SnowDay Diary

I thought you might be interested in what happens when school is closed due to the weather. Planning for bad weather always begins at the first notice that there may be bad weather. In this case, on Thursday, area school administrators were beginning to talk about plans for Friday in case the predicted storm did become a reality. Most elementary school districts follow the lead of their high school when considering a school closing. In our area, I consult with Darien, Woodridge and District 99 schools when considering the closing of school.

Friday morning began for me when I went to bed Thursday evening, since I never sleep well when there is a chance of bad weather. After getting up every hour to look out the window, I got up and left the house at 4:00 a.m. and went on a driving tour of the District to check road conditions and the amount of snow that had fallen. During that time, I spoke with Dr. Eblen from District 99 and Mr. Brendel from Woodridge District 68 as to their plans. At the time, conditions were not too bad due to the fact that the hard snowfall had not started and we were planning to open school since the buses were running, the temperature was moderate and schools had heat and power. After a second call at 5:15 a.m., I returned to the streets to find that conditions had greatly deteriorated in the intervening hour. In further discussions with area administrators and the fact the schools in central and northern DuPage had begun to close, we decided that given the current conditions and the uncertainty of the length of the storm the most prudent action was to close school.
After the decision to close school is made, notifications are made to parents, employees, media and DuPage ROE. Employees and parents were contacted using our automated phone service and email. The Chicagoland Closing Center is contacted by an automated telephone program that then allows our closing information to be posted on television and radio. Once notifications have been made, we then focus on getting our custodial and transportation team in to clean up the snow. Sidewalks and emergency exits must be cleared before school can re-open and parking lots must be plowed and salted. Over the weekend snow drifts were plowed, driveways salted, buses started and buildings checked for heat to insure a smooth start for school on Monday morning. We are fortunate to have a dedicated and skilled team of people to prepare and protect our fine facilities.