Inclement weather may result in closing, delayed opening or early dismissal of district schools. Please remember that when inclement weather exists, it is not always easy to make contact with all the media contacts. It is recommended that you use several media contacts. Below is the information about snow days, late starts, early dismissals and anything weather related that might impact our students and school days.

Factors in Determining a Snow/Weather Day

When we have to call a no school day because of weather, it is not an easy decision. There are many factors that go into this decision and listing them all is not possible. And many of these factors will be debated by our patrons who have strong opinions on whether we should have school or not when we get bad weather. Having said that, please know that making this decision is based on trying to keep our students, staff and patrons safe.

Late Start or Early Dismissal

In District 145, we have traditionally not called many late starts or early dismissals. A late start in our district would mean a 2-hour late start time. If we call a late start, the goal is to allow students and staff more time to get to school in the morning because of poor road conditions or weather that is happening early in the morning. The local roads department might also need additional time in the morning to make sure the roads are cleared. By giving our students and staff extra time, they should be safer.

When the message goes out and it says, “2-hour late start,” this means we would start two hours later than normal. For instance, Hamlow Elementary’s normal start time is 8:25 a.m. With a two-hour late start, they would begin at 10:25 a.m. Part of a message related to a late start you might see is “Buses will run accordingly.” This simply means that if your child is picked up by a bus on a normal day at 7:30 a.m., for example, with a two hour late start this time would now be 9:30 a.m. An early dismissal could possibly be called because of impending weather that would make it difficult for everyone to get home safely at the end of the day. If an early dismissal is called, we will make sure we communicate to everyone how this would be handled and do so in as timely a fashion as possible.

How the district Communicates and When

If possible, a weather-related school cancellation or late start would be made the night before. If it is possible to make the call the night before, we will try to do so by 9:00 p.m. Sometimes this isn’t always the case. Many times, weather occurs late at night and into the early morning hours which means we might not make a call until the morning. If this is the case, we hope to have a message out by 6:00 a.m. that next morning.

 Anytime a weather-related call is made the information will be shared in a variety of ways.  This includes a message on:

• TV stations: KOLN-TV (Ch. 10/11), KLKN-TV (Ch.8) and KETV (Ch. 7)

  • When a closing is posted on TV Station 10/11, it will be posted on 10/11 Now and KSNB Local4apps.

•  Radio stations: KFOR (1240), Blaze (104.1), KLMS (1480), KFRX (106.3), Eagle (92.9) and KX (96.9)

• Our district website: www.district145.org

• Twitter: @CoryWorrell3

• A text message and phone call via our district alert notification system. For more information, click here.

Note: Sometimes not every TV station or radio station picks up our closing.  This is why the message is sent out through a variety of means.  

Have a Plan as a Family

As a family, please prepare ahead of time if we call a snow day, late start or early dismissal. What arrangements do you need to make to insure your students have daycare in the case of a canceled day or early dismissal? Or, in the case of a late start, who can bring your children to school? Do not wait until that first morning when we have a snow day to figure this out. Take the time now to determine your plan of action.

 Athletic/Activity Practices

If we have a snow day and school is canceled, this would mean our middle school and high school athletes do not have practice. It is possible we might cancel school for the day because of poor weather the day before or that morning. And then, by the afternoon, the weather is cleared up and the sun is shining. We still won’t hold practice that afternoon. Only under special circumstances would we allow students to travel into town for practice.

In closing, please know that when deciding to close school, start late, dismiss early, or keep school open, your child’s safety and welfare are the number one priority. If needed, we will make snow days up at the end of the year to insure keeping students safe. Also, I appreciate students and patron’s suggestions for when we need to cancel school via Twitter or email messages. However, this decision will not be based on how many Twitter or email messages I receive. Please know that I take this responsibility of my job very serious and weather-related decisions are never made lightly. Again, we will do whatever is necessary to keep students, staff and parents safe. Thank you for taking the time to read through this lengthy email. If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me.