Braving the Elements: Superintendent Kopp on Decision-Making During Severe Weather in Franklin County Schools
Jan 11, 2024
Superintendent Mark Kopp
Ever wondered what goes into the decision-making process when schools are faced with severe weather conditions? Join us as Superintendent Kopp peels back the curtain on the complexities surrounding school closures in Franklin County, especially during the teeth-chattering chill of winter. This episode promises to arm you with an understanding of the intricate balance between safety and education as we navigate snowflakes and subzero temperatures.
Superintendent Kopp doesn't just scratch the surface; he digs deep into the early-morning routines that ensure our students' well-being, from liaising with the road department to considering the feasibility of bus routes. Moreover, learn about the seamless transition to Non-Traditional Instruction days and how our district is prepared to switch to virtual learning at a moment's notice. For our educators, discover the support systems in place, such as the ASP programs, that alleviate the strain of unexpected weather events. Wrap up warm and tune in for an insightful discussion on how we keep the wheels of education turning, no matter what Mother Nature throws our way.
Ever wondered what goes into the decision-making process when schools are faced with severe weather conditions? Join us as Superintendent Kopp peels back the curtain on the complexities surrounding school closures in Franklin County, especially during the teeth-chattering chill of winter. This episode promises to arm you with an understanding of the intricate balance between safety and education as we navigate snowflakes and subzero temperatures.
Superintendent Kopp doesn't just scratch the surface; he digs deep into the early-morning routines that ensure our students' well-being, from liaising with the road department to considering the feasibility of bus routes. Moreover, learn about the seamless transition to Non-Traditional Instruction days and how our district is prepared to switch to virtual learning at a moment's notice. For our educators, discover the support systems in place, such as the ASP programs, that alleviate the strain of unexpected weather events. Wrap up warm and tune in for an insightful discussion on how we keep the wheels of education turning, no matter what Mother Nature throws our way.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to FCS Unscripted. A new podcast for one team, fcs, where we look at the stories behind every one in Franklin County schools. Hello everyone, this is Superintendent Cop. I just wanted to create a quick podcast so that we could share some information and details about what's going on in the school district, also give you some updates on some potential weather and what we do in those situations. So just wanted to share some information with you today. The first thing I want to talk about is weather.
Speaker 1:
We currently it's Thursday, january, the 11th 2004. And we are looking forward in the forecast, looking next week and it does look like we're we could be having some potential for some very, very cold mornings. The snow forecast is a little undetermined right now, but we do know that we're looking at some incredibly cold weather, especially on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning. So we're going to be looking very closely those days at the wind chill and always understand that when we have to make a decision as to whether or not to have school, we are always going to put safety over everything else. Safety of our students is the most important thing that we do. So when we look at situations like next week, we're going to have to look and see how cold it's going to be, what the sustained wind chill is going to be, before we make any of those determinations. So none of those decisions has have been made as of yet. But having said that, just in preparation of the potential for if we have a weather event, we do know that we have NTI days, non-traditional instruction days, and that's what we would be looking at using first, our NTI days. So if we do cancel school due to a weather event, whether it's snow or incredibly cold temperatures or wind chills the first of those is, you know, we're going to use a non-traditional instruction day and, as you all know, we've become very familiar with this process. That's a day where our students stay home and they do still receive instruction. It's a virtual instruction. They can have check-ins with their teachers, they have assignments to complete, both in Google Classroom and sometimes via packets. It's really dependent on the situation, but I know our staff, our teachers, are preparing for that possibility just in case that happens. So just wanted to bring it to your attention. We do have some traditional snow days built into the calendar and we can look at using those as well. But having NTI and having the ability to use NTI is also a really good thing for us.
Speaker 1:
Wanted to talk about ASP, also during snow days, because we know it is a burden for our employees in terms of childcare. We do offer. Our ASP systems are open on most snow days. The only instances where they're not open is if the roads are in really difficult shape, and you know there are. Sometimes we have to close ASPs, but I'll always make that announcement, you know, depending on what the situation is with the roads, Any time that we put a bus on the road, though it's a very obviously a tricky proposition when the weather is bad. So we're always going to choose safety over convenience, safety over schedule, and you know, I know that sometimes it does become a burden, but at the same time we're not going to risk the lives of students if the road conditions are not acceptable. Just so you can understand the process that we do on determining a snow day, we try to make those calls as early as we possibly can. I mean, if we get a very significant snowfall and we know that we're not going to be in school the next day, for instance, we're going to try to make that call the night before. There are sometimes, though, with the timing of these events that when they come in, you know we have to make the call on the same day, because our goal, obviously, is to have our students in person. There's nothing that can replace the value of in-person instruction.
Speaker 1:
Having said that, on a potential snow day, the way that that works is myself, jennifer Perkins, who's our Assistant Superintendent for District Services, and Brad McKinney he is our Director of Transportation. The three of us get up about 3.30 in the morning and we each drive three separate sections of Franklin County so that we can get a good determination on what the roads are like, and we're in constant communication with the road department. During that time we're checking the road temperatures, we're talking to other school districts to see if they're getting snow prior to us getting it, so we've got a lot of different data points to look at. On those mornings, I generally have to make that call by about 5 am. Believe it or not, that's about the time when our first buses have to be started in order to start their routes, because buses, especially in the cold weather, need time to warm up. So I usually try to make those calls by 5 am.
Speaker 1:
On the day of a potential snow day or NTI day. Our first thing I'll do when I do make that call is I will send out a one call. I will also put it on all of our social media. I also put it first on Twitter and it pretty much simultaneously goes out. So Facebook, twitter. I believe it goes out on Instagram as well. It goes on our website and we make a one call.
Speaker 1:
So everyone should receive those communications, and I hate doing them too early because I don't want people getting woken up too early in the morning with a phone call letting them schools off for the day. But at the same time, our parents deserve to know that as soon as we know that that's going to be the case. So I apologize in advance of time. If I do wake anyone up with one of those early calls, I promise it won't be before 5 am. I just wanted to bring that to your attention just in case we do have any upcoming snow events. And if you have any questions at any time, feel free to shoot me an email or call me here at Central Office. I'll be glad to assist in any way that I can. I understand that. Again, the most important thing we do is protect the safety of our students every single day.
Speaker 1:
I wanted to give you a couple of quick facility updates With our facilities. If you've driven past Western Hills High School, you'll notice that we now have bleachers on both sides of the football field at Western Hills, the same that we do at Franklin County. So we now have two sets of bleachers at each of our football fields with enough seating for graduation. This has been an issue ever since I became superintendent and they tore the Civic Center down. That was a welcome to the superintendent job. We don't have the Civic Center anymore, but we've made do, and for a few years we went to the horse park and it was really good. But the last two years we've been able to have graduation on our football fields and the weather has been great. Knock on wood, we always have to ask for good weather on that day, but it's great being able to host graduation at our own site. So we're real excited about being able to continue providing the football fields as venues for graduation as we move forward, and having those bleachers is fantastic. We also have new lights at our football field at Western Hills and the lights at the football field at Franklin County are going to be installed over the next month. So by the time spring season rolls around we're going to have both new lights and new bleachers ready to go at both facilities.
Speaker 1:
We're also getting ready for two very exciting projects. Two new greenhouses are going to be built, at one at each high school, one on each side of town. So that will add to the greenhouses they're currently in place and it will allow our agriculture students to have additional space for, you know, growing plants and participating in some wonderful programs in our ag departments. So we're excited about those. Those are getting ready to be bid out, next week actually. And the last thing that's coming up very, very soon is we are beginning to start the process of building two new auxiliary gyms, one on each side of town. There will be one in between where Bondret Middle School and Western Hills High School is. It'll be obviously for the students at Western Hills, and the one over at Franklin County High School will be where the old tennis courts used to be. It's kind of behind where the current gym is now, in between the gym and the football field.
Speaker 1:
The purpose of these two auxiliary gyms is to provide space for lots of different student athletes. Each one of these auxiliary gyms on each side of town is going to have a main gym floor surface that will be available to be used for basketball games, volleyball games, archery, as well as wrestling tournaments. So it's a very, you know large gym surface. But in addition to that, each of these auxiliary gyms will have a separate room for different sports. So there will be a softball hitting facility on each side of town. In each gym there will be a permanent wrestling room with permanent wrestling mats for our students who practice wrestling. There will be a dance cheer room. There will be a golf room for the golf teams with a golf simulator in it. There will be a training room. There will be a concession area.
Speaker 1:
We're really excited about providing these spaces for our students, you know, because our students deserve the very best that we can provide for them. So lots of good things getting ready to happen and we'll be glad to answer any of your questions that you may have about anything we've talked about today. Welcome to 2024. It's going to be a great year of a lot of exciting things going on in our district. Have a fantastic day, everyone. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Well, that wraps it up for this week's episode of FCS Unscripted. Thank you for listening in and I encourage you to subscribe and follow this weekly podcast where we will share updates, information and interviews with hashtag everyone the wonderful students and staff who make up one team FCS. Have a great week everybody.