At 9:47 pm tonight, Thursday, January 11th Principal Dan Frank ‘74, and Assistant Principal Priyanka Rupani emailed a notification to students, faculty, staff, and parents and guardians, letting them know that school and all extracurricular activities on Friday are canceled and the building will be closed due to severe weather concerns. Further notice of this cancellation was sent via a phone message recorded by Director of Communications Nick Saracino and delivered by the school’s automated messaging system and will also be delivered to major media outlets to spread the news.
This cancellation comes on the Friday before first semester finals for Upper School students. Head of Upper School Cory Zeller and Assistant Principal Rupani did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday night.
According to the message from Frank and Rupani, “Learning and growing together is always our preference and we did not reach this decision easily, but the health and safety of all members of our community is of paramount importance in all we do.” Sources tell The Weekly that the administrative team met via Zoom at 9:15pm tonight as they were hoping for further information from local weather experts that would allow them to make the most informed choice for the community.
The morning of Friday, January 12 a major snowstorm is expected to hit the Chicago area. The outcomes of the storm will bring heavy snow across northern Illinois, with dangerous traveling conditions and below-zero temperatures that will spread throughout this weekend and early next week. Local media outlets have informed citizens that tomorrow will feel like blizzard conditions.
Northern Cook and central Cook counties have been given winter storm warnings starting at 3 a.m. Friday to noon Saturday. Warnings of snow stacking up to 8 inches with highest totals away from the lakefront, and wind gusts of up to 45 mph.
Major news sites have been listing and announcing which schools will not be open tomorrow and whether they have chosen to switch to virtual learning for the day or give everyone the day off. As of now, Parker has shared that the community will get an update regarding the status of activities scheduled for Saturday, January 13 and that all should assume that classes will resume again on Tuesday, January 16, unless otherwise notified by the school.
