Winter, Weather, and Robocalls

As I look out my window, it is snowing.  Not hard enough to cause big problems but it is just a matter of time before we get dumped on.  It may not happen today or tomorrow, but one day - perhaps on several days this winter - we will get enough snow to delay or cancel school.

I saw an interesting article in the Washington Post about how alerting families to delays can cause frustrations and anger.

A father in Maryland received a call at 4:30 AM to let the family know that school was going to be delayed two hours because of snow.  The father thought that was too early so he created his own robocall message and sent it out the next day at 4:30 AM to school board members and school administrators letting them know that receiving a call at 4:30 AM was too early.

As with most things in life, there is more to the story than just an early morning phone call.

The story goes on to tell that the school had announced that there would be a two hour delay the night before.  Most people probably had already heard about the delay.  This father indicated that he knew about the delay the night before.  That was why he was so mad about receiving the robocall at 4:30 AM.

As I read this story I thought about our experience here this winter.  We have had one day cancelled because of snow and ice and a second day delayed because of snow and ice.  We were lucky both times.  The snow and ice came early so we were able to send out the message the night before.  We didn't have to wake up early, look at the conditions, and activate our Instant Alert system.

But there will come a time when we have to do that.  We send out our message twice.  First, it goes to employees.  We send that out about 5:30 AM.  Why so early?  Because many of our employees - especially bus drivers but others as well - get up early to come in and get the day started.

We then send our message to parents about 5:45 AM.  Why so early?  Many students are starting to get up around 6:00 AM so that they can catch a bus that comes at 6:30 AM.  We need to get the word out so that we can prevent them from going out to a bus stop and waiting for a bus that will never come.

I can sympathize with the father who thought getting a 4:30 AM robocall to alert him that school was delayed was too early.  I would agree that 4:30 AM is too early.

We attempt to get the word out as quickly as we can so that parents can make alternative plans and so that students don't get stuck waiting for buses that never will come.  Our goal is to communicate quickly - but I promise that we won't call at 4:30 AM.