Unscheduled School Closings

Lakota knows that parents are helped when they have as much advance notice as possible. There are times when Lakota can decide and announce a closure even the night before, if multiple forecasts are very certain that large amounts of snow will fall overnight and continue through the morning, or that extremely low temperatures will be occurring in the morning. Usually, though, it’s necessary to wait until early in the morning to assess the actual conditions.

Some closures have been for extremely cold temperatures, not snow. There is no specific temperature at which school is closed. Some of the factors involved are the wind chill, whether the temperatures are going up or down and how quickly, road conditions (which factor into the ability of buses to stay on schedule), and more. When Lakota is in session on cold days, parents and guardians should make sure their children are properly dressed. Making sure all exposed skin is covered drastically reduces the risk of frostbite.

When it is decided to delay the start of school, it’s because, based on all the information available at that time, Lakota believes the extra time will allow crews to have the roads, parking lots and sidewalks cleared for safe use. That usually happens, but not always. Sometimes the bad weather picks up again, or the snow removal is more difficult than anticipated. Lakota never calls a delay intending to later change it to a closure, but on occasion that will still happen.

On rare occasions there may be a need to dismiss students early from school for emergency situations such as inclement weather.

Anytime there is an emergency early dismissal, it is very important that your child knows what to do if they come home from school and you are not there. Please be sure to discuss this plan with your child and review it with them periodically. This plan should NOT include the need for a phone call home or work place, due to the necessity of having open phone lines for emergencies.

Every school delay or closure means that various activities will need to be rescheduled. Lakota does not base delays or closures on whether there is testing going on, or an important school program is planned, or any other activity. Decisions to delay or close school are based entirely on student safety.

Lakota is aware that many of our high school students drive to school, and that most of them are relatively inexperienced in driving in snow or ice. That is always a factor in our decision whether to delay or close school.

Many of our buildings have transportation exclusion zones and many students walk to school. This is another factor that is considered when deciding to delay or close school.

Even if school is closed, some after-school or evening activities may be held as planned. That’s because conditions that were bad in the morning may be much better by the afternoon or evening. So closing school does not automatically mean all after-school and evening activities are also canceled. It is handled on a case-by-case basis. Updates are posted to Lakota’s homepage and usually sent by email by individual schools.

Lakota is in touch with other school districts, primarily to get a report on conditions there and what might be expected in our district. However, Lakota does not base decisions on what other districts do. Road conditions can be very different even in nearby districts, based on terrain, snow removal capacity, miles of roadway to clear, etc. Frequently, districts in the same general area make different decisions.