Procedures at TA for Inclement Weather

By TA
Posted on 01/05/17

Baltimore, MD - Jan. 5, 2017 - To alleviate any undue stress, today, TA proactively sent the following to its parent body:

Dear Parents,

With the winter now upon us, and a potential snow event forecast for tonight, we wanted to share with you the process that is used to determine school delays or closings, in the event of inclement weather.  While this is not a comprehensive guide that plays out every scenario, we hope that it helps you better understand how weather related decisions are made at TA.  

As you know, predicting weather impact is never exact.  In any given weather event, we have to make the best decision possible with the information that we have available to us.  Safety is our first priority, and we will always err on the side of caution to make sure that all students and staff can arrive at TA and navigate our campus safely.  Sometimes, the decision to delay or close school is obvious, but many times, it is not.  There are many factors that we take into account when making a decision about a closing or delay, and we have to weigh each one carefully.

We take into account:  

• The weather forecast: We follow the National Weather Service website, actual radar, various weather blogs, and receive information from our snow removal company, who subscribes to a special weather monitoring service.
• Road conditions in Baltimore City, Baltimore County, on the TA campus, and on the bridge on Old Court Road, which freezes quickly.
• Other schools in our area, and schedule changes of Baltimore County and City Schools
• Parents' logistical and scheduling challenges
• Trying to avoid bringing all of the students to school, if we will have to send them home shortly after
• The ability to have differentiated dismissal times

On any morning of a snow or ice event, the administration of the school is in contact with each other by 5 AM.  Conditions of different neighborhoods are assessed whenever possible, and a decision is made by 6:30 am to be able to communicate with parents before students leave for school (6:50 for some HS/MS students who take the MTA bus).  Since the conditions are often fluid, and can change rapidly, there may be occasions in which school is delayed in order to give the administration more time to see how a storm will play out.  As stated previously, we try to avoid beginning school if there is a good chance that we will have to dismiss students shortly after. 

There are also scenarios when certain divisions may have a schedule change due to weather, and not other divisions.  For example, if a storm is forecast for the area from 1-4 PM, if is quite feasible that we would dismiss the Lower School early to allow parents to pick up their children before the storm hits, but not dismiss Middle School or High School, since the storm will have passed by the time they reach their dismissal time, and the plows will have had time to clear the streets.  This is just one of many such examples.

We hope that this guide gives you, our parent body, a better idea of our procedures in making weather related school closure decisions.  As always, if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email or call us.

We highly encourage and recommend signing up for our text messaging alert system, if you have not already done so. Instructions for text messaging sign up can be found at the link at the bottom of this email.

We hope that with siyata dishmaya, all of TA's students, faculty and families will remain safe during this winter season.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Nachman Kahana         Rabbi Yaakov Schwartz           Rabbi Yisroel Fuchs

Lower School Menahel            Middle School Menahel            Mesivta Menahel