The message below was emailed to Shawnee families on March 14, 2024.
Dear Shawnee Families,
We know that spring weather in our community can be concerning. With the trauma and anxiety that still surrounds our community since the April 19, 2023, tornado, we are all feeling heightened emotions as we enter into a new storm season. With today’s weather alerts in parts of our states, we wanted to remind you that the safety and wellbeing of your students is always our top priority.
At this time, it appears that severe weather will most likely not affect our community today. However, today will not be the only day that our community will potentially experience a storm. Please know that throughout this spring weather season, our administrators will be diligent about watching weather forecasts and alerts. In fact, we have a number of safety protocols in place if ever severe weather arises. Some of these protocols involve all our administrators communicating with each other frequently so that every site is fully informed if ever a concern involving safety should arise. We check with our students to see if they have anxiety related to potential severe weather, and we provide our counselors at a moment’s notice whenever our students need to talk about their concerns. I can also assure you that if our schools ever have to take safety precautions due to severe weather, we will communicate with you as soon as possible. Student and staff safety is always our number-one priority. While we cannot control the weather, we can promise to keep you informed whenever a safety concern arises.
If you have any questions about our weather safety practices, please reach out to your student’s principal. Thank you for choosing to be a part of Shawnee Public Schools.
Sincerely,
Dr. Aaron Espolt
Superintendent