[RP TownTalk] ALERT: Letter to Families from Dr. Hite of PGCPS

[Sarah Wayland]

Dear Towntalkers,

Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) will be closed for the 8th day
in a row tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16th. This is because, according to our
Superintendent of Schools, William Hite, "many sidewalks that our students
use to get to school remain un-cleared, and un-passable."

Please see below for his plea for everyone to help clear paths for our
students to safely make it to their bus stops and to school. This means all
sidewalks should be shoveled so that students are not forced to walk in the
street to get to school, or to wait at their bus stops.

If you haven't shoveled your sidewalks, please do so to insure the safety of
our students.

-Sarah

------


Letter from Dr. Hite:


Board of Education of Prince George’s County
Prince George’s County Public Schools
14201 School Lane • Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772 • www.pgcps.org

William R. Hite, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

February 15, 2010

Dear PGCPS Parents, Staff and Community,

The last two months has presented challenges in regards to severe winter
weather which has placed all Prince George County citizens in unfamiliar
territory. Most importantly, it has placed our 129,000 students in the
unique situation of missing a total of eight (8) days of critical learning
between the December and February blizzards. All of this has had a
significant impact on the continuity of learning for all of our students
this school year.

As a community, we must now collectively work together to get our students
safely back in school as soon as possible. While the County and school
system’s operations divisions have done a tremendous amount of work over the
past week to clear school properties and roads, there is still much to be
accomplished. We need your help!* Many sidewalks that our students use to
get to school remain un-cleared, and un-passable. In addition, we need the
help of our community in clearing paths for our students to safely make it
to their bus stops. As we all know from our own experience in recent days,
when we are unable to traverse the two to three feet of snow on the
sidewalk, we resort to walking in the streets. This is not a viable option
for our children, particularly those that must travel along traffic laden
corridors. *Also, please work with our school buses as drivers work to
safely transport our students to and from schools. In some instances, roads
are still one-lane and patience with drivers as they negotiate these roads
will be important in the days ahead. Finally, and perhaps most importantly,
we need all parents to assist your children in getting to and from school
safely in light of the current road and sidewalk conditions.

Please look at the area surrounding the your house and the school nearest to
you – from the perspective of a much smaller, elementary student trying to
get there – and do what you can to help carve out a safe path. Neighborhood,
civic and public service organizations are being called upon to organize
teams to clear the approaches to schools. In addition, our high school
students can also join these efforts and earn service learning credit in the
process.

Thank you for all you do for our students, and please do not hesitate to
contact my office by phone at 301-952-6008 or by email at
william.hite at pgcps.org to find out how you can support our schools.

Sincerely,
William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20100215/3bc3009a/attachment-0002.html>