Inclement Weather Procedures

CLOSINGS

• If schools are closed because of inclement weather, all community activities scheduled in school buildings in the evening (including college classes, community athletic programs, and facility rentals) are also cancelled.

DELAYED OPENING

• If schools have a delayed opening, school start time is two hours later. Please add two hours to your normal bus pick up time or normal school start time to determine the delayed start time of school.

EARLY DISMISSALS

• Occasionally, bad weather occurs after school starts, and the Superintendent decides to close schools early. Parents should be alert to this possibility and make sure that their children know what to do if they are dismissed early and no one is at home.
• Please note that in the event of an early closing due to a weather emergency, in most cases, the middle schools and high schools will be dismissed first, followed by the elementary schools.

SNOW MAKE UP DAYS

• Any snow make up dates required will be address as defined by Board Policy 803.

Click to view Details of Flexible Instructional Days at WSD 

In the event of inclement weather or a school emergency that results in early dismissal, late arrival of students or the closing of Wissahickon schools, the Wissahickon School District notifies the community via:

• WSD Facebook (Wissahickon School District), Twitter (@WissahickonSD) and Instagram (@wissahickonschooldistrict)
• Pop-up message on the district homepage: https://www.wsdweb.org/
• TV Stations 3, 6, 10 and 29
• KYW NewsRadio - School Closing Number 314

Under the circumstances of a delayed opening: All Wissahickon transportation is delayed regardless if the non-public school is also delayed or not.

Under the circumstances of an early dismissal: Families with students in non-public schools should contact their school directly for PM transportation plans.

For questions, families should directly contact the school for which their student(s) are enrolled, not the Wissahickon School District Transportation Department. 

In case of inclement weather, the School Age Child Care Program will be available to all children registered for the program, as follows:

• CLOSINGS: If the district is closed, the YMCA Child Care Before & After School Programs are also closed.
• EARLY DISMISSAL: The YMCA Child Care After School Program will not operate.
• DELAYED/LATE OPENINGS: The YMCA Child Care Before School Program will not operate.

The Superintendent of Schools is responsible for the final decision, based on the factors and recommendations from key district personnel and local officials and consultation with the superintendents of neighboring districts. 

Read the superintendent's letter regarding WSD procedures

WSD makes the decision to open or close the schools in bad weather after carefully analyzing all relevant factors, such as:

• Information on road conditions from key district and police personnel.  We must give careful consideration to the most dangerous roads in the district.  Even if your street looks clear, travel elsewhere in the district may be dangerous.  Also, we must consider the conditions under which our staff members who live out of town drive to work.
• Amount of snow and ice accumulated.
• Whether precipitation is continuing.
• Building conditions (such as whether we have electricity and heat).
• Parking lot conditions.  Our custodians and maintenance personnel work hard to clear and treat not only parking lots but also sidewalks and building entrances.  Sometimes, under certain weather conditions, we can’t get this done in time.
• Temperature and wind chill.  Extreme cold can render our salting and de-icing efforts relatively ineffective.
• Weather predictions.  We prefer to not make our decision based on weather predictions, as we all know they are not always accurate.  However, sometimes this is unavoidable.
• What other school districts are doing.  We also share information with other local districts and check whether they are opening or closing.

We try to gather enough information to make the decision no later than 5:30 a.m., so we can communicate that decision (see below) in time to avoid parents leaving for work without having made childcare arrangements (and to avoid staff members, particularly those at the early starting schools, leaving for work only to turn around once/if they get here). This early decision point MAY result in an initial decision of a delay, followed by a subsequent decision to cancel an hour or so later, if weather or other factors worsen. We will try not to add this element of change to the morning chaos, but I want you to be aware that it is a possibility as we continue to strive to make the best decision possible. NOTE: We will continue to have traditional “snow” days as well as the newly possible “flexible instructional days” (should circumstances call for them). If a flexible instructional day is a possibility, students will have all necessary materials and devices at home with them ahead of time.

Once we make the decision to open the schools, many parents rely on it and leave for work.  In many cases, it is not the least bit easy to make the necessary last minute arrangements to care for students sent home early.  However, if conditions do get sufficiently worse during the school day to the point where we need to have an early dismissal in order to ensure everyone’s safety, we will make that decision and we will then give as much notice as possible.  All district families and the community at large will be notified using our normal communication methods.