Tuesday, November 26, 2019

School Closing Announcements

Well, here we are, another winter welcomed us with a grand entrance. Being that this is my first year being the individual to determine whether school takes place or not, I felt it would be of great interest to provide you with some background on how these decisions are made as outlined below.

Cold Weather Related

As you might recall, in the past (last year), we had several school days closed due to excessively cold weather. I am hopeful that we will not experience those extreme temperatures this year.  With that said, I would like to remind our constituents of guiding principles for closing school due to extreme temperatures.

  • Our school buses are housed indoors and are in excellent condition.  In the unlikely event that mechanical failure would occur during cold weather, there are backup buses that can respond to lend assistance in short order.
  • Wind chill temperature, actual temperature and frostbite time frames are taken into consideration when making a decision to stay open or closed. I utilize the NWS Wind Chill Chart as my guide.  If frostbite times are in the 30 minutes range, it will be my recommendation to hold school as planned provided other issues such as snowfall, visibility & road conditions are acceptable.
  • I believe that if we operate within the wind chill parameters set forth above, we are putting the safety of students first, but also providing opportunities to continue school on regularly scheduled days.
  • I ask that parents pay special attention to proper clothing for their children during the winter season and especially during these very cold conditions.  Whether a child is in Kindergarten or in 12th grade, all students should have proper winter apparel including mittens and hat before venturing out.
  • If the decision is made to hold school on days of negative wind chills, it is the parent's final responsibility to determine whether it is safe for their child to go to school.  Throughout our district, we have so many different circumstances with different families that a single decision by the superintendent may not properly respond to the consideration of a particular family.  If parents elect to hold their children home due to inclement weather, the absence will be considered an excused absence.


Please make certain that your alert system information (Infinite Campus) is up to date as we rely on this system to communicate messages regarding school closures.

Precipitation Related
Whenever extreme precipitation events are in the forecast or under way, the Superintendent works directly with the transportation company, county road officials, and area school districts to determine what action needs to take place to ensure student safety. Although, area school districts are consulted, each district comes to their own conclusions based on local road conditions and visibility.

When possible, these decisions will be made in the evening prior to 10:00 pm. However, often times this cannot take place due to a variety of reasons. If decisions cannot be made the prior evening, we will strive to make the call by 6:00 am.

Weather announcements are delivered in the following formats listed in order of priority:

  1. Infinite Campus Messenger System (Please make certain that your alert system information is up to date.
  2. Social Media Networks (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram)
  3. District Website
  4. Television News Stations
  5. Radio Stations

Those are the general guidelines I use in determining school closures. As stated above, if the decision is made to hold school on days of negative wind chills or inclement weather, it is the parent's final responsibility to determine whether it is safe for their child to go to school. Throughout our district, we have so many different circumstances with different families that a single decision by the superintendent may not properly respond to the consideration of a particular family. If parents elect to hold their children home due to inclement weather, the absence will be considered an excused absence.

It is my hope that this information has been helpful. Enjoy the upcoming weather!

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Engaging Collaboration to Improve Achievement


In August of 2015 the New London-Spicer School District embarked on a journey to embed professional learning teams (PLTs) into their practice in an effort to positively impact student achievement. This journey commenced with a three day training for staff conducted by Solution Tree, Inc. Throughout time the yearning for additional PLT time has grown to our current reality of 2-hour late starts built into our district calendar. It is with this communication I hope to explain our PLT process.

In a traditional school setting, teachers work in isolation with minimal collaboration taking place. In isolation, teachers work within the four walls of their own classroom with minimal interaction with colleagues. The outstanding practices of the best teachers are rarely shared in a building engaged in isolationism. A PLT shifts mindsets from that of isolationism to collaboration. 

In a PLT, professionals work collectively to develop responses to student learning. The adults engage in collaborative conversations that enrich their professional practice and improve student learning. Collaborative conversations are conversations in which professionals work interdependently to make progress toward meeting student needs.  These collaborative conversations typically focus around four guiding questions and three big ideas.

Four guiding questions:

1. What is it all students must learn?
2. How will we know they have learned it?
3. How will we respond if they have learned it?
4. How will we respond if they have not learned it?

Three Big Ideas:

1. A focus on learning.
2. A focus on results.
3. A focus on collaboration.

Staff members at New London-Spicer are committed to this work by setting aside, at a minimum, 30-minutes weekly to engage in collaborative conversations focused on the four guiding questions and the three big ideas. The 2-hour late starts are being utilized to dive deeper into conversation and develop ongoing, sustainable responses to student assessment outcomes. We are proud of the commitment of our staff in ensuring our students meet their full potential in pursuit of college, career, and life readiness!