School Cancellation Terminology
CANCELLING SCHOOL – When there is inclement weather, individuals from the City, School Department, and the transportation company discuss the safety of buses taking students to school. If it is determined that buses are unable to travel safely, schools will be closed for that day or delayed for two hours if road conditions can be improved.
Notices of “School Closing” and “Two-Hour Delayed Openings” due to inclement weather are announced on radio and television by 6:00 A.M.
Radio Stations, WBZ AM 1030, WRKO AM 680
TV Stations 4 , 5, 7 and 10 and the Emergency Snow Line at (978) 469-9078
If a parent or guardian decides that a child cannot travel to school safely due to weather conditions, the child may remain at home. Please provide the school with a written note when the child returns to school. We encourage you to clean sidewalks as sidewalk conditions also impact student safety on icy and snowy days. The City will be working on streets to ensure safe transportation.
It is also important to remember buses may need to drive more slowly so buses may be late in arriving at bus stops.
At times, hazardous conditions affect isolated streets. In these circumstances, buses may be prevented from normal pick-ups. Parents are encouraged to send their children to school by other means if it is safe to do so.
We will give very serious consideration to all decisions made regarding the transportation of students. Please remember that student safety is important to us all. We ask for your support. Thank you for your consideration.
DELAYED OPENING – Delayed openings are used only if they allow enough time to prepare the roads for safe transportation. When the opening of school is delayed, the radio and TV stations above will be notified and told “delayed opening – two hours, Haverhill.”
During delayed openings, school will start two hours later. Bus pickup, therefore, will also occur two hours later. For example, if your child is normally picked up at 8:30 a.m., during a two hour delayed opening, he/she will be picked up at 10:30 a.m. Lunch will be available, and student dismissals will be at the regularly scheduled times.
EMERGENCY DISMISSAL – If it is necessary to dismiss schools prior to regular times, announcements will be made over the radio and TV stations normally used for school cancellation and our website. It is very unlikely we will dismiss early. It is difficult to assure there will be adult supervision at home. During these worsening weather situations, however, afternoon kindergarten is likely to be canceled.