Inclement Weather Procedures

January 5th, 2024 /
Shauna Sprunger /
Community Essentials Features, News, Student Essentials Features

We are now in the time of year where weather may impact the school day. Below, you will find our updated protocols for determining the impact of weather on travel and school start times. The goal is to increase communication between our district and our families so that they can hopefully have a little more notice as they make plans for their families.

For accurate information, both the night before a potential storm and in the morning, please check the district website, Facebook, and Instagram pages. Information will also be shared with all local media stations and sent to parents via email, phone call and text message. If you receive no notification, and see nothing posted on the platforms previously mentioned, please assume that school will follow its normal schedule.

Please remember that different areas of Provo may receive very different impacts of the weather. The decisions made are for the entire district, with the exception of some transportation changes, if the weather dictates. If there is an indication from the National Weather Service and/or UDOT that snow is likely to impact the commute for the following school day, the following protocols will go into effect:

The Superintendent (or Assistant Superintendents over Elementary and Secondary Education) will notify school principals before 1:00 p.m. of the possibility that we may have a two-hour late start or an at-home learning day the following school day. Schools will determine whether elementary students will be given a Chromebook to take home or if the teachers will send home a packet of materials for parents to assist their children with at-home learning. Schools and teachers will communicate these instructions to parents.
Grades 7-12 already have a Chromebook that they take home daily and will use this to access at-home learning if needed. Schools will communicate how these lessons will be accessed by students (i.e. Canvas). Teachers will provide these learning materials electronically for students.
Teachers will take home their devices so that they can assist students remotely if needed.
By 7:00 p.m., we will formally announce if we are shifting to a two-hour late start. If we do announce a two-hour late start, it automatically puts into place a below bench pick-up for those affected neighborhoods. **Please see below for a step by step guide for determining your below bench pickup location.
If by 7:00 p.m., we have received indication that travel will be impacted for the entire following school day, we may go ahead and call for an at-home learning day. If we believe that the roads can be cleared enough for people to travel safely, then we will stick with the two-hour late start.

If for some reason that by morning, there is so much snowfall or if it is continuing to snow and predictions suggest that it will not stop in time for buses to travel safely, by 5:30 a.m. we will call for an at-home learning day.

We recognize that different parts of the Wasatch Front are going to experience different levels of snow and inclement weather. However, many of our employees travel great distances to come to Provo, and it does not benefit any student to have them come to school on time, just to be herded into a cafeteria or gymnasium because our teachers were not able to arrive at school on time. The purpose of utilizing a two-hour late start is to ensure that once our students arrive at school, meaningful learning with their teachers can take place and that everyone can arrive at school safely.

We encourage our families to ensure that their information has been updated in Powerschool and their notifications are turned on. They may contact their individual school to obtain assistance in ensuring that their notifications are turned on.

For our teachers and employees, if we are doing a two-hour late start, we ask that employees arrive at their work site when it is safe for them to do so. We will give further direction to employees if we do call for an at-home learning day because it is not safe to travel.

Below Bench Pick-up

If the roads have not been plowed, or the snow accumulation on the road is too deep, or the roads are iced over, the school buses will pick up at the following stops. Please send students to the below bench pickup stop in your area as close to the regular stop time as possible. (Once the decision has been made for these pickups, all regular education routes will adhere to them even if the streets have been plowed after the decision has been made.)

Low Bench Pickup Locations

How to locate your below bench pickup location and time

To learn more about your below bench pickup location and time, please click here to visit the bus route locator website and follow the following steps.