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Calamity / Snow Day

Dear Parents/Guardians:

The Strongsville School District understands that the decision to close schools due to inclement weather or loss of utilities, or implement a two-hour delayed start due to wind chill temperatures has an enormous effect on all of our families. As Superintendent of Schools, I am responsible for the final decision and work to finalize the decision by 5:30 a.m., so that we can notify parents and staff via phone, social media, and our website.  In addition, we notify local television and radio stations.

Closing School for a Full Day: The following information may help you to better understand the process used when making the decision to close schools, which are based upon a careful analysis of all relevant factors, such as: 

  • Information on road conditions from our transportation staff, maintenance staff, local safety forces, and road crews;
  • Amount of accumulated snow and ice;
  • Whether or not precipitation is expected to continue throughout the day;
  • Temperature and wind chill, focusing on wind chills at or below -15°F to -20° during key walking and waiting-for-bus times;
  • Impact on our bus fleet; 
  • Weather predictions from satellite systems, local radar, and National Weather;
  • Timing of the storm;
  • Building conditions, such as is there is electricity and/or heat;
  • Parking lot/school property conditions; and
  • Discussions with Administrators from area school districts.

Two-Hour Delay: The use of a two-hour delayed school opening may be utilized when the additional two hours would allow for wind chill temperatures to rise to an acceptable level.  Under a two-hour delay schedule, all schools will begin the day two hours later than the regular starting time. The school day will end at the usual time. Students receiving school bus transportation should go to their normal bus stop location two hours later than their regular pick-up time.

Teen Drivers: We ask parents/guardians to encourage teen drivers to take the bus if road conditions are questionable.  

Attendance if School is Open:  Although we do our absolute best in this process by carefully considering all information, we know that weather forecasting is an imperfect science and often no perfect decision exists.  As always, our top priority is the safety of our students. If you do not feel that it is safe for your child to get to school, use your best judgment as to whether or not s/he should attend.  Student attendance may be excused depending on the circumstances.

I hope that this explanation helps in understanding the process used to make the best possible decision for everyone in the district.

 

Sincerely,

Cameron M. Ryba
Superintendent