Emergency Closures & Delays
School Closings
Why We Close School
We know that the Northeastern Local Schools community understands the challenges of school-closing decisions and that, at times, we must lean on the side of caution in order to be prepared for the worst. However, we wanted to provide additional clarification on the process for determining school closures due to weather-related “emergencies.”
There are various situations when closing our schools is a quick and easy decision, such as: no heat, no power, no water, blizzards or road closures. However, the decision to close becomes more complicated when it must be made on “predicted weather conditions.” As you can imagine, we utilize many resources to make these decisions with the most accurate and up-to-date information. Continuous monitoring of weather reports from numerous reliable sources, calls with our colleagues/superintendents in neighboring districts, and conversations with our transportation and maintenance departments are all useful in determining if we need to close our schools. Each situation is very different, and the safety of our students and staff is always the final measure used to decide whether to remain open or close our schools.
In Ohio, all public schools are required to provide students with a minimum of 910 hours for students in kindergarten through grade six (6) and 1,001 hours for students in grades seven (7) through 12.
Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, districts in Ohio that changed to hour-based schedules will no longer have calamity days. Instead, school districts may schedule “excess” hours above the minimum number. Hours missed above the minimum do not have to be made up. However, if a district/school closes enough to fall below the minimum number of hours, it must extend its scheduled year.
We also have potential makeup days included in our school year calendars. For the 2022-23 school year, those potential makeup days are: Monday, Jan. 16, Friday, Feb. 17, and Monday, Feb. 20. We also reserve the right to add days to the end of the school year, should they be needed.
At NELSD, we will continue to make the best decisions in a timely manner to help parents prepare for the school closing. For us to provide you with information as quickly as possible, please be sure you have provided updated emergency contact information to the District in FinalForms.
- Notification of “Snow Days” and Other Emergency Closures
- How School Closings Impact All Activities Using Our Buildings
- Two-Hour Delay Schedule for Preschools
- Additional Notes on School Closings
Notification of “Snow Days” and Other Emergency Closures
NELSD will communicate weather-related school closings, delays and early dismissals to staff & families via the following:
❄️ ParentSquare notification system to alert families and staff who have updated their contact information in FinalForms (completed during registration for families)
❄️ NELSD website
❄️ NELSD Facebook
❄️ NELSD Instagram
❄️TV Stations: WHIO, WRGT Dayton 24/7, WDTN, and WBNS-TV
How School Closings Impact All Activities Using Our Buildings
Note that when NELSD closes school, all other activities that take place in our buildings on that day are usually canceled too. Examples of activities that will also be canceled include after-school sports, clubs, activities, concerts, facilities rentals and parent meetings.
Sometimes, changing weather requires NELSD to cancel after-school activities only. We try our best to decide on after-school activity cancelations by 1:30 pm of the day in question and communicate via the district website. However, some factors may require us to make that call later than 1:30 p.m. Once again, such an after-school cancellation will impact both NELSD and non-NELSD events that use our buildings, including sports, clubs, activities, concerts, facilities rentals and parent meetings.
Also, note that the Latchkey programs at Northeastern and Kenton Ridge on-site daycare generally stay open when all other after-school activities are canceled. Please check directly with the child’s building.
- Northeastern Elementary Latchkey: (937) 346-0846
- Kenton Ridge Elementary Latchkey: (937) 346-0876
Two-Hour Delay Schedule for Preschools
Additional Notes on School Closings
- The decision to cancel school or after-school activities is taken very seriously and done with careful consideration. NELSD is in constant contact with surrounding school administrators, our transportation team, our facilities team, and even local emergency responders in order to make the most informed decision possible. Weather patterns can shift substantially from meteorologists’ predictions. Therefore, we urge parents to be proactive in monitoring the district website and other communications on days when the weather appears threatening so that you and your family can be properly informed.
- NELSD will make every attempt to avoid dismissing school early because of the age of our students and the difficulty in ensuring that a parent or caregiver will be home if school is dismissed earlier than usual.
- Even if the schools are open, the final decision about a child’s attendance remains with the parent. A decision to close or open school cannot take into account every circumstance. We can best protect the safety and welfare of all students and ask that parents take an active role in deciding what is best for their student(s) concerning attendance.
- Please remember that any amount of snow, rain or fog causes slower traffic. So even if the snowfall isn’t enough to cancel school, bus routes and traffic, in general, tend to take longer than usual.
- Finally, we encourage all neighbors to take a little extra time shoveling sidewalks and bus stops to help keep all of our students and residents safer.