School’s out early in Darien on an early dismissal schedule, the school district announced, and no after-school activities will take place today, Tuesday. Snow is expected after 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
UPDATE, 12:10 p.m. — The Board of Education has postponed the public hearing on the budget, scheduled for tonight, to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017 at Town Hall, according to the Darien Public Schools website (home page announcement).
Editorial
HERE’S WHY THIS ARTICLE ONLY CAME OUT AT 8:06 A.M., WELL AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS POSTED:
The school district doesn’t announce its school closures or early dismissals to news organizations. It only announces them to parents, on its website and to one or two news organizations in the state that maintain lists of weather closures and early dismissals.
It could easily put news media email addresses and other contact information on its parent notification lists and thereby help ensure that the wider public is notified.
BUT IT WON’T.
It’s an example of your tax dollars at work. Tell your Board of Education members that you want better service in this regard from the school district your tax dollars pay for. As of this moment (8:20 a.m.), we see NO other articles in Darien news websites about this early dismissal. There’s something wrong with that, but apparently not from the perspective of our school district officials or the Board of Education.
Here’s the announcement:
“Based on the most recent weather report, which indicates the heaviest snow will begin during our normal dismissal times, the Darien Public Schools will run an afternoon early dismissal schedule for Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Additionally, all after-school activities are cancelled.”
What the announcement looks like on the home page of the Darien Public Schools website.
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Updates 0n the weather, closings, cancellations and other related news will be added to this article as more information comes in.
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Here’s the Darien-specific forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today
Snow, mainly after 1pm. High near 33. Wind chill values between 20 and 25. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.
Wednesday
Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Wind chill values between 20 and 30. West wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
Update 8:40 a.m. — These other schools and school districts beyond Darien also have early dismissals today, according to the list of school closures and early dismissals on the WFSB-TV website: Norwalk Public Schools, Stamford Public Schools, New Canaan Public Schools, J.M. Wright Technical High School, Trinity Catholic High School in Stamford, Stamford Academy
Update 8:48 a.m. — Some afternoon Darien YMCA programs for children are cancelled today. Here’s the announcement on the Y’s home page:
1/31/17: Holly Pond School afternoon classes, Holly Care afternoon care, and Kids Club are cancelled for today due to the early dismissal of Darien Public Schools.
Update 8:54 a.m. — Darien Nature Center has not announced any schedule change as a result of the early schools dismissal. YWCA of Darien/Norwalk has announced on its website home page that its Toddler Time program is operating on a normal schedule today (but see the next update, below).
Update 9:34 a.m. — These other early closings in Darien are on a list compiled by Cablevision’s News 12: Pear Tree Point School (early release at 12:30 p.m.); St. John Roman Catholic Church has cancelled religious education classes; YWCA of Darien/Norwalk has cancelled afternoon nursery and pre-kindergarten programs.
Update 9:49 a.m. — Person-to-Person offices in Darien and Norwalk will close at 12:30 p.m. due to the weather, the organization announced.
Update, 10:08 a.m. — The University of Connecticut campus in Stamford is NOT on the list of UConn campus early closures, according to this UConn Web page. Norwalk Community College has NOT announced any cancellatons on its website home page or on Facebook.
Update, 1:47 p.m. — The Darien YMCA announced in an email that all programs for children have been cancelled for this afternoon; all adult programs will go on as scheduled. Here’s the announcement:
“All afternoon Holly Pond School afternoon classes, Holly Care afternoon care, Kids Club are cancelled. And starting at 1pm all afternoon youth classes, events, sports practices, team practices, and special needs programs are cancelled. Adult fitness programs are on as scheduled. Please check our website for updates. Please use caution and stay safe!”
Update, 1:55 p.m.: The Planning & Zoning Commission will meet as scheduled, Chairman John Sini announced, starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, but the location has changed — the meeting will take place in the Town Hall Auditorium (recently made available when the Board of Education changed its public hearing date).
Update, 204: p.m.: Some Darien Arts Center classes are cancelled, some aren’t, according to this notice posted on the home page of the website and on Twitter: “Please note for today:
- Kids’ Theatre Class is running
- Private Music Lessons are running
- ALL DAC dance and martial arts classes are cancelled.”
Update, 2:08 p.m.: Norwalk Community College closed for the day at 1 p.m., although it doesn’t seem to have announced it on its website home page. State Sen. Bob Duff announced it with a tweet on Twitter.
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Editor’s note: The time stamp on this article, originally published at 8:06 a.m., was changed to keep the link to it higher on the home page.