Regarding school closings
Dear St. Johns Community,
Certainly the last several weeks have not been ideal weather, and regrettably, we have made the difficult choice to close schools multiple times. While school closures and late starts are not new to the St. Johns community, the frequency of school closures and late starts in such a short span of time is highly unusual. We realize that this may cause some concern for families as they scramble to make decisions regarding child care. Realizing the challenges and inconvenience that this may cause, I feel that it’s a good time to apprise our community on the factors considered in school closures and start delays.
* We monitor wind chill factors, wind speed, temperature and precipitation amounts.
* We also consult with county road commission staff on the road conditions and plowing schedules.
* District officials and staff continually monitor television, radio, and internet weather reports.
* Finally, district officials and staff members actually drive out to several areas multiple times throughout the evening, night and morning to check road conditions during inclement weather.
On any given day our bus fleet transports anywhere from 1,700-2,000 of our nearly 3,100 students. Since St. Johns Public Schools covers over 200 square miles of paved and unpaved roads, the actual road conditions can sometimes vary greatly in different areas of our school community.
According to the state law, Michigan schools are required to provide a minimum of 170 instructional days and 1,098 instructional hours. Michigan schools are only allowed to cancel up to 6 days without being required to make up that time. In certain situations, the State Superintendent can grant a waiver for additional days and, considering the abnormal weather circumstances that have affected Michigan schools, I suspect that may occur sometime in the spring.
While we expect that a waiver may occur at some point, we also anticipate that St. Johns schools will need to modify the current school calender to make up some of the missed days and hours that have impacted our school community. Once we have identified an alternate school calendar, we will apprise our entire school community.
I realize that these winter days have been trying at times; however, it’s important that we work diligently to continue with the safe transportation of our children as a high priority.
Stay warm, stay safe, and know that our staff is eagerly awaiting the safe return of our students.
Sincerely,
Dedrick Martin
Superintendent
St. Johns Public Schools