The HSD is committed to maintaining our community’s investment in Hockinson’s schools. Instructional and operations staff work together and take preventive measures to ensure the safety of our students and employees. Today’s Facility Friday touches on some of these precautionary steps as well as steps taken by the HSD to protect our buildings, buses, and families.
Many Hockinson residents noticed a morning frost this week. This telltale sign of fall and winter ushers in a “winterization” mindset in the HSD that includes snow routes, inclement weather messaging, snow plow services, generator servicing, and our pre-winter facilities checklists that include an array of freeze prevention supplies and practices. When temperatures begin to fall and our roads become hazardous, it’s too late to plan. Instead, it is time to lean on prior preparations and put our safety plans into effect.
Although our district does not cover a large geographic area, it’s elevation varies. This means that, regardless of whether our schools begin on time or 1-3 hours late, some HSD families may be on snow routes while others are not. (Please note that the HSD’s snow routes are available on the district’s website under “Students & Families” and “Busing.”) In some cases, we have to activate a plow service [pictured] for certain buses so they can even operate on a snow route!
Also, whenever there is a start time or route that deviates from normal, the district will notify families through messages posted on our website or sent via email, phone, and text on our new Apptegy notification system. The HSD wants our families to understand that all late start and cancellation decisions are made early in the morning following an extensive evaluation of road conditions. Every decision is made with the safety of our bus riders, bus drivers, student drivers, staff, and parents in mind.
At our buildings, our custodians stock up on seasonal supplies like de-icer granules and follow seasonal checklists (pictured) to prevent frozen pipes and damage to our classrooms and facilities. Winterizing Hockinson Heights Elementary School presents a unique challenge as it has 24 portable classrooms, each of which have sinks and bathrooms! Operations and custodial staff also schedule the annual maintenance of our emergency generators, which includes a top off of fuel, an oil change, new filters, a battery test, and a 2-hour load test, or 2-hour continuous run of the unit.
When it comes to winter emergency planning, we do our best to anticipate the timing of all scenarios (eg, before-, during- or after-school) and all locations: Roads, sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings. So, while our responses to inclement weather may not be perfect, they follow a lot of planning and preparation and involve a lot of supplies and equipment. Our level of safety preparedness would not be what it is without the support of the Hockinson community; levy dollars are a critical resource that enable us to act on our commitment to protecting our schools, facilities, and the most precious resource of all: Our students, staff, and families.
