Winter Weather Notification
UPDATED: 12/7/09
How do we decide about snow days?
Winter is now upon us and in anticipation of more challenging winter weather, we wanted to share with you how school closings decisions are made and why. Here are a few things that factor into the decision:
The decision to close school or not, is a judgment call, and often a difficult one. We try to make the decision to close or stay open by 6:00 a.m. so parents may plan for the day. When conditions worsen between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. is when decisions are the toughest.
Decisions are based on observed weather conditions near the school. Conditions near your house may be significantly different from what we observe here. Once students start arriving at HCA, it is highly unlikely (but not impossible) that we will reverse the decision to stay open.
The following is some information which may help reduce stress on mornings when travel is difficult.
• If we make the decision to close the school, the Everbridge system will be the first avenue we use to let you know. This will be an emergency all access message. So you should receive email and phone notification. (Another reason to make sure you are registered and that your information is current). Because any announcement via Everbridge will be a high priority announcement, you will need to confirm your receipt of the message by staying on the line and pressing "1" at the end of the message. Otherwise, the system will just keep calling until receipt is confirmed.
• If you haven't heard that Heritage is closed by 6:30 a.m., you can be pretty sure we are open. Our school website: www.heritageweb.org and the Daily Bulletin on Power School will have the most up-to-date information. Once a decision has been made, these are the first places we will post it. On snowy days when we are staying open, we will post this information on these two places as well.
• The HCA phone system will have special announcements regarding school closings. Call 763-463-2200, press "7" when you hear the recorded message.
• When winter weather warnings are out we ask that you monitor the conditions and plan your departure time accordingly. We all know that in Minnesota the driving will be slow when the weather is bad. Extreme weather conditions will be taken under consideration if a student should come into school late.
• It is very unlikely that we will ever have a late start. We are trying to avoid the turmoil such an adjustment can cause in family schedules, especially families in which both parents work.
• For the same reasons it is equally unlikely that we will dismiss early.
• We will not be posting information on area television and radio stations as the Everbridge system is a more efficient means of getting the information to you.
Ultimately it is up to you, the parents, to make the final decision about whether the roads are safe enough for travel. Just because HCA stays open does not necessarily mean you need to come in. If you believe the roads are unsafe for travel, or that the weather in your area is too severe to go out, feel free to stay home. This is especially so if you have student drivers in your family. Our families come from all over the western metro area and oftentimes conditions are very different from one area to another. Please make the best decision for your family.
We hope that this information is helpful to you.