am. Our phones go crazy between 5:00am and 6:00am as we compare conditions across our districts. We are also in contact with our county and state road crews as well as our bus drivers.
3) Decision time. After traveling roads and consulting with the group, I make the best possible decision with the information I have at that time. Once that decision is made, I call Mr. Yanda and he notifies the radio station while I send out information on School Messenger and head back to the office so I can get on my computer to notify our local news stations.
As you know, Mother Nature has the last laugh. An example of this was in a recent late call to cancel. We always try to have our decisions made by 6:00am, 6:30am the absolute latest. I was leaving St. Olaf at 6:30am and just got off the phone with our transportation director stating we are sticking with going on time. Not fifteen minutes later came the ice and road conditions changed instantly. Central, along with Clayton Ridge and MFL Mar-Mac scrambled to call our busses back in and we were forced to make a late call on weather. Mother Nature got the best of us that day, but we were still luckier than some of our northern neighbors who didn't get hit until after they had busses already loaded with kids.
Most snow, ice, and fog conditions you will find Central is relatively the same as our neighboring districts. One area which I fully admit I am different in making weather calls is cold weather. I am told each school day in Iowa approximately 300 people break the law by driving through a stopped school bus, and these are regular school days. My wife who drives an hour to work in the morning knows exactly where she meets a bus each day. By going 2 hours late for cold weather, I now put those busses out where travelers at that time are not used to seeing a bus on their route. I feel this is an added danger as these people are many times not aware of the laws regarding busses on the roadways. Also, in most cases the weather only warms up a degree or two in this two hour span. Does that degree or two justify putting busses on the road where travelers are not used to seeing them and putting working parents in a position where they need to find coverage for their kids for two hours? Obviously I do not believe it does. Some of my neighbors do and each school district is different with amount of walkers and distance they walk to school, stops, etc. so I respect their decision.
Lastly I'll end with stating guardians always have the final say. It is impossible for my transportation director (who is also shared with Ed-Co) and I to travel every single road before making a weather call. If you feel your area is unsafe to put your child on a bus or send your teenage driver to school, then please don't! All we ask is that you call the school and let us know and we will respect and support your decision.
I also hope we can agree to disagree at times without negativity posted on Facebook and other public social media. Talking negatively about our school district and spreading misinformation only hurts the learning environment and culture of Central, and really shows a bad example for our kids. I really hope this shines some light on weather calls here at Central and I thank all of you for your understanding and support.
I want to say thank you for this post....I had no idea what goes into how you make those choices. I will say I was one that was a little frustrated on the day the call came in late....I didn't not post negatively online, but I did see some that did. Now that I know what all goes into your choice I get why you do what you do. And I thank you for that!!
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