Rumor Mill – September 2, 2016

Published September 2, 2016

The purpose of this section is to answer any questions parents, teachers or community members might have regarding the school district and to set the record straight in regards to any rumors that might be circulating.

If you have a question or have heard a rumor that you would like for us to address, simply SEND US your questions and we will respond to them in upcoming issues of InFocus. Below are some of the questions we have received since our last issue.

What is the process when determining if sports are canceled after school due to the extreme heat? Who is ultimately responsible for cancelling practice? Is it the Williamson County athletic director? And if so, does he or she then communicate that to each school’s athletic director or principal in a timely manner before schools end and practices have already begun? And then, does each school’s athletic director or principal communicate that to each individual sport’s coach(es)? It seems that sports should have been canceled this past week due to the extreme weather with heat indexes in the upper 90s or at least practices modified to be shorter. Who ensures that our children are protected and are not forced to practice in extreme heat conditions? It should not be the student’s or parent’s responsibility to tell a coach that practice should be cancelled or modified.

Our procedures for the heat index and outdoor sports are as follows: WCS follows the TSSAA Heat Policy which is located at http://tssaa.org/wp-content/uploads/heatpolicy.pdf. In the event of an extremely elevated temperature and dangerous heat index, the WCS Safety/Security Director will contact the WCS Athletic Director and inform him of the conditions. The WCS Athletic Director will then send out an email notification to all on-site athletic directors about the current conditions in which they communicate to their coaches. The Vanderbilt athletic trainers are on site, and they also monitor with heat gauges and phone apps throughout the practice and help facilitate the breaks as needed. If the heat index ever reaches 105 degrees, an email will be sent out to suspend practice or move indoors.