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EBCE - School Closings and Cancellations

EBCE - School Closings and Cancellations

At various times throughout the year, our region experiences both anticipated weather events such as snowstorms, wind and ice storms as well as unanticipated emergency events such as power outages. The district works collaboratively together with the Emergency Management Directors for both Eliot and South Berwick, each town’s Chief of Police, Fire Chief and Public Works Director to develop a coherent set of emergency protocols and a communication system for both anticipated weather events and for unanticipated emergency events. These clear protocols essentially require the district to gather as much information as possible to make an informed decision regarding our schools’ opening, closing or delayed start times before 6:00 a.m. and then to communicate any change to our usual school opening times to over 2,600 contacts.

Since weather and conditions surrounding other unanticipated emergency events can change quickly, there will always be a myriad of nuanced contingencies that present themselves within the decision-making process. As a result, there may be occasions when you decide to keep your child home when our schools are open.

Notwithstanding the decision of the district to open, close or delay the start of its schools, as your child’s parent, you are the best judge of what road and weather conditions you believe are safe or unsafe for your family’s travel. If you believe that your child(ren) should not come to school during an inclement weather event, you should keep your child home. In these cases, your child will be listed as having an “excused” absence and any schoolwork missed on that day will be able to be completed in a timely manner.

Finally, although we cannot predict what media systems will be operational or offline at your home or workplace during a weather event or other unanticipated emergency, we have developed numerous pathways for delivering information regarding our schools’ status. These information pathways include:

It is the hope of the district that at least one platform of information will be available to you during a storm or other emergency event so that you can have the latest information regarding your child’s school status. 

The district holds the safety of our students and staff as its highest priority and strives to make the best decision with the best available information at the time regarding school closings or delayed starts for our district’s schools and activities.

 

Policy Adopted: November 15, 2017
Policy Revised:  March 16, 2022



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