Weather Cancellations and Delays in the WCSD

Nearly every winter the Waukee Community School District faces harsh weather conditions that require delays and cancellations, impacting students, families and staff. 

When growing up in most areas of the Midwest, extreme winter weather can determine quite a bit in the day-to-day routines of many. For school-age children and their families, snow days and late starts in school districts accompany these harsh conditions. Although for younger students school cancellations just constitute a fun day off, there is much more for the WCSD to consider when potentially changing a school schedule due to inclement weather. 

Dr. Buck, superintendent for the WCSD stated, “The timing is critical. If it’s going to start snowing at ten and it’s going to be light snow throughout the day, we’ll probably stay in school. If it starts snowing at midnight and there is heavy snow, that’s more likely to lead to delay or cancellation.”

Due to the unpredictability of Iowa weather specifically, Dr. Buck works alongside many such as the Chief Operating Officer, Director of Operations, Communications Officer, Director of Transportation and a group of superintendents in the Des Moines Metro to determine the need to cancel, delay or let school out early.

Alexis DeWaay, a sophomore at Northwest High School with Cold Urticaria, an allergy to extreme cold, explained, “I personally really appreciate [snow days] because of my allergy because when I’m outside in extreme weather the colder it is the faster I’ll have a reaction.”

Although the need for school cancellations may be subjective, certainly, the safety of students, staff and families on the road is a main concern when deciding to change school hours. 

Meteorologist at KCCI, Anne Campolongo, voiced, “If your local meteorologists or National Weather Service office is suggesting to stay off the roads, or that the roads are impassable or dangerous to travel on, you should heed their warnings.”

While families and staff must stay safe while commuting to school buildings, most of the concern lies with high school students driving themselves in these dangerous conditions.

Buck expressed, “I’m a dad of six kids, my youngest just graduated last year. My biggest worry with precipitation is I have a lot of young drivers with not a lot of driving experience.”

Similarly, DeWaay noted, “I notice [traffic] tends to be a lot slower, which I don’t usually mind, but sometimes it’s so slow it’s almost unsafe. I also notice a lot of people take turns too fast and their back wheels start swerving and it’s really scary.”

After a schedule change is called due to extreme weather conditions, it is crucial to share this information as soon as possible with district families and faculty.

Campolongo commented, “One challenge is making sure everyone in the warning area gets the info or knows about the upcoming inclement weather. Spreading the information around might be the toughest part. Once the weather is happening, then people usually tune into our newscasts.”

The WCSD uses ParentSquare to initially communicate all weather information pertaining to the school day. After this direct communication, the district gets in touch with KCCI and other local news channels to continue spreading the word.

“Usually, especially recently, they’ve been really great and apparent when they’re going to close school,” remarked DeWaay.

Some winters, cancellations, delays and early outs do not go without consequences. The district is required to have the buildings that go for the least amount of time reach a minimum of 1080 hours in school. Normally, the school year already exceeds this minimum, but if too much school is missed, days may be added to the school calendar if needed.

The choice to change routines of those intertwined in the WCSD is not an easy one; however, with the support of many, these decisions keep students, families and staff as safe as possible.

Buck concluded, “The worst thing that could happen with a cancellation or delay is that everyone is home safe, so that’s a good outcome.”