Category: Weather

Hurricanes at Home!

Here is an interesting meteorology activity by the National Hurricane Center, for 4th, 5th, & 6th graders.

“These webinars will focus on the job of a meteorologist, the weather hazards that come with hurricanes, and how meteorologists get you the weather information you need before a storm.

“Registration links available about a week before the webinar is conducted (on the second page of this notice). We can only accommodate 500 participants for each webinar, so please only register for one of the two identical webinars provided for your region. Future info on the #HurricanesAtHome webinars will be available on NHC’s social media accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NWSNHC/

Twitter: @NWSNHC (https://twitter.com/NWSNHC) @NHC_Atlantic (https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic)



Parent Alert

Research shows that SMS open rates are as high as 98%, compared to just 20% of all emails. And, on average, it takes 90 seconds for someone to respond to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.

Because of this, we send out time sensitive information via our Parent Alert System, which is part of our Emergency Alert System.

From our alert system:

Selecting the Emergency option will override Family Individual Preferences.

Parents who have replied “STOP” to a text sent by the school have blocked messages with their cell provider and will not receive texts.

Please note that regular Parent Alerts are sent with reminders, school closings, inclement weather, and traffic advisories that may be time sensitive and get buried in email. Please be sure your settings allow for these alerts. We all check our texts faster than email 

We will NEVER send an Emergency Alert for weather, traffic, or closings, only for actual EMERGENCY situations.

To check/change your settings, login to the Family Portal and follow the following steps:

  1. Pull down the FAMILY menu on the left
  2. Select FAMILY HOME
  3. On the right look for Family Alert Cell Phone and it should say YES. If it does, there’s no need to do anything else.
  4. If it says NO, select the EDIT pen.
  5. Select the appropriate parent name(s)
  6. Change from NO to YES.
  7. Be sure to SAVE the changes.
1. Pull down FAMILY menu
2. Select FAMILY HOME.
3. If circled region says YES, you are good
4. If not, select the EDIT pen
5. Select appropriate parent(s)
6. Change from NO to YES
7. SAVE

School Closing Clarification

In light of recent events surrounding COVID-19 we want to clarify our school closing policy. We have previously stated that :

“If you hear Cobb County Schools close, we will automatically close. We will also close if any 2 of the following close: Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton, or Paulding. If conditions in your area are not safe to drive, and we are not closed, any absences will be excused.”

Please be advised this policy is with regards to closing because of weather conditions, which would make sense for us to close under those circumstances.

However, school closings as a result of illness are an entirely different matter and not based on similar criteria.

We will continue to be in contact with the Cobb County Health Department, the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with other appropriate state and federal agencies as we monitor any changing conditions.  Likewise, if any concerns arise in our school we will share that information with the appropriate departments immediately.

At this time we have no plans of closing school unless the above agencies order us to do so.

Fortunately, because of our accreditation, in that unlikely event, we have a plan that will not require us to make up days. Please note, we are NOT expecting any closings, but under the advice of health agencies, we are developing a plan in the event of a situation.

In the event we are ordered to close, we will send out a parent alert. Please make sure that your settings in the Family Portal allow you to receive these and click HERE for details regarding parent alert settings.

As with any communicable illness, we strongly urge families to keep sick children home and to limit contact with those who are ill.

Click HERE to find more information regarding measures we are taking at school regarding COVID-19.

Emergency Alert TEST

Today at 5PM we will test our Parent Alert
EMERGENCY ALERT system.

We hope we never have to use this other than an annual test. We will NEVER do a test during school hours. If an Emergency Alert is sent during school hours, it will say “EMERGENCY” and it will be an actual emergency, and you will receive information and instructions.

Today’s TEST ALERT will read:

“This is a TEST of our EMERGENCY ALERT. No action is necessary. Thank you.”

If you do not receive today’s alert, please check your settings in ParentWeb. You may have to reset your selection.

Please be advised of the following from our alert system:

Selecting the Emergency option will override Family Individual Preferences.

Parents who have replied “STOP” to a text sent by the school have blocked messages with their cell provider and will not receive texts.

Please note that regular Parent Alerts are sent with reminders, school closings, inclement weather, and traffic advisories that may be time sensitive and get buried in email. Please be sure your settings allow for these alerts. We all check our texts faster than email 🙂

We will never send an Emergency Alert for weather, traffic, or closings, only for actual EMERGENCY situations.


School Closed 1/29/2019

School Systems are already starting to close, and Governor Kemp has closed all government offices for tomorrow.

The weather should not be an issue until temps falling to freezing by early to mid-afternoon, which could cause problems on some roads, bridges and overpasses.  We do NOT want a repeat of 2014 where some students and faculty were stranded at school. So in the interest of safety, we will close tomorrow.

With a hard freeze overnight, lows by sunrise Wednesday around 22, any moisture left-over will be ice. We will continue to monitor conditions for Wednesday morning.

As always, if you hear Cobb County Schools close, we will automatically close. We will also close if any 2 of the following close: Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton, or Paulding. If conditions in your area are not safe to drive, and we are not closed, any absences will be excused.

 

Weather for 1/29/2019

We are monitoring the weather situation for Tuesday, and remainder of the week. We will notify you should we close school.

Per our closing procedures, we automatically close whenever Cobb closes, or whenever 2 of the following close: Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton, or Paulding.

As always, should conditions where you live make travel unsafe, please stay safe, as absences for weather conditions are excused.

No School 12/10/2018

In the interest of the safety of our faculty and staff, there will be no school tomorrow…

  • Because of the high likelihood of black ice tomorrow, 12/11/2018, and
  • We have families traveling from 6 counties which will be impacted at various levels, combined with
  • It is not expected to get above freezing before 10AM at the earliest, making it likely that it will be 11AM before travel is safe

Please be safe and we will see you Wednesday.

Also… for future reference, remember that we always close if Cobb County closes, and we also close if any 2 of Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton, or Paulding close. However, because of our unique situation with students coming from various counties, we have a larger burden of safety than judging based on one county alone, so we may cancel before they do.

Flooding Issues for 11/13/2018

We are monitoring the weather conditions and will keep you updated. At this time, there are no indications we will not be able to have school tomorrow, should that change, we will let you know.

As always, if conditions near your house, flooding, power outages, electrical lines down, etc…, make it dangerous, please stay home, the absence will be excused. We want everyone to be safe!

Also, per our closing procedures, we will automatically be closed whenever Cobb closes, or whenever 2 of the following close: Bartow, Cherokee, Fulton, or Paulding.

Stay dry! 🙂