Weather Notifications
How Decisions Are Determined
The Superintendent, Director of Transportation, Assistant Director of Transportation, and Buildings and Grounds Coordinator are all in communication when adverse weather presents itself. These individuals check conditions by driving the roads, monitoring weather channels, watching radar, speaking with weather experts, and communicating with multiple others in the county.
Weather-related decisions are made as early as 5:00 AM with 5:30 AM being the ultimate deadline. Parents will decide on the safety of the conditions for their walkers, teen drivers, and/or themselves. If our buses are able to travel safely to our buildings, we will be in school.
If the decision is that school is in session, this information will be posted on the district and school web pages along with social media platforms. If the decision is to delay, close, or dismiss early, parents will be notified via the district communication tool Viking Connect, which includes a: phone call, text, and push notification. It is vital that your contact information is up-to-date and accurate in Skyward. Please review your contact information in Skyward Family Access by logging into Skyward and clicking the "My Account" button at the upper right-hand portion of the home screen.
*We also encourage our families to obtain updates on the status of the school by listening to local radio stations and visiting our district's social media pages and school websites.
Extreme Wind Chill
Sustained wind chill temperatures below -20 degrees present concerns for the safety of our students and staff while also challenging the mechanical operations of our buses and buildings. VCS uses the hourly temperature forecast for its district from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov). If wind chill is forecasted by NOAA to be at -20 degrees or below, the school will consider a delay for the start of school. If the wind chill is forecasted to remain at -20 degrees or below at 9:30 AM the school will consider closing. The variability of wind speed will likely cause this decision to be made in the morning.
- We believe in-person learning is the most valuable type of learning for our students. Although we perform eLearning very well, it is not a substitute for the in-person experience whenever possible.
- Weather events are often associated with power and internet loss. Should our students, family, or staff experience an outage, the added stress of eLearning is neither healthy nor helpful for any of our school community.
- Our school calendar includes several planned makeup days exactly for weather-related closings.
- Finally, we believe there is still ‘magic’ in one of the miracles of childhood…The Snow Day. These days present an opportunity for our students to exemplify one of our 4A values of ALTRUISM by helping their families and neighbors dig out, should the conditions be so intense as to prevent safe travel to the schoolhouse.
We understand that we will have some who agree and some who do not agree with our decision. We kindly ask that you do not call the school office or the central office to voice your opinion on the decision that was made.
Early dismissal decisions will be made with the same considerations and by the same methods. In case of an early dismissal, the schools will follow the early dismissal plans chosen by parents at registration. Please discuss the plan with your child so they know exactly what to do. In the event of an early dismissal, school personnel will be working together caring for students to ensure a safe dismissal. Unless you have an emergency situation, please do not call the school office during an early dismissal.
2-Hour Delay Schedule
School start times for a 2-hour delay will be as follows:
- VHS: 9:35 a.m.
- Middle Schools: 9:50 a.m.
- Elementary Schools: 10:45 a.m.
*Morning bus times will be approximately 2 hours later than their normal run times. (For example, if your bus pick-up is normally 6:55 a.m., the adjusted time would be approximately 8:55 a.m.) Dismissal times will remain the same.