Winter Weather Policies

Winter Weather and Storm Days

With difficult weather affecting travel and school starting, parents need to be aware of procedures in case of storms. Because the many of our students are transported by the public school busing system, if a weather announcement is made concerning EGF public schools, parents are to assume that it includes Sacred Heart School. This affects all our programs -daycare, preschool, elementary, and high school. If you hear an announcement that closes EGF Public and Sacred Heart School, please know that this includes the daycare and preschool.

For example, if there are no rural buses or school starts two hours late for EGF public schools, Sacred Heart would also start two hours late. If EGF public schools were cancelled, Sacred Heart School would be Cancelled also. Mr. David Pace, the public school superintendent, makes that decision.

Mr. Pace will contact the local television and radio stations.

When making a decision on school cancellations, Pace has a variety of options he may take. He is up early in the morning, conferring with the district’s transportation coordinator Jeff Hahn.

After conferring with Hahn, Pace may call the GF Weather Bureau before talking with other area school districts such as Grand Forks, Thief River Falls, Crookston and officials with the University of North Dakota.

Sacred Heart has asked Mr. Pace to include Sacred Heart School, pre-school, and daycare in all his public media announcements. If Sacred Heart is not included, assume that this is a mistake and follow the public school announcements. For example, if EGF public announces no school and includes Sacred Heart School, but not specifically the daycare or preschool, assume that there is no school for daycare and pre-school. By about 6:30 a.m., decisions on the school day must be made and announced to allow residents enough time to make alternative plans.

At this time, the public school superintendent has one of four options to decide on:

1) Delay opening by 1 to 2 hours (to allow weather to improve or allow time for snow removal).
2) Delay rural buses by 1 to 2 hours (to allow weather to improve or wait for daylight).
3) Cancel rural buses (and/or delay school start by 1 or 2 hours or start it onschedule).
4) Cancel School

Although the public school superintendent discusses the weather with a variety of people, when it comes to making a decision on school closings, the superintendent has the final say. If a storm hits during the day, while the students are in school, the preference would be to keep students at school where they are safe rather than put them on the road in a bus. Generally, a major storm would have to be forecasted before the students would be let out early.

bad. Storm days will be made up. Every day that is lost because of the storms, or any other reason, has
to be made up some time during the school year.

Little Saints and Little Angels parents are to remember that if buses are two hours late, there will
be no morning classes for those students. Because Sacred Heart has full day kindergarten, we will
have school with the regular busing, but because of the age of the children, it is up to the parent to decide
whether to keep them home.

The telephone is a major concern of school staff. The elementary office and classrooms have two phone lines for use. One is the main school phone (773-1579) and the second line is a fax number, which also serves as a rollover line. All elementary classroom phones have access to these telephone lines. The concern comes when parents are trying to call the school and the lines are busy with students trying to call parents at work or at home. Typically, if rural students are sent home early, there is heavy use of the school phones by students. Families are asked to be patient with busy phone lines and listen to a local radio station or watch WDAZ.

If you have any questions about any procedure that is not clear, please call Mr. Andrys at 773-1579.