I used to enjoy snow, but now I'm much more leery about a forecast including frozen precipitation, especially during the school week. Decisions about school closings are among the most difficult to make given that weather forecasts can, and do, change quickly. Our practice is to participate in weather briefings offered by the National Weather Service. As a storm approaches, briefings are held as often as every four to six hours to keep us up to date with the latest information and projections. Some of these briefings are held late at night, but that's OK. We want the best information available with which to make decisions that truly impact the entire county. We also consult with local emergency management agencies and law enforcement. And, as you might expect, we do check with surrounding counties to see which way they may be leaning in their decision process. Safety is always the first consideration but we do want our decisions to be made with the best facts and information available. Whenever we decide to close schools due to inclement weather, we try to call it as early as we can in order to communicate it with our families and staff in a timely manner. Closing information is posted via our website, Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as through ParentLink calls, and local news media outlets. Hopefully this will be a calm winter season, but we will continue to monitor the forecast for the safety of our students and staff.

I want to congratulate the Department of Special Education for launching the district's inaugural celebration of Inclusive Schools Week. Throughout the week, schools participated in classroom activities working and getting to know their peers who come from diverse backgrounds and/or have special needs. On Tuesday night, the Board honored six educators for being "Agents of Inclusion," for leading GSCS to embrace diversity and inclusion inside and outside the classroom.

I do want to end with a story from this past week. On Wednesday, I visited the Enrichment Center and observed work being done by some of our youngest Program Challenge students. Cara Cook's class was dissecting the remains of an owl's meal (regurgitated and sanitized remains) for evidence used to determine what type of meal the owl had. One young girl was having a great time separating hair and bones while using a chart to identify the type of animal and bones she discovered. She looked up at me and said "This is what scientists do." And then she added, "We are being scientists today." Yes, you are -- today and every day. Keep that spirit of inquisitiveness. I want to thank you all for the work you do to inspire our students to learn every day!

Sincerely,

James D. Smith

Superintendent