What a crazy start we’ve had to the 2018 semester!

Usually, we can breathe a sigh of relief once we make it through hurricane season. However, just a few weeks into January and classes have already been cancelled five days due to winter weather.

The decision to cancel classes is never an easy one, as any missed instructional time puts students in danger of falling behind.

Often, people wonder why the decision to cancel classes may not come until later in the day. Usually, this is because the superintendent is waiting to get the latest information regarding weather conditions specific to St. John the Baptist Parish.

Any time the parish is facing an emergency weather situation, the parish Emergency Operations Center springs into action and meetings are held throughout the day to discuss the situation.

Among the parish officials in attendance is the superintendent, and he is among those being advised about the severity of the weather and its timing.

The most important consideration is usually whether the weather will hit when busses are on the road.

If the answer is yes, then school will be cancelled. This month has been unique however because it has been infrastructure problems that have mostly led to the closures.

Schools are heated using boilers, so the recent problems with water pressure affect the obvious things, such as toilets and water fountains, but also lead to a lack of heat in school buildings.

No toilets plus no heat lead to no school … for obvious reasons. And anyone who had to deal with the boil water advisory at home can imagine how much of an inconvenience it is in a school setting (although our schools have made it work before).

The Louisiana Department of Education requires schools provide a minimum of 63,720 minutes of instructional time a year.

That excludes recess, lunch and time between classes.

After the first cancellation of classes during the first week of January, 10 minutes were added to the school day to account for the missed time.

Any time there is the possibility of school being cancelled please monitor one of our official channels of communication, as rumors are common during these times.

If school is cancelled it will be announced via the school district’s website at stjohn.k12.la.us, on the official Facebook page at facebook.com/SJBPschools/, through the superintendent’s Twitter account @Stjohnsupe and, if you’ve signed up for the district’s automated calling system, by telephone.

The message will be put out in all of these places as soon as a decision is made.

Here’s hoping that the weather will cooperate and we won’t have to put that message out any more this school year!

Jennifer Boquet is the communications specialist for St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools. Email her at jboquet@stjohn.k12.la.us.