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With winter comes the potential for extreme conditions that could cause us to make a change to school schedules. Greendale Schools has procedures in place for closing school buildings due to severe weather. While we intend to maintain school according to the calendar, the safety of our students and staff may necessitate the closing of our school buildings.
A decision to close school due to severe weather would be made as early as possible in the morning. We expect that the first severe weather day will not require make-up; however, any additional inclement weather closures may add additional days to the school year at the secondary level. Should additional closures be necessary, makeup instruction plans would be communicated with students and families, which would likely include virtual instruction days to meet instructional minute requirements.
Before closing school, we take multiple things into consideration including:
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information from the bus company
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reports on current and pending weather conditions
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information from our building and grounds department
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reports on road conditions in our area
Local superintendents, bus company officials, and district administrators are in contact beginning at approximately 4:00 a.m. Districts typically use the National Weather Service forecast to help in making these decisions. When dangerously cold weather is forecasted, Extreme Cold Warning is the guideline to determine if it is safe for students and staff to be outdoors when traveling to and from school.
While we try to keep decisions consistent across the region, each of us must weigh the many unique factors to our district. Therefore, there may be times that another district is open and we are closed, or vice versa. Should we determine it is necessary to close school due to weather conditions, it is our sincere intent to make a decision no later than 5:45 a.m. However, deteriorating conditions may require us to make a later call. When a decision is made to close school, we will notify parents and students through various methods.
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X (formerly Twitter @GreendaleLearns), Instagram and Facebook (Greendale Schools).
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All parents/guardians will receive an Infinite Campus phone message and text message. The district will send text messages to all families in urgent matters (like severe weather closings) only. Since text message rates may apply, please contact your school office if you DO NOT wish to receive a text in a severe weather situation.
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The school closing notice will be posted on the district website at www.greendaleschools.org.
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The media will be contacted. Please keep in mind that even though a decision is made at this early hour, it may take time for the media to announce the closing.
If weather conditions necessitate an early dismissal of students, the procedure will be to release the high school and middle school students first and then the elementary schools. All bus routes will run according to this early release schedule. All families will receive an Infinite Campus phone and text message to notify them of the early dismissal. For the status of Park & Rec classes during severe weather, families can call the weather line at 414-423-2803 for any updates for status of classes and visit the Park & Rec website or social media accounts for updates.
As a parent/guardian, you may choose to keep your child(ren) home from school if you feel weather conditions are unsafe for your family. This would be recorded as an excused absence.
Thank you for your understanding and support of our schools.
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