In this episode of Learning in Lake Oswego, Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Schiele gives us an inside look at what goes into calling a snow day. Host Mary Kay Larson guides the conversation as Dr. Schiele explains the detailed decision-making process, from 4 a.m. weather checks to coordinating with city partners like Public Works and the fire department. They discuss the unique challenges of Lake Oswego’s landscape, especially how ice impacts the area’s narrow, winding roads, making safety assessments complex.
Listeners will hear about the essential questions considered before deciding on school closures or delays, such as road and walkway safety, building readiness, and timing for family notification. Dr. Schiele also highlights recent district investments, like a snow plow for parking lots and a three-hour delay option, to improve responses. Wrapping up, they discuss family preparedness, community considerations, and Dr. Schiele’s thoughts on balancing safety with the importance of keeping schools open. Tune in for an informative and timely episode as we gear up for winter!
Dr. Jennifer Schiele, Superintendent, LOSD
Mary Kay Larson, Executive Director of Communications, LOSD
Community Members Sign Up for District Communications
Clackamas County Public Alerts Notification System
MICHELLE ODELL:: [00:00:00] Welcome to Learning in Lake Oswego, a podcast providing educational insights for an engaged community. Lake Oswego School District Superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Schiele, will discuss what's important to our learning community. She'll be joined by experts examining various topics, answering important questions, and sharing upcoming events and activities you won't want to miss.
And now, it's your host. Lake Oswego School District Executive Director of Communications, Mary Kay Larson.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Hello everyone. Welcome back to Learning in Lake Oswego. I'm your host, Mary Kay Larson, here with our superintendent, Dr. Jennifer Schiele. Today, we're mixing things up a little bit. I will be interviewing Jen about a topic we all want the inside scoop on, snow days.
Weather impacts all of us, and it's often a hot topic of conversation, especially here in Lake Oswego. Many of us remember major events like Arctic Blast [00:01:00] 2008, Snowmageddon of 2016, and the ice storms of 2020 and 23. These are big events and they've left a mark on all of us, whether it was from being without power, stuck on the roads, or just trying to stay warm and connected.
In hindsight, those days seem pretty clear calls for closing schools. However, in reality, there's a lot that goes into the decision. It's a careful balance between road safety and ensuring this safe environment at a school. So Jen, can you walk us through what goes into making the call? What's the process like?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Sure, Mary Kay. I get this question a lot, so it's good that we can get this out for all of our listeners. When we get into winter, which is how it's starting to feel when you start looking outside, I feel like I'm wearing two hats, one as a superintendent and one as a part time weather forecaster. It's a complex decision, but at its core, it's really just about safety.
We ask a few key [00:02:00] questions. Number one, Are the roads safe for everyone? And that includes staff, families, and buses on our hills and windy roads. Number two, are our parking lots and walkways safe for walking and driving? Number three, are our buildings ready? Do they have power, heat, and water? And then four, finally, do we just have enough time to react to changing weather with enough time to get everyone to school or home from school safely?
The last thing we want to do is disrupt families and students. That is why it always takes me so long to make those decisions. We know students depend on school for routines, services, meals, and more, even if it's just a half day. And for older students, missing school often means Missing athletics or activities, which are significant life events for many of our students.
So it's, it's a decision that takes a lot of thought.
MARY KAY LARSON:: It does. I would say underscore timing is everything in these cases. How do you handle the early mornings gathering the information and [00:03:00] coordinating teams to make the call while most of the town is asleep?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Yeah, you're right about that because it starts very early.
It's around 4 a. m. or sometimes even earlier. And sometimes I'm up all night long. I'm often in touch with the city's public works crew and the police that are on duty to check conditions firsthand. Our transportation staff. team runs tests on the bus routes, and I even drive some of the streets myself just to see how they look and feel.
So we make that final decision by 6. 30 a. m. before our first bus hits
MARY KAY LARSON:: the road. I will say the early morning calls when I first started in, this position, my biggest fear was anticipating having to call or send the message out about snow days. And I was really worried that I would oversleep or not hear the call from you, Jen.
And I will say that hasn't happened yet, knock on wood. And It's like having an early morning flight. You wake up all through the night looking at your [00:04:00] phone. Did I get a call? Did I get a call? Is it time? Is it time? Yes, absolutely. And just for the record, she's never missed any of my calls. Let's hope that keeps going.
Well, we all wait on pins and needles to see what the call is going to be. But back to the partnerships with the city, like Public Works and the Fire Department. How do these partnerships help shape your decision?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Well, they're absolutely essential. I really need the public works and the fire department and the police department to keep us informed of any potential weather impact so we're prepared.
So it usually starts off with H. E. R. T. from the fire department giving us a couple days update, like something might be coming in the weather. We have meetings at city hall where we all sit down and listen to the national weather forecast and kind of start planning at that point. And our head of transportation drives.
Our most challenging hills, which is really important, while our facility maintenance team is on site to ensure the school grounds are safe. And again, that includes the sidewalks and the parking lots. [00:05:00] And you have to remember, we have high school drivers, which makes it even more complex when you're thinking about young people on the roads and in parking lots and, and making sure that they are safe.
being safe when they are already just learning how to drive. So lastly, I coordinate with neighboring districts. As many of our teachers and staff commute from outside of Lake Oswego, it's really important for me to not only know how the weather and the roads are here in Lake Oswego, but also Portland and Wesleyan and Wilsonville and Tiger Tualatin.
So the superintendents and I all have a text message string where we're talking about the weather at our own communities and sharing that information so that we can all make really good decisions for safety. We often hear from people,
MARY KAY LARSON:: are you, are you talking to other people? Oh yes. And we talk to a lot of people.
I recently learned from one of our principals that come January, in our high schools, about two thirds of our students are driving. So I just, I'm going to remember that fact as we head into winter season and how many [00:06:00] students could potentially be on the road. And that definitely is important for us all to keep it in front of our minds as we think about the safety and calling these days.
Let's talk about the topography in our area. How does Lake Oswego's unique landscape factor into the decisions that we have to make, especially when it comes to ice?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Yeah, it's actually huge. And sometimes you see districts around us that are more flat. They're fine. And then we may have some, major ice or big wind that's created different kinds of ice.
So snow is one thing, but ice on our narrow winding roads is a totally other problem. So even coming from Minnesota, as you remember, I'm from Minnesota, so I grew up dealing with lots of snowy winters. I'm very comfortable driving in the snow, but Lake Oswego's conditions can be especially challenging because of the hills and the shade from all of our trees, and that creates the ice.
And ice is very unpredictable, and it's [00:07:00] hazardous.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Obviously, we can't control the weather, but what steps has the district taken to improve our responses to the weather?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Sure, we do contract with a snow clearing company, so we do have them that can help come out to our parking lots and do the first attempt at trying to get things cleared.
That sometimes works great, but it is still only our parking lots. It doesn't mean that the little roads around everyone's homes are safe for traveling. We also recently invested in our very own snow plow. So I'm really excited about that. I know I'm going to be out there driving the snow plow. So when you see a See me, give me a wave, it's gonna be like I used to be a bus driver and now I'm gonna be a snowplow driver, but you know, anything we can do to take care of a barrier to opening our schools safely, I'm, you know, I'm all for it.
We also introduced a three hour delay option, which many of you remember we only used to do one and two, but we're doing three hours now, which just allows [00:08:00] us a little bit more time if we're close to a safe start so we can get students in and get them some education, some learning and some. We haven't used it yet, but it is an option if the difference of another hour could allow us to open schools.
MARY KAY LARSON:: I know.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Some
MARY KAY LARSON:: of those mornings, it's okay if the sun could just be on the roads for just a little bit more time. Be safe out there. Yes. You just gave me an idea as you were talking. I know the city has one street cleaner Oscar that turns into the one snowplow for the city. I'm thinking we might need to have fun and name our snowplow.
I don't know what that is. Well, maybe we'll do a fun contest with our, with our community on. Naming our new snowplow.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Yeah, I
MARY KAY LARSON:: think that that would be very fun and our kids would love that. Yeah. So we've talked a lot about making the call in the morning or the night before, but what about those midday changes when we know something's coming, but it hasn't hit yet?
How do you make those decisions? How do family [00:09:00] logistics factor into those? Tell us a little bit about the thinking when we have to make a call in the middle of the school day.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Yeah, early dismissals are super tricky. It's important to make decisions with enough notice for parents who commute from places like Portland or Hillsborough or Salem.
This is why we strongly encourage families to have those pickup plans on file with their schools, just in case we ever need them. And, you know, we, we don't make those decisions lightly, but sometimes we need to be able to get the students home. And in order to get them home, sometimes we do have to do an early dismissal.
MARY KAY LARSON:: And obviously with that, and people know, sometimes we try and give people a heads up that this is something we're thinking about, so be ready, be watching your phone, your emails, but how do we notify families and staff once a decision's made? Well, the first thing I do is call you, which I
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: think is great.
And as I, you know, I mean, what's funny is, I'm always trying to push the 630 to 635 or 640 and she keeps me really [00:10:00] dialed into the 630 because she deals with all the emails of people who have already left their homes. So as you know, the goal is to notify everyone by 630 so that staff can plan for students arriving at the the delayed time, if there's a delay, or adjust if school is completely closed.
We do use our mass communication system to reach everyone. So we reach them by phone, text, email. We also update the local news, social media, and the website. Sometimes I hear things like, Oh, COIN didn't have Lake Oswego, so I thought we had school. It's like, well, we notify them all at the same time.
Sometimes they don't put them up as quickly. So, your phone, text, email is key. It's the quickest way to learn, but we also do have it on the local news.
MARY KAY LARSON:: It's important to kind of triangulate that information if you have access to different modes of communication to Just double check and see where it went, if it might be on the website, but not on the news stations, obviously trust the website.
So double check all of them if you can. [00:11:00] It is important to note, I know I get this question a lot as people ask, how do they sign up to get these notifications? And I really want to stress too, that our employees. And all families who have students enrolled in our district and also residents who sign up for our Parent Square communications that you all are automatically set up to receive these texts emails and phone calls I know some districts ask for people to opt in Once you are an employee or you're a registered enrolled student You are automatically enrolled and don't worry.
You'll get you'll hear from us. You'll hear from us often You Beyond our schools, though, because we are part of a larger community, speaking of residents who sign up and get our communications, how do you consider community safety when making these calls, Jen? Sure. And
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: it really is about easing the burden on the entire community.
If we keep students and staff home, it obviously [00:12:00] reduces road traffic, making it safer for those emergency vehicles and the public works crews who are out there trying to clear all the roads so that we can get back. To, you know, typical
MARY KAY LARSON:: days. I'm going to switch to just being prepared and when we anticipate a winter coming and a possibility of snow and ice, I will say I'm from California and growing up in California, the one thing, and I'll, I know we're not, it's wise not to speak for everybody, but I will say that Growing up in California, you don't think about the weather.
It doesn't factor into your plans. That's, traffic does, but not weather. And so when people are moving here to our state and our area, they may be new to the concept of snow days. What do our families need to do to prepare? for the possibility of a school delay or cancellation?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: That is a great question.
And from what I understand is we are going to have snow this year. That's what they keep telling us. So this is a really important time to make sure your contact information is up to date. [00:13:00] So make sure your offices know if your, if your phone changes, if your emergency contact person Who's going to pick up and care for your child if we can't get a hold of you and there's an early or late arrival.
Also make sure you have enough essential supplies at your home for several days because emergency crews are focusing on fixing what has the greatest impact on the entire community. And this may not get to your home for extended periods. So you may not have the roads in front of your house plowed. Or it may be that you won't be able to get to a grocery store for some food or water.
So it's good to kind of just plan on having some food and some extra water at your house anytime there's a storm coming. Usually we know in advance when storms are coming, we hear them on the news. So just plan in advance and make sure you're
MARY KAY LARSON:: prepared. Yeah, I would say it's also a great time if you haven't connected with your neighbors.
People really come together and support each other during these [00:14:00] events, and so it's, it's important to get to know them before the event starts. Let's talk a little bit about another question that comes up sometimes is the shelters. And we often get asked, If our schools can be opened as shelters, how are those
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: decisions
MARY KAY LARSON:: made?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: In an emergency, the city takes the lead on deciding when and where shelters open. We do have a contract with the Red Cross if there is a major emergency. Weather instance that we do need help and the police do have access to our school buildings and permission to use them if needed. However, for shelters to operate like a true shelter, the city must have the resources and staff available and often those personnel are needed for more immediate emergencies.
And so they cannot be in our schools to open them up and make sure people have what they need. So that's why it's so important for neighbors to look out for one another and come together to support each other during these. I
MARY KAY LARSON:: know last [00:15:00] year, when the power went out, I did have internet access and I saw on one of the community Facebook pages, a mom had posted how to get your gas fireplace started without using the electrical trigger.
And so I was like, I felt like MacGyver picking apart my gas fireplace and, but then I didn't have the right size batteries, but I found a neighbor who did and we added them in and it worked and felt very proud of myself and very happy that we had heat and had the neighbor over to enjoy it together. So I'm really important that we come together and now I have all the batteries.
Batteries are another good thing to
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: have, you know, to have extra batteries on at your house, just in case you need them or, or your neighbors need them. And as Mary Kay just talked about her MacGyver with her fireplace, we got to hear about that here at work for weeks after that. She was so excited about it.
MARY KAY LARSON:: I learned a new skill. Well that and yeah, trying [00:16:00] to. break myself out of the home and, and I felt like Escape from Alcatraz, trying to chip away the ice. That was a little futile attempt, but I tried. I'm good for a minute and then I get a little anxious. Jen, in your opinion, what is the biggest misconception about the decision making process in calling, you know, a school closure or delay?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: That's a great question, but it really probably depends on who you ask. I know you're asking me, but feedback about calling snow days is as mixed as the patches of ice around town. Some houses have straight ice, some don't have any, and so people get frustrated with having their school schedules, their work lives, and their family responsibilities disrupted, and we totally understand that.
And others just, I love having an on plan break, and I get that, too, so, you know, after a few days at home, I feel like everyone is ready when we get to return to school, so I always try to get them back as soon as possible, but regardless, I hope [00:17:00] that people are listening know that we want kids in school every day, every chance we have, and that decisions to delay or cancel school, they're just not made lightly.
I take them very seriously. I would want my own children in school, but I also need to make sure everyone's safe. So it is my burden to carry and I take it very
MARY KAY LARSON:: seriously. In the event when we do have a stretch of snow days and we have to cancel school for multiple days, I know one of the questions we get often is when does this translate into having to add more days onto our school calendar at the end of the year?
At what point do we need to start thinking about that and making that decision?
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Sure, our district currently has between 8 and 20, depending on what level you're at, extra days built into our school year that a lot of districts don't have. And this cushion is carefully calculated down to the minute for each grade level to meet the required instructional time.
So if we need to close [00:18:00] schools due to weather or other events, we start considering adding days at the end of the year once those built in days are used up. So we keep a close eye on the academic calendar and, you know, sometimes it makes sense to add days and sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes people want to know that right away the first time there's a snow day, but I really need to know how many snow days we're going to have.
As you remember, we've had them as late as April and as early as November, so I really have to kind of wait to the end to decide where we are, and sometimes adding a day at the end of the year doesn't make sense. a great amount of sense. Sometimes adding a couple minutes during the day actually makes more sense.
So it really kind of depends, but we do keep a close eye on that academic calendar and we'll keep everyone informed through board meetings and our district newsletter.
MARY KAY LARSON:: Yeah, knowing that that's a question on people's minds. Once we start having our snow days, we do try and provide that information in the newsletter just because we know people are thinking about it.
and explaining that. Hopefully people here [00:19:00] listening can then go share that with their neighbors on how it, how it gets figured out. One last question for you, Jen, before we wrap up on this topic, what is the most memorable snow day you've had to call or been a part of? And what did you take away from that?
experience.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Every snow day is memorable for me. Mary Kay. Me too. But I can tell you, I know. I remember when I, there's actually a few of them. I remember when I was a high school principal, one of them that got called, I had the last student get on the bus and the last staff member drive out of the parking lot and it started snowing.
And it, I felt to know that I got everyone out of their safe and the timing was perfect. It was not too much. It wasn't too little. It was actually perfect. But as far as calling the days, there were some days even in the last couple of years where we did have ice and And I remember thinking, I, we can come, we can come.
I did all the parking lots. [00:20:00] I remember thinking that we were good. And then I was having the bus drivers drive the routes and one of our buses went off the road in Mountain Park and I was sitting in my office when she called and, and I was so glad that I did not. have school that day because obviously we would never want our bus driver to be hurt or go off the road or anything, but it would have been much more difficult if we would have had children on that bus.
So, you know, I was so glad that we were precautious and that we, we drove all the routes beforehand just to make sure that What was going to be there for us when we got up in all those routes and that particular day, we ended up calling a late start. And as Mary Kay mentioned earlier, the sun hitting that ice for a couple hours was all we needed to get kids back in school.
They came here and I, I think at one o'clock, you couldn't tell anywhere that there was any kind of weather incident that happened. So I felt like that was a really good example of, you know, waiting, making sure that we are [00:21:00] keeping kids safe, but at the same time getting them back in school
MARY KAY LARSON:: when we can. I remember that there was a snow bank of snow that had been pushed to the side in the parking lot and we went out and took a picture of you with it to just prove that there had been snow.
We weren't making it up. Oh man, I do, I do think as, as much as we need structure and people appreciate routine, there is something about a snow day making us Stop and pause and just slow down for a minute so that we can make the right decisions. And as, as many factors that go into it and all the considerations that you have, I do really see you stopping and thinking and, and, and taking a moment to be like, okay, what is the at the end of the day, what is the right decision for the safety of our community and everyone involved.
Hopefully this kind of breaks down what goes into calling a snow day. I mean, everyone is different, so there's always different factors that go into it, and we try and share those as [00:22:00] we're making the announcements so people know Why did we decide to do what we're doing? But this just kind of gives some common structure to it so that people can play along with us and make their bets on whether it's going to be a day or not.
Snow day. Let's shift gears to wrapping up here. Jen, what is coming up in the next couple of weeks in our community? Hopefully it
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: won't be snow, but we do have Thanksgiving break coming up. And I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for being a part of our learning community. I really appreciate as the superintendent all the support I receive, all the support our students and our staff receive from our community.
And so thank you very much during Thanksgiving break. I hope you get an opportunity to be with your families and give each other thanks for everything that you do for each other. Many of our schools will also be holding holiday drives for the for food, gift cards and supplies for families in need.
Please consider supporting these efforts. If you can, we do have [00:23:00] people here in Lake Oswego that are in need and they really appreciate getting that help during the holidays. It's also the season for performing arts, drama productions, musicals, bands, orchestra, and choir performances are all coming. I love this season.
A community favorite is our high school acapella groups, Lake Oswego's Windjammers and Lake Ridge. Company will perform at the City of Lake Oswego's Tree Lighting Ceremony on the Friday after Thanksgiving and I encourage everyone to check our district calendar out for any kind of dates or details of any of these concerts.
We love having our community come out to support our students. They love seeing your smiling faces and these events are a fantastic way to enjoy the incredible talent we have in our schools. They
MARY KAY LARSON:: are some of my favorite things to do with our students. They're so uplifting and just really incredible and touching.
So, I know our community truly shines when we come together, whether it be a snow day or at a concert. So thanks again, Jen, for going over [00:24:00] all of that and for everyone for tuning in. I want to also echo my gratitude for our community. When people ask me how my job is going, I say I love it because I love all the people.
And I truly mean that. This wraps up today's episode of Learning in Lake Oswego. Next time, we will dive into a rite of passage for our middle schoolers, outdoor school. Great.
DR JENNIFER SCHIELE:: Until then, keep exploring and stay engaged. Class dismissed.
MICHELLE ODELL:: We hope you found this episode informative and helpful. While our discussions are general, we understand each family's experience is unique.
If you have specific questions about your child, Please contact your school principal. To learn more about the topics we discussed, ask a question or share ideas for future episodes, please visit LOSDSchools. org. And remember to like, and follow us wherever you get your podcasts. [00:25:00] Thank you for engaging with learning in Lake Oswego.
We appreciate your support and look forward to having you with us for our next episode.