With the first day back from winter break for the Greene County School District being an extra day off due to snowfall, the district’s top leader reviews the criteria that is used to make those decisions.

Superintendent Brett Abbotts tells Raccoon Valley Radio he has a core group of individuals he communicates with whenever there is inclement weather that includes the National Weather Service, Greene County Departments and surrounding area school district superintendents. He says that once he feels there is a consensus among that information, then mass communication is pushed out to families and the general public as quickly as possible. 

Abbotts points out that there are several factors to consider when determining to delay or cancel school and activities, and one helpful organization is the National Weather Service and their sometimes multiple updates that they provide.

“When we’re looking, you know two, three, four days ahead thinking about activities, thinking about what we have, thinking about our students and their safety. But then also, if we start cancelling or delaying enough is that going to start impacting instructional hours and stuff? There’s a lot of decisions and thought that has to go in versus just making a knee-jerk reaction sort of thing.” 

Abbotts adds some people may not like when school is delayed, cancelled or there is an early dismissal, but those decisions are made with safety for everyone involved.