School Delays and Closures Due to Weather
Making the Decision
At Liberty Christian School, we take your child's safety very seriously. As the weather turns cold, the possibility for snow and ice becomes greater. If there is a chance that your children cannot be transported to school safely due to weather conditions, the school may delay or cancel school.
If ever you disagree with our decision regarding school delays or closures, please know that it is considered an excused absence if you decide to keep your child home from school when you provide our office with a signed note. The final decision on whether or not to send your child to school is yours.
Generally speaking, if Richland, Kennewick, or Pasco school district cancels or delays opening, LCS will follow their lead and cancel or delay opening.
With more than 400 students and 40 staff, making changes to the school day is very difficult, particularly at the last minute. Closure after school is already in session would be extremely difficult. Further, once students have been dropped off at school or the morning extended care, there is no way to contact every parent or caregiver to inform them of a change to the school day. Many of those parents have gone to work and contacting them is very difficult. It is important that we do not cause a situation where students are home or elsewhere without adult supervision.
Snow Day Procedures
The following procedures are to be implemented to alert staff, students, and parents of a delay in the start time or closure of Liberty Christian School.
If no mention of a delay or closure is on our school's Flash Alert web page, or aired on television or radio stations, then Liberty is running on time. By 6:30 a.m., radio and television stations should have received information from the school via the Flash Alert system (www.flashalertcolumbia.net) if there is a delay or closure.
The Liberty Christian School Flash Alert web page http://www.flashalert.net/news.html?id=3315 has up-to-the-minute information regarding late starts or cancellations. Remember to hit your "refresh" button for the most current information. Local radio stations such as KONA 610 AM will announce school delays and closures each morning as well. Local TV stations may also post closure and delay information; however, these should not solely be relied upon due to tape delays.
Two-hour delays:
A two hour delay means school starts at 10:00 a.m. instead of 8:00 a.m. On delay days there is no hot lunch program and NO MORNING EXTENDED CARE. In the case of a 2 hour delay, please continue to check for updates, as a decision may still be made to cancel school. Cancellations will be announced as soon as possible if a decision is made to change the delayed opening to a cancelled day. Please do not call the school as staff is on a two hour delay as well.
Our primary method of communication of closure or delayed opening is through FlashNews. When possible we will also send notifications via RenWeb’s email system or on the school’s website. However, we are not always able to access these areas remotely, so please utilize the Flash Alert system.
In the event that the weather does not improve, a decision may be made to go from a delay to a closure, so when a delayed opening has been announced it is still important for students, parents, and staff to continue monitoring the news media. Every effort will be made to have a final decision on having school with a delayed opening or cancelling school as soon as possible.
Please note that a two-hour delay ALWAYS means "no hot lunch program AND NO morning Extended Care"
Media that will be alerted via Flash Alert if there is a delay or closure:
Ch. 19 KEPR TV CBS
Ch. 25 KNDU TV NBC
Ch. 42 KVEW TV ABC
KALE 960 / KTCR 1340 / KEGX 106.5 / KKSR 95.7 / KIOK 94.9 / KUJ 99.1 - Kennewick
KMNA 98.7 - Spanish
KONA 610, 105.3 (English) / KZHR 92.5 (Spanish)
KORD 102.7, 87 / KXRX 97.1 / KEYW 98.3 / KFLD 870 / KOLW 97.5
KZTB 97.9 / KMMG 96.7 Spanish
NorthWest Public Radio - KFAE 89.1 FM
Tri-City Herald Online
Procedures for Athletics on Snow Days
If School is Cancelled for the Day:
No games are played and no practices are held when school is cancelled for the day.
If School is Cancelled for the Day and the Next Day is Saturday:
If weather conditions have improved on Saturday, the Athletic Director, in consultation with the Principals, Superintendent, and Maintenance Department Director, may elect to play games scheduled or rescheduled for Saturday. Factors to consider include current and upcoming weather, safe transportation by athletes and spectators both to home and away sites, accessibility of buildings including sidewalks and parking lots, availability of officials and other game personnel, and other safety issues and concerns.
If School is Delayed for the Day:
If school is held, practices may be conducted and games may be played, even if school has been delayed in opening. Games scheduled for days when school is delayed in opening may need to be rescheduled by the school we are scheduled to play due to the weather in the vicinity of the other school.
You Can Receive LCS School Closure Announcements via Text Message and/or E-mail
LCS subscribes to FlashAlert Newswire, a system that lets us get emergency closure and press release information directly to your e-mail and/or cell phone as well as to every news media outlet in the Tri-Cities area.
To sign up with FlashAlert to receive LCS school closure announcements log on to http://www.flashalert.net/news.html?id=3315 and follow the instructions there.