The following message was sent to WPS families Tuesday evening (11/1) via Superintendent News:

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I am pleased to report that as of this afternoon all of our school buildings regained power.  In addition, safety officials informed me that there has been significant improvement in the condition of the roads.  As a result, all schools will be open in the morning.  I advise parents, however, to take the following precautions (given the fact that there still are downed wires and hanging branches in some locations):

• If your child takes a bus, please wait with him or her at the bus stop.  In isolated cases, some low hanging branches may prevent our buses from driving along certain streets -- blocking access to a bus stop.  If your child's bus does not arrive within 20 minutes of the usual pick-up time, please drive your child to school.

• If your child takes a bus to school, and the bus stop is on a closed street, please either drive your child to school or accompany him or her to an alternate bus stop.

• If your child normally walks to school, please drive him or her to school instead.  Many sidewalks are blocked, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street in order to get by.  This may put walkers in unsafe situations.

• Based on your experience with the morning drop-off or bus pick-up, give your child explicit instructions regarding how they will get home at the end of the school day.
  

Many families are still without power, so please help us pass the word along.

For your information, we have been planning to introduce a school-based reverse 911 system that would make it easy to call all families with school age children during emergencies.  Unfortunately, the storm hit before we could test out this new system.  You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.

I know the staff are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school.  Thank you all for being so understanding as the town has rallied to address the fallout from last weekend's storm. 

Sincerely,

Paul Stein
Superintendent


The following message was sent to WPS families Monday evening (10/31) via Superintendent News:

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I'm writing to give you an update regarding the closure of schools.  Wayland's Police, Fire, and Department of Public Works continue to provide us with up-to-date information regarding road conditions and power outages.  As I write, Happy Hollow and Claypit Hill are still without power.  In addition, a number of roads throughout town are closed due to debris and downed lines.  In other areas, although roads are open, hanging lines and tree branches present a problem for bus passage.  

The Chiefs of Police and Fire advise me that they do not feel there will be substantial improvements in road conditions by the morning, and that there remains a serious issue of safety even if power is restored.  As a result, I regrettably feel compelled to call school off again tomorrow.  This is such an extraordinary and unexpected situation that I've decided to alert families this evening so that they may better plan for tomorrow.

Many families do not have access to the Internet, so please help us spread the word.  Thank you for your understanding as we work to get students back in school as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Paul Stein
Superintendent

If you did not receive the email message above, please follow the link below and be sure to sign up for Superintendent News:

http://wms.wayland.k12.ma.us/announcements/e-_news_subscription/