This is a great topic for all the chronic complainers of the world! :-)

Isn't it possible that some people appreciated the 5 am call because they were already ASLEEP by 11 pm and didn't get to check it before bed? And as someone stated before, it may take some people/teachers/students longer than an hour just to dig out in the morning. Often, the school district has waited until 6 am to make ANY kind of announcement on school closing. How can you be digging out at 6 am in a blizzard AND be in the house at the same time to get a phone call or wait for the TV/radio to get around to Janesville or sit and hit the refresh button on the internet? I would think this system would be beneficial to single teachers who have no one to "alert" them when they are outisde to get themselves back in, or it could be handly for children of single parents who might be waking up ALONE is a household and is responsible for clearning out the mess, getting ready for school alone, etc. To me, any notification of this kind can hardly be considered rude.

I heard Milwaukee only got 2 inches. I think it could have been decided earlier. There was plenty of snow on the ground at this time and no end in sight. 10:30 pm the night before IS very early for Janesville!!

If she called it at 10:30 pm WHY wasn't a call made till 5am???

I saw it on-line before I went to bed so the 5am call was unneeded. If you get up that early, you can check the radio or internet to find out about the cancellation. They don't need to wake up everyone that early(and scare people who think someone died...my first thought too).

YES!!!! I don't like knee jerk closings, but Janesville has never been guilty of that. What would have made sense would have been around 8 or 9, AFTER the governor declared a state of emergency, and UW-Madison cancelled classes for the first time in 19 years! We all went to bed with a slight fear we'd be facing a school day, only to be awoken rudely at 5:30. Why not make the call at 10:30 when the decision was made? No matter what you're waking some people; may as well do it sooner so everyone can plan accordingly.

As many people have stated, it made no sense for Janesville schools to wait longer than EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COUNTY to decide to cancel school. It just seems that they want to appear as they're putting more thought into it than other districts. It's like they were trying to get a hold of Old Man Winter to find out exactly what he had in store.
.
As for the one built-in snow day, that's just stupid. We live in southern Wisconsin, have had close to or over 100 inches of snow the last 2 years, and they don't think it'd be wise to build in more snow days? Give me a break. I don't think it'd be hard to juggle the schedule around to make sure they had snow days covered. Here it is Dec. 11 and they've already used their ONE snow day. Planning? What planning? Get ready for a long winter and even longer school year!

I agree that 5am is a bit early, maybe 6am would satisfy most? Either way you cannot "perfect" this for everyone.

It's so funny to read all the comments about the time school closings were called in. You people just like to complain about decisions made by those with a voice of leadership - good job Supt. K.S.

The 5am call woke me...then I reset my alarms and went back to bed. :) I don't have a need to be up that early either, but it really wasn't such a huge inconvenience to answer the phone at that time. I like it much better than struggling for an hour or more in the morning getting kids ready and trying to find news of any announcement. Any earlier, like the others were saying can be a bit extreme and any later would be riduculous. 5am's fine in my book. :)

The automated phone calls needs to be looked at when you make a decision after 10pm it does not register until 5am. For some parents like myself, I did not appreciate getting a call that early. Next time bite the bullet when you are the only school left and close it down or have the automated call time adjusted.

The only thing I have to say is maybe it's about time they built in two snow days ... in the last few years we have needed them

I appreciated the 5 am call! As a teacher, I have spent too many mornings digging my way out at 5 am so I can get back in the house, shower up, and make it to school on time in case we DO have students coming! This time, I got the call a few minutes before I'd be heading out the door to start digging. It was so frustrating to shovel for an hour or two, and then go back inside to find out school was cancelled at 6 am, and I didn't need to be out there in the dark and in the storm. I have had many, many students/parents tell me the same story as mine over the last two years, in particular. (I don't know how anyone could get up at 6 and have cleared that mess and made it to school by 7:45!) Thanks, Dr. Schulte!!!! I hope you keep the early cancellation calls in place!

IMO when the entire surrounding area has cancelled AND the State patrol, local police, sheriffs office, and the governor call for a weather emergency,to stay off the roads unless a emergency then yes Janesville waited far too long to cancel.
*
They could have just as easily called a mere 1/2 hour earlier to the news station and let them broadcast it so that families would see it at the news. But NOOO they wait until after the news is over and people are in bed to finally get off their A** to let people know.
*
Fortunately I had brains enough myself to decide that we would have a snow day, no matter what the JSD decided. Common sense told me it would not be wise to go out in a BLIZZARD ! So when the phone rang at 5 am, and let me know that school was cancelled I was oh so thrilled NOT. It could have waited until 6am when most people are getting up, and not scaring the beejeebers out of me thinking that someone had passed away or gotten into a accident (that is usually what early morning or middle of the night calls are)
*
Kindly next time cancell early enough to announce at the news hour. And don't hold out after EVERY school district in the southern half of the state have cancelled...it really makes JSD look like idiots. IMO that is
*

I have one child at St Pauls and another in the public school system. What I am in an uproar about is that St. Pauls had a 2 hour delay and Janesville Public schools only had a 1 hour delay. Why is it they can not be on the same page? This made a huge time management mess for my morning. Of course this being my last day of classes at UW-Whitewater, I lost out on a final presentation...so today has an effect on my grade.

Not everyone has the choice to stay home when schools call a snow day...they need time to find child care and get to their own work. I was perfectly ok with the call time. I would have been ok with the call time the night before at 10:30-11 p.m., also.

I actually got a text at around 2:30 am with the notice, but I didn't mind. I actually would prefer that Janesville schools NOT go with the knee-jerk reaction of the surrounding areas who just automatically close schools and have them make a more informed decision, which is what I believe they did. I've seen too many instances where the masses panicked and called off school prematurely, only to find that the weather forecast was wrong or overrated. Some people have to work and having school called off erroneously can take a toll on our employment status or paycheck when we're forced to stay home with kids unneccesarily.

The 5am call was WAY too early in the morning! Today it was at 6am which is still early, but a bit more reasonable than 5!