January 25, 2011
Dear Parents/Guardians,
With winter weather again in the forecast, the Knox County Board of Education has adopted a new plan to help reduce the number of future weather-related closings in Knox County. As of Tuesday, January 25, our school district has missed 18 days of school due to weather.
Occasionally in the past our school district has been closed when only a few roads were snow-covered. On Monday, we decided to have school on a delay and not run on snow-covered or icy roads. By making that decision we were able to safely have school on a day that we normally would have been closed.
Effective immediately, the Knox County Public Schools will be utilizing “Plan B” to communicate to parents, students, and staff which roads our buses will not travel on. “Plan B” will mean that buses will run on all state roads, however, there are some county roads that our buses cannot travel. State roads are those that are numbered (example: KY 11, KY 229) while county roads have names. “Plan B” will only be used when state maintained roads are clear and a majority of county roads are clear. Otherwise our school district will continue to cancel classes for the day.
“Plan B” will be displayed on local television stations and reported by regional radio stations to alert you of changes to the bus schedule. For a list of roads that buses will not travel on when “Plan B” is in effect, please refer to our district website (www.knox.kyschools.us), district television channel (TV-4), telephone hotline (606-546-3157, extension 2601), or local radio stations (WYWY 950 AM and WKKQ Mix 96.1 FM).
We would also like to take this time to inform you of some strategies our district is implementing to allow learning to occur when school is not in session. We have asked teachers to begin developing “snow packets” to be sent home with students containing activities that they can complete when schools are closed. Students should also visit our district website for news, announcements, and test preparation materials. Please encourage your child to take advantage of these learning opportunities.