Emergency Communication

The winter months occasionally bring weather conditions which require school schedule delays or closures. Each family should have a plan covering what to do when children arrive home early due to an emergency situation. Situations which should be covered include:

• What is the best route home if your student cannot be delivered to the normal bus stop?
• Where could they go if they needed help?
• Who could care for him or her until you arrive?
• Is there someone your child could call to allay fears?

South Whidbey School District will provide a robo call/text/email via ParentSquare as soon as we determine that school will have a late start, closure or early dismissal. Please make sure your contact information is up to date with your school secretary. Additionally, please you should have received an invitation to register with ParentSquare. This will allow you to receive your emergency messages in the method you choose (text, phone, email, push notification and language).

The Public Schools Emergency Communications System - or Flash Alert, which serves most school districts in Western Washington, provides communications services for school districts. The Flash Alert site provides a report of school schedule changes due to adverse weather conditions and other emergency situations for member school districts, colleges, and private schools. PSECS also provides this information to the local media so they can keep their information and reports current.

While the information on the PSECS system is generally accurate and current, what the news media reports is sometimes a more limited version of what we post on PSECS. To make sure you get accurate and current information, people are encouraged to go to the Flash Alert site directly, go to the district web site or simply call one of the schools. Any schedule changes will be on the school voicemail recordings.

Unless otherwise noted, schools are operating on normal schedules. To see if there is closure or delay information for our district, follow the above link.

Stay tuned to area radio stations between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. if you feel the weather may create hazardous traveling conditions. Radio/TV stations will be announcing schedule changes by district name and number. Please do not call the radio stations or the administration office. Jammed telephone lines only compound emergencies. No announcement means normal operations. Announcements are for one day only.

The bolded radio/TV stations are stations that carry school closures most frequently, but all are a part of the Emergency Communications System.

AM Stations

KCIS 630, KAPS 660 KRKO 1380, KBRC 1430

KVI 570, KIRO 710, KNWX 770, KOMO 1000, KJTT 1110

FM Stations

KMPS 94.1, KYCW 96.5, KMTT 103.7

KSER 90.7, KUOW 94.9, KIRO 100.7, KPLZ 101.5, KCMS 105.3

TV Stations

KOMO TV 4, KING TV 5, KIRO TV 7

Emergency Messages and Closures Will Also Be Posted On The Internet The following information is provided for your reference should it be necessary to close district schools or operate them on a modified basis.

Participating radio/TV stations have requested that we used the following phrases:

Due to changes in road and weather conditions beyond our control, we may need to update or change our radio announcement.

Please monitor the website at www.sw.wednet.edu, radio/TV stations frequently between the hours of 6:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.