What Does the Superintendent Consider When “Closing Schools” Due to Weather?

The Trumbull County Educational Service Center in association with the Trumbull County Superintendent’s Association has the following plan regarding closing schools for weather conditions (snow or temperature).In that plan the Superintendents are clustered into 4 regions due to weather patterns in the County. Those regions are:

North: Badger, Bristol, Bloomfield and Maplewood

Central: Lakeview, Brookfield, Champion, Mathews and Southington

Southeast: LaBrae, Howland, Lordstown, Newton Falls, Warren and Parochial

Southwest: Liberty, Fairhaven, Girard & Parochial, Hubbard and Parochial, McDonald, Niles & Parochial and Weathersfield
For questions or concerns: 
Please contact Mr. John Grabowski, Superintendent @john.grabowski@championlocal.org or by calling 330-847-2330, Ext. 2. 
Champion Local Schools Superintendent
There is a lead Superintendent assigned per region to talk with superintendents within his/her region regarding opinion of the weather conditions. These conversations may start the night before or as early as 4:00 a.m. on the day of weather concerns.
After gathering opinions of superintendents in their regions, the lead superintendents of each of the 4 regions confer and a decision is made to either close or stay open.
The network model helps each superintendent have the input of fellow superintendents in his/her region and countywide before making the decision to close or stay open.
Even though every superintendent can make his/her own decision, the decision is usually the same within the region’s school districts.

CHAMPION SCHOOL DISTRICT CLOSES DUE TO THE FOLLOWING WEATHER CONDITIONS:
  • Close all school buildings due to snow when road conditions are determined by the superintendent to be unsafe for school bus operation. School buses transport approximately 1000 students a day. The rest of the student population arrive as walkers, student drivers (about 100) and parent drop-offs.
  • Close all school buildings due to extreme cold, as determined by the superintendent.
Road conditions for student drivers are not a determining factor for closing schools. 
  • Student driving is a privilege granted to students.
  • Approximately 100 students drive their cars compared to the 1,000 transported by bus.
  • The School District provides bus transportation for all students.
  • The School District provides space on buses for all enrolled students, even those students who are driving. 

Information courtesy of  John Grabowski, Superintendent of Champion Local School District

Two Ways Parents Are Notified of School Closings

Automated Phone Call System
Champion Schools use an automated phone notification system that calls parents and staff when the
District is closing schools. The phone notification system is activated within 5 minutes of the
Superintendent’s decision to close schools. The phone system will disburse the Superintendent’s
message within 5 minutes of the message being loaded on the system. The system will call repeatedly
up to 5 times, if needed, to get a response: parent answering, message machine answering or voicemail.
If a parent experiences concerns with the automated system – please contact:
  • Mrs. Norton, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent 330-847-2338 or
  • Email lynda.norton@championlocal.org
  • Please state your name, phone number, date of the problem and what the problem was (message cut off, didn’t receive call, etc.) and the District will work to fix the problem.
If your cell phone indicates a MISSED CALL from the school district, please listen to your
phone messages prior to calling the school.
Announcement on Television Stations
Champion Schools post school closing information on the following TV stations: WFMJ, WKBN,
Fox/Youngstown and my/YTV. School closings are posted immediately on these sites as soon as the
decision is made to cancel school.
The system of posting on the TV stations is web-based, and our district does not have control on how fast
the information is shown by the station. The stations make every effort to post the announcement as
soon as they can.
 If you have questions on this article, please contact Mr. Grabowski, Champion Schools Superintendent,
or Lynda Norton, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, at 330-847-2338 or by email at
john.grabowski@championlocal.org or lynda.norton@championlocal.org.
Champion Local Schools Superintendent
Information courtesy of  John Grabowski, Superintendent of Champion Local School District