School Closing Information
When school is closed due to inclement weather, the district notifies parents, students and staff in a variety of ways. While often redundant, student safety is our primary concern requiring a blanketed approach to informing all families. Typically, a decision to close school is made before 5:30am in order to give parents, students and the bus company enough time to respond. Communication is then distributed as follows:
1. The School and District Web Sites are updated with an emergency message on web pages as soon as the decision is made.
2. All major media outlets (TV and Radio) are notified to include:
3. Each household will receive a phone call and e-mail message via SchoolMessenger, typically between 5:30am – 5:45am. Text messages are also available through SchoolMessenger. If you have yet to do so, we encourage families to opt into the district’s SMS messaging system here.
The decision to close school is always a difficult one. Every effort will be made to consider the safety of the students, the safety of the faculty, and the convenience to parents when making such decisions. Your cooperation and assistance is appreciated. It is always the parent or guardian’s decision to determine the safety for their child during inclement weather. If you have questions regarding school dismissal, call the school in which your child attends.
Early Dismissal: Families will be notified by SchoolMessenger message sent to all three registered phone numbers (home, work, emergency) as well as receive an e-mail message. It is important to have plans for younger children when school is dismissed early. In the event a parent is not or cannot be home, arrangements should be made for the child to stay with a friend or relative. Parents should insist their children dress for protection against prolonged exposure to the weather as a safety precaution.
Delayed Start: All of the communications channels detailed above for school closings will be utilized to communicate a late start. When school is delayed by two hours, the middle schools will begin at 9:18 AM, the high schools will begin at 9:55 AM, the elementary schools will begin at 10:50 AM. Regular school closing times will be observed on delayed opening days.
While student safety is at the core of any school closing decision, a variety of factors are considered during the decision making process:
Access to Busing - Most of our students have access to bus pickup, limiting exposure to bitter winds and temperatures.
Area Districts' Decisions - Superintendents in Waukesha County share information and discuss their plans to stay open or close frequently throughout the process.
Weather Forecast - In cold weather only decisions (e.g. no snow or other conditions), we use a sustained extreme cold warning (-35 degrees below) as an approximate threshold.
School Facilities and Transportation - Our schools and buses need to operate at 100% of capacity to insure the safety of our students to/from school and throughout the day.
Advance Planning - Different than an inclement weather decision which is often made same-day, it is sometimes possible to announce a cold weather closing a day in advance to give families time to make arrangements.
In the event school is closed, all families will receive a SchoolMessenger call and email as soon as a decision is made. Text message notifications, through SchoolMessenger, are also available by opting in here.