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- Weather Related School Closings or Delays
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Weather Related School Closings or Delays
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Our core values include being student-centered. The safety of all students and of our staff is our top priority when decisions are made about whether schools should be closed, delayed or dismissed early because of inclement, severe or winter weather.
When bad weather targets our area, WS/FCS Operations joins local public safety officials in monitoring the weather and its potential impact on the community. We must be prepared should extreme natural events pose a threat to student and staff safety.
As with any inclement weather situation, we encourage parents and staff to watch local media, answer and listen to all phone calls and messages sent by the district, and keep checking our website for any closing, delay, or cancellation information.
Individual schools will contact parents directly about any changes to school field trips, extracurricular activities, and athletic events or activities, but if the district is closed, then all trips are cancelled. School closings or cancellations will be announced by the district and posted on the district website, social media pages, and the district mobile app as soon as any decision is made. We will also first make district phone calls and then send out a notice to all local media outlets.
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How do I find out if school is closed or being moved to remote learning?
The school system tries to make the decision to close or delay school as early as possible to make planning easier for families. As soon as the decision is made, the school system will let families and employees know:
- by an automated phone call (make sure your contact info is up-to-date in PowerSchool)
- on our Website, wsfcs.k12.nc.us
- on our television station, Cable 2 (seen on Spectrum's channel 2 or via the link on the WS/FCS Cable 2 webpage)
- on our Twitter feed, www.twitter.com/wsfcs
- on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wsfcsofficial/
- on our Instagram site, www.instagram.com/wsfc_schools/
- Via mobile alert using the WS/FCS Mobile App which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play
- Local television stations and the Winston-Salem Journal.
Weather FAQ's
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When is school closed due to weather?
The district must always make a decision that is the best for all 54,000 of our students. We realize, at times, the district decision may not fit with your individual needs and personal circumstances, so we encourage and support our parents in making decisions that are best for you and your child(ren). You are always the best judge of their safety and yours.
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With that in mind, here is what you should know about WS/FCS winter and severe weather decisions:
If it is safe, we try to keep schools open!
We want to minimize the loss of instructional time. We also understand that for many families an unexpected school closing can result in challenges finding childcare.
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What’s considered when deciding to delay, close, or cancel events?
- Road temperatures and conditions
- Results of Our Transportation Team's roadway analysis and road temperature monitoring using Transportation vehicles equipped with MARWIS technology (see attached pictures)
- Student safety and the weather conditions while waiting for the bus. Driver safety while starting and warming up the bus
- The Transportation team’s ability to fuel and run daily maintenance to the buses
- The safety of students, parents and staff who drive to work and school
- National Weather Service forecasts and local media forecasts and alerts
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When schools are closed are all other events canceled?
When Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools are closed for the day or closed early the events scheduled in school buildings for those days are also canceled. That includes athletic events, after school programs, and other programs, church groups, or meetings that may be scheduled within our facilities.
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What’s considered when deciding to dismiss school early?
- Lunch schedules
- Tiered Busing Schedules – WS/FCS runs bus routes in tiers. In other words buses, start earlier with routes for middle schools, then move to elementary routes and finally high school routes. Space constraints and driver shortages prevent running all these routes at the same time.
- The Transportation team’s ability to refuel and run daily maintenance to the buses
- Road temperatures and conditions
- The safety of students, parents and staff driving to and from school
- National Weather Service forecasts and local media forecasts and alerts
- Results of our Transportation Team’s roadway analysis and road temperature monitoring
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Where can families look for emergency preparedness tips to plan for storms?
ReadyNC.gov is North Carolina's Emergency Management website. It has tips for making plans, protecting your home, emergency alerts, insurance information and more. ReadyForsyth.org is Forsyth County's Emergency Preparedness website, which has vital local information as well.
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The website will also be updated to show any cancellations of afterschool or weekend activities. Look for the "Pop-Up Alerts" when you visit the website for those updates or your check the individual school pages.
Did you know?
WS/FCS has missed an average of just under 4 days a year because of bad weather each year since 1963. The most days missed was 12 in 1995-96.
Take a look at this chart, it has a list of all days missed because of bad weather since the city and county school systems merged in 1963.
