Sometimes extreme weather conditions or other unusual circumstances can cause class cancellations at a school, or district-wide
on short notice.
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CURRENT ADVISORY -
Please check the homepage news for any current advisories. If no advisories are posted, regular schedules are in effect.
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GUIDELINES
In addition to educating children, schools are expected to provide safe, supervised environments for young people to attend on a daily basis. Any cancellation or closure has a significant impact on tens of thousands of families. Most cannot arrange alternate childcare when classes are cancelled or schools are closed unexpectedly. Consequently, schools will not routinely be closed due to snow or other weather conditions unless there is damage or other circumstances (e.g., power outage) at a particular school that makes it impossible to operate safely. No announcement will be made that schools are open; only cancellations or closures will be announced. .
- The district supports parent/guardian decisions.
Student safety is the first priority of the school district. Parents/guardians have primary responsibility for their children's safe travel to school. If, for any reason, a parent/guardian feels a child cannot travel safely to school, the parent/ guardian is encouraged to make other arrangements. It is understood some students travel to school on routes that may be challenging on a snow day. Therefore, no student will be penalized for lack of attendance because of such conditions. While schools are likely to be kept open, the decision to attend is the responsibility of each family. Parents can phone or email the school to notify staff that the student won't be attending. Weather-related student absences will be excused.
- The district will do its best to communicate the status of schools beginning at about 6:30 a.m., when possible. Weather, power, road and safety conditions can change substantially within a few hours, therefore assessments and decisions are made early in the morning so the information is reliable.
- Only closures will be announced. No announcement will be made saying that schools are open.
Regular and special needs school bus schedules may face significant changes or cancellation as a result of weather conditions. Changes or cancellations will be reported on the district website and through news media.
In the event of class cancellations, the Surrey School District will post information on its website at www.sd36.bc.ca and provide updates to the following radio stations.
Class cancellation information may also be broadcast on some local TV station newscasts.
Please do not call the radio stations as staff is very busy receiving updates and preparing newscasts.
Please do not call the schools and district offices. Calling schools and district offices is also impractical since staff members are generally not available to answer telephone calls far in advance of regular school opening time and phone lines typically become congested in any event.
Parent Centre
Last Updated: January 12, 2009 |
