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HOW DO
WE MAKE OUR DECISION?
WHEN IS
THE DECISION MADE?
WILL WE CLOSE SCHOOL IF CONDITIONS WORSEN?
HOW IS
THE PUBLIC NOTIFIED?
Our
district staff understands that our decision to open or close schools in
bad weather has a big effect on families. We also understand that our
students are better served – academically and socially – by being in
school. But as always, our top priority is the safety of our students.
HOW DO WE MAKE OUR DECISION?
Please
understand that we make the decision to open or close the schools in bad
weather based on a careful analysis of all relevant factors. The
Superintendent of Schools is responsible for the final decision. The
decision is based on recommendations from the Director of Transportation
and Director of Planning, Operations and Facilities and other factors
such as:
Ø Information
on road conditions from transportation staff and from the police.
We must give careful consideration to the most
dangerous roads in the district. Even if your street looks clear,
travel elsewhere in the district may be quite dangerous.
Ø
Amount of snow and ice accumulated.
Ø
Whether precipitation is continuing.
Ø
Building conditions
(Do all buildings have electricity and heat?)
Ø Parking
lot conditions. Administrators talk to
maintenance and custodial staff members who are responsible for clearing
and treating school parking lots and sidewalks.
Ø Temperature
and wind chill. Please remember that some of
our students walk to school and many must wait outside for the bus.
Ø Weather
predictions. We prefer not making our
decision based on weather predictions, which are not always accurate.
But sometimes this is unavoidable.
Ø
Young drivers.
We must consider that some high school students drive to
school.
WHEN IS THE DECISION MADE?
The
decision must be made by 5:30 a.m. or earlier so the
district can notify radio and TV stations and post the decision on the
web site. If a later decision would be made to announce a closing, some
parents will have already left for work, leaving their children
unsupervised.
WILL WE CLOSE SCHOOL
IF CONDITIONS WORSEN?
It is
difficult to reverse the decision about opening schools without
endangering students, even if weather conditions worsen. Once the
decision is made to open the schools, parents rely on it and leave for
work. Many students will return to unsupervised bus stops and empty
houses if students are sent right back home. An early dismissal could
occur if conditions worsen during the school day, but all possible
attempts will be made to give adequate notice to parents first.
Although
the district staff does the absolute best in this process, no perfect
decision exists. If you do not feel as though it is safe for your child
to attend school, use your best judgment on whether he or she should
attend. Also, discourage teenagers from driving in bad conditions and
offer them alternatives if weather conditions worsen.
It is
hoped that this explanation helps everyone understand the process that
our district staff uses to make the best possible decision for all in
our district.
HOW IS THE PUBLIC NOTIFIED?
Information
on School Closings due to inclement weather and other emergencies will be
announced on the following sources:
Telephone:
1 --
We call
you:
Spring-Ford's
Connect-ED ®
parent contact system through the NTI Group.
Connect-ED®
is an automated
telephone message distribution service to which the District subscribes.
The service allows central administrators and building principals the
ability to distribute a message to the homes of all District students or
to various sub-groups within a very brief period of time. In
certain more urgent or emergency situations, the message can also be
delivered to cell and work phone numbers. Please note that work
phone numbers that include an extension can not be contacted.
While the District considers the
Connect-ED®
system to be a valuable tool to
contact parents, parents should not consider the
Connect-ED®
system to be a 100% guarantee of receiving any given message. The
system is not based in the District and is subject to a variety of
limitations that are beyond the control of the District and NTI.
In the event of a weather-related problem or other emergency, parents
are urged to check the District's
Special Message Alert Center
on this Website or on the telephone as described
below.
Here are a few tips
to make your
Connect-ED®
system experience more effective:
- Be sure to notify your child's
school about changes to your home, cell, and work numbers.
- When Spring-Ford distributes a
Connect-ED®
system message, look at caller ID
for a Spring-Ford school building phone number on the display:
610-705-6000 through 610-705-6010.
- Like most automated calling systems,
there will be a pause after you pickup the phone before the message
is delivered. During that time, the system is assessing
whether it has reached a live voice or answering machine and it is
assessing the quality of the connection.
- If you are in a noisy location or if
you are on a cell phone in a windy location, the message might be
restarted several times, not delivered at all, or cut off during
delivery.
- You can press * at the end of the
message to listen to the message again.
- Not all messages delivered via the
Connect-ED®
system are weather-related or
emergency calls. Reminders about school events and activities
will also be distributed to your home phone from time to time.
2 --
You call
us:
Spring-Ford's Special Message Alert Center
-- 610-705-6100
The Special Message Alert Center will alert you
to both District wide and building information. When you call the
Special Message Alert Center the first message you will hear will detail
any District wide alerts or other special messages from the Superintendent.
The main message (or a statement that no District wide messages exist) will be
followed by a menu that provides you direct access to messages maintained by
each building.
(Note: The Special Message Alert Center is also
accessible from the voice menu when calling any District building by pressing
'3'. However, you will access the same information faster by dialing
610-705-6100 directly.)
Television:
KYW Philadelphia
(CBS - Comcast 3) -
www.kyw1060.com
WPVI Philadelphia (ABC - Comcast 6) -
www.6abc.com
WCAU Philadelphia
(NBC - Comcast 10) -
www.nbc10.com
WTXF Philadelphia (Fox - Comcast 9) -
www.myfoxphilly.com
WFMZ Allentown (Ind -
Comcast 15) -
www.wfmz.com
Radio:
WPAZ Pottstown - AM 1370
KYW Philadelphia - AM 1060 -
www.kyw1060.com
(Spring-Ford's
Code
Number is 308)
E-Mail:
When there is an emergency at a school or if there is an early dismissal not
previously scheduled, e-mails are sent to all individuals that have joined the
emergency e-mail lists set up for each school building. (E-Mails are NOT
sent in the early morning hours to announce closings or delays.) These
e-mail lists are joined by the e-mail recipients and are not maintained by
District personnel. To join one of the building emergency e-mail lists, do
the following:
Using the e-mail account where you wish to receive emergency
e-mails, open a new e-mail message. In the "To:" box type (depending on
your computer setup, perhaps click) one of the following:
senior-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
middle8-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
middle7-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
intermediate-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
brooke-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
evans-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
limerick-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
oaks-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
royersford-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
springcity-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
upperprovidence-request@list.spring-ford.k12.pa.us
Place the word "subscribe" (no quotes) in the body (NOT on the
subject line) of the e-mail. No subject is required. (If you are
subscribed and wish to be removed from the list, use the word "unsubscribe".)
Send the e-mail. When successfully joined, you will
receive an automated response from the list. Please do NOT reply to any
messages you receive from the list. Do NOT attempt to send messages to the
list. Such messages will NOT be received. The emergency lists will be
purged at the end of each school year.
On-Line:
Special Message Alert Center on this Website (accessible through all school web sites).
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