02/16/2023
Inclement Weather
Whenever there is a threat of inclement weather, we implement the winter weather process. That has two levels of input. The first level is the transportation directors across the metro connect the day before via a text chain involving 14 school districts. They share the district plans and when the district will check the roads. Usually between 3am and 4am the transportation staff drives district roads. Our roads in Liberty are treated by the City of Liberty, Clay County, and Kansas City. We check rural roads, city of Liberty streets, subdivisions, and typical trouble spots. The transportation department reports to the Chief Operations Officer via text.
The second level is the COO, Superintendent, and Communications Director share their road observations with each other, as they have been driving the roads in early morning along with transportation. We report other input including driver call offs, police reports, and highway advisories. The Superintendent makes the ultimate decision with the input of our district staff and other nearby district Superintendents.
A couple of facts about inclement weather decisions at LPS:
--Liberty has never held school if transportation reported that the roads were unsafe (I have done this for six winters).
--For every day that school is called off, there are three or four other mornings when we go through the above procedure and find the roads to be safe.
We must watch subdivisions not only to see that buses can navigate the roads, but that students can safely walk to the stop.
Today the decision was made by the Superintendent with input from the COO and transportation department. That is the standard process each time weather is a concern. Most, if not all, districts follow the same process.
