As the end of 2017 approaches, so does the inclement weather of winter in western Illinois. United Superintendent Jeff Whitsitt broke down the system that he uses to get the word out on school cancellations quickly to parents and students of District 304.
“My process is still pretty simple. Thankfully we have the all-call system that we can alert our folks relatively easily. My intent and my goal every morning is to – if there is some question, and I am going to call school off or do something different with our schedule – I try to make that call by 6 a.m,” he said.
Whitsitt tries to disseminate cancellation news by 6 a.m. on mornings that are in question. Some mornings, District 304’s Superintendent is up around the 4-4:30 a.m. time frame to figure out the status for the upcoming school day.
“We’ll call it the night before if it’s that obvious. But I hope people understand, and are patient with the fact that we can’t always do that. We can’t call school off on a forecast every time. When it’s obvious, we’ll do everything we can to call it the night before. But like I said, that’s a hard thing to do,” Whitsitt said.
Whitsitt knows the dynamic of his district is different from other schools in the state considering the distance between his campuses. He encourages students and parents to update their Skyward accounts with up-to-date phone numbers and contact information.
written by Jackson Kane
