CHAMPION TWP., Ohio - With more frigid temperatures expected in the Valley this week, parents and students will be eagerly checking out wfmj.com to see if their schools are closed.

Some districts may close, others may delay the start of classes while others operate under a normal schedule.

One local school superintendent is reaching out to parents to explain what goes into the process of canceling classes or readjusting schedules.

Champion Local School District Superintendent Pamela Hood sent an email explaining the factors she takes into consideration.

Hood uses a plan created by the Trumbull County Educational Service Center, in association with the Trumbull County's Superintendents' Association for closing schools due to weather conditions.

In that plan, the Superintendents are clustered into four (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 and Parochial, Hubbard and Parochial, McDonald, Niles and Parochial, and Weathersfield.

There is a lead Superintendent assigned per region to talk with superintendents within his/her region regarding an 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 her/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.

The Champion School District closes due to the following weather conditions:

  • All school buildings close due to snow when road conditions are determined by the Superintendent to be unsafe for school bus operation. School buses transport approximately 1,000 students a day. The rest of the students arrive as walkers, student drivers (about 100), and parent drop-offs.
  • All school buildings close due to extreme cold, as determined by the superintendent.

Road conditions for student drivers are not a determining factor for closing schools, according to superintendent Hood.

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.

Champion Schools sends notifications of school adjustments through an automated phone notification system that calls parents and staff as well as through television stations such as 21 WFMJ.