Saydel Families:
With the winter weather early this year, we wanted to remind families of our processes for weather-related delays and cancellations. First and foremost, know that we do our best to make decisions around safety and in the best interest of our kids. We recognize that this can be inconvenient sometimes, but know the safety of our people is most important, and we must consider all stakeholders, from kindergartners, 16-year-old drivers, and staff, when making these important decisions.
We would also like to highlight some key points:
1) Who/When: We collectively communicate with Polk County Roads, transportation, grounds, and other metro districts when rendering inclement weather determinations. Additionally, the decision to cancel or delay school will be made and communicated between 5:30-6:00AM (or earlier) when feasible. Please know the timing of storms can impact these verdicts; especially when weather moves in during projected transport times.
2) Where can we find information? Saydel Schools Website: http://www.saydel.k12.ia.us and Saydel FB page. The Saydel Website and Facebook will be a central location for closing information to be posted, followed by the phone/text/e-mails through Infinite Campus (messaging), and then local media.
3) IF:
School is delayed or cancelled, there will be no AM preschool.
School is delayed, Eagles Nest will follow that delay schedule and open late according to the delay. For example, on a 2-hour school delay, Eagles Nest will open 2 hours later.
School is delayed, we will serve a grab-and-go (cold) breakfast option.
Regarding delays, notifications for evening events or practices will be sent later and posted to the website as decisions are made.
School is cancelled, Eagles Nest and all other programs will be cancelled commensurately.
As for cancellations, all after-school activities will be cancelled with very few exceptions. The Saydel Activities Department will collaborate and communicate these details along with our district messaging.
With windchill factors, and this one is tricky, we loosely utilize a -25 degrees windchill factor as a threshold for school delays and closures.
4) Lastly, if your child rides the bus on days when school is in session and winter weather conditions are present, you may find it useful to use the Durham Bus Tracker application to check the status of your child's bus. Information on the Durham Bus Tracker application can be found on the transportation page at: https://www.saydel.k12.ia.us/families/BusingAndTransportation.cfm
Be safe this winter!
Yours In Service,
Todd A. Martin, Saydel CSD Superintendent