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School Closing

Hartford Area Schools & Districts Emergency School Closing Procedures

The winter season will soon be upon us, and we in the Hartford Area Schools understand that our decision to keep open or
to close a school in bad weather has a significant effect on families. We also believe you know what is best for your child. If
you believe they would be safer at home and should not attend school in poor weather conditions, or if you are
uncomfortable with the weather conditions at any point during an unfavorable weather day, we would encourage you to act
upon that belief. Communicate with your appropriate school or district administrator and make the necessary
arrangements.
Please be advised the following information is considered to open or close school due to inclement weather:

  • Information from city, county, and state officials focused on road conditions and short and long-term weather forecasts
  • Information from our bus transportation provider, including their recommendations, focused on road safety for buses
  • Discussion with our supervisor of buildings and grounds to ensure parking lots can be open for parking before and
  • after the school day
  • Information from the National Weather Service provided directly to school district officials


In addition, the Hartford Area Administrators across all five public school districts and our parochial schools, work
collaboratively to open or close a school in bad weather. We consider the information from the above paragraph and the
following factors:

  • Temperature, including wind chill factor
  • Wind velocity impacting the blowing and drifting of snow
  • Buses running routes at a slower pace and having an impact on how long students wait at bus stops
  • Parents/guardians driving their children to school in poor driving conditions, and high school students with little or
  • no experience in poor road conditions driving to school
  • The number of inches of existing and projected snowfall


Please note Hartford Area Schools typically will not implement late starts or early dismissals due to inclement weather. For a
variety of reasons, including travel where students are still impacted by less than ideal road conditions, the shared bus
routes across the districts, and the impact it has on student and parent schedules, we have not found a late start or early
dismissal to be a great solution. While there may be situations where we do consider these options, please know it is not
something we normally feel is in the best interests of our students across the Hartford area.

Lastly, we want to assure you any decision we make is made with a focus on the safety of our students and staff. In recent
years, we have received feedback about the conditions where certain individuals live, and while we fully respect these
individual perspectives, please know our responsibility is to care for all of our district’s students no matter where they reside.
Conditions in the recent past have looked different at various points of the day, or across the 225 square miles of the
Hartford area... Please keep in mind that as parents/guardians, you ultimately have the ability to determine whether or not
your student will be in attendance if school is not closed.

Besides the media listed in this letter, each public school district and private school may use additional means of
communication to notify parents/guardians and students of school closings (e.g. ParentSquare, Skyward). It is very
important to ensure your contact information remains updated in our Student Information System throughout the year in
order to get the most timely and accurate information to you.. To acquire up-to-date school closing information, please utilize the following local media websites: