The Superintendent's Blog

What a week it has been for the weather! Thank you for your patience and understanding as we have navigated some complicated days. You recently received communication from us that we will have a regular day of school tomorrow. I’m sure it will quickly become evident that not every school district in the Omaha area will make the same decision. Therefore, I wanted to explain the decision for tomorrow and provide context for how we have made decisions this week. Throughout my years as an educator, I have found that it is beneficial to take time to explain the “why” behind various decisions.

As a starting point, you should know that while we look at multiple sources for weather information, the one we rely on most for decision-making is the National Weather Service. This is important to know since sometimes forecasts can vary from source-to-source. So, how did we reach our decisions throughout the week? This is a great question, and the focus of this blog.

Tuesday was a cancelled day of school because we were in a forecasted Extreme Cold Warning through noon. The forecasted "feels-like" temperature was around -30 degrees.

For Wednesday, we were in an "advisory," not a warning. Forecasted temperatures put us in the range when we would typically have school with a late start. A late start is an option we use that gives us a chance to have in-person school on a day that otherwise would not have been possible with a regular start time.

Today, we were under another Extreme Cold Warning from 9 p.m. Wednesday night through 9 a.m. Thursday morning with forecasted temperatures greater than -30 degrees. Related to today, and unique to today’s forecast, the actual forecasted "air" temperature was slated to reach into the negative -18 degree range up through 8 a.m. before it was anticipated to start to improve. The “air” temperature, and not the "feels-like" temperature, was expected to be much lower this morning than the other mornings of the week. This created concerns for how regular vehicles parked outside overnight might function even with a late start.

Finally, with regard to tomorrow, the “feels-like” temperature for a regular start time is forecasted to be a bit better (-19 degrees at the time I am writing this blog) than it was at the late start time on Wednesday when we went to school. It also puts us in the range where we have historically had a regular school day. Therefore, to avoid the inconvenience for families of having a late start, we plan for a regular start time.

I anticipate this will lead to a natural question, why is Millard able to start on time and others may cancel or have a late start? This is a fair question that deserves a clear answer. First, it’s important to know that not all districts have a late start option. Second, districts have different busing variables. For instance, diesel buses begin to have fuel issues when “air” temperatures are lower than -5 degrees. Since most buses are diesel in metro area schools, air temperature can sometimes impact the status of school even at “feels-like” temperatures where regular school would otherwise still occur. In Millard, we have propane buses which tend to perform better in cold weather.

Please know we respect that your decisions for your family come first. We fully recognize families have their own individual circumstances, and we understand that some parents may choose to keep their child home if they have weather related concerns, the same as they do when keeping a child home who is not feeling well.

Weather related decisions are never taken lightly. Student and staff safety is always a top priority. We also take our responsibility for your child’s education very seriously. We have found that being in school in front of a caring teacher is the best possible way for students to learn.

Thank you for your flexibility during the winter weather season. We appreciate the partnership and ongoing trust you put in our schools. The warmer forecast for next week will be a much needed reprieve from the cold this week.