Dear District 58 Community,
Due to extreme weather conditions, all District 58 schools will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, and students will have a traditional snow day.
I understand that closing schools presents challenges for families. This decision was not made lightly and was done so after District 58 consulted with several DuPage County school districts and other local leaders. This decision was also made after District 58 reviewed information provided by the DuPage County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Like District 58, District 99 and the other feeder districts will be closed for in-person learning tomorrow. To my knowledge, the overwhelming majority of DuPage County school districts will also be closed for in-person learning.
As eager as we are to keep kids in school, the safety of our students and staff must be our top priority. The forecast for tomorrow presents several challenges specific to arrival and dismissal. For the morning commute, the forecast predicts that all road surfaces will be covered in ice. This presents a very dangerous situation for students and staff, and we have significant concerns that individuals will not be able to arrive safely. For much of the morning, there will be a break in the weather and conditions will not be dangerous. However, the forecast changes around mid-day when heavy snow is being predicted through the evening commute. Snowfall rates of an inch or more per hour will make dismissal extremely challenging and dangerous. The total amount of snow is not necessarily the biggest concern. Rather, the timing of when the snow falls is the bigger concern.
As previously shared with families prior to the start of the school year, the Board of Education places a premium on in-person learning, and therefore we do not deploy e-learning for one-off weather events like tomorrow. E-learning days will only be used if there are multiple days when students would need to be off (i.e. several cold days in a row). Please note, the Board always reviews the use of snow days and/or e-learning days at the end of each school year prior to the upcoming school year.
Again, since tomorrow is a snow day (also called emergency day), no remote learning will take place. District 58 will add one in-person instructional day to the end of the school year.
Families and staff can learn more about how District 58 makes weather-related closure decisions at https://www.dg58.org/family-resources/winter.
Please stay safe and avoid traveling in dangerous conditions.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kevin B. Russell
Superintendent of Schools