With winter weather on its way, I thought it would be advantageous to explain how delay and cancellation decisions are made here at Greenville CSD.
In the event of winter weather, I’m usually up around 3:30 in the morning assessing conditions on local weather channels, communicating with superintendents from surrounding districts, and frequently talking with our transportation supervisor, Mary Judeikis.
Our school buses travel over 1,700 miles per day — through 11 townships and three counties. Our district is geographically unique in that it encompasses residences of several different elevations across 135 square miles, so while in Greenville the weather may be less severe, in places like the hilltowns, the roads may be impassable.
Student safety is at the center of everything we do. As our transportation supervisor works with her contacts at the numerous towns and highway departments, together we assess conditions across the many miles of rural roads that our bus routes cover. In making the final decision to delay or close school, we consider the entire geographical area of our district. So, if a snow day is called and you don’t notice poor road conditions near the school, just remember elevation plays a big role in our district, and it was likely the road conditions in the hilltowns that led to the decision.
Weather-related school closings and delay notifications will be communicated to families of students by email, text and phone call. Additionally, this information will be communicated on Facebook, Instagram, the district website, WNYT TV-News Channel 13, WRGB TV-CBS 6, WTEN TV-News 10 ABC, WXXA TV-Fox 23, 103.1FM/810AM WGY, 92.3FM WFLY-Fly, 99.5FM WRVE The River, B95.5FM WYJB, the Post Star, the Times Union, and Spectrum News.
In the event of a two-hour delay, the UPK program begins at 10:40 a.m., while K-5 begins at 9:55 a.m., and follows their regular schedules. There is no morning Questar program for high school students. Breakfast is not served. The high school schedule is as follows on two-hour delay days:
Warning Bell 10:06
Period 1 10:08-10:35
Period 4 10:38-11:08
Period 5 11:11-11:41
Period 6 11:44-12:14
Period 7 12:17-12:47
Period 2 12:50-1:17
Period 3 1:20 – 1:47
Period 8 1:50-2:16
Period 9 2:19-2:45
In the event of a snow day, the middle/high school letter day calendar changes. For example, if Monday is an A Day and we have a snow day, when students return to school on Tuesday it will NOT be a B Day, it will be an A day. The calendar will be adjusted accordingly.
I hope this gives you a better picture of delays and closings in our district. For questions about weather-related communications, please contact School Communications Specialist Sierra Pizzola at pizzolas@greenvillecsd.org or 518-966-5070 x523.