School Closings, Cancellations and Delays
In the event that the NNPS web site is disabled, emergency messages will be communicated via our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Please bookmark facebook.com/nnschools and x.com/nnschools. (You are not required to be a follower or subscriber of these pages to view.)
When bad weather is forecast, transportation staff members begin checking streets at 4 a.m. to determine safety conditions. City police, city emergency operations staff and local meteorologists may be contacted for additional information. The superintendent makes the decision to either delay the opening of school, close schools early or cancel school. The school division strives to have a decision by 6 a.m. so that local television and radio stations can broadcast the information. Please call the information number prior to calling schools.
HALF-DAY PROGRAMS:
MORNING Half-Day programs will not be held when there is a delayed opening. AFTERNOON Half-Day PEEP classes WILL be held if the opening of school is delayed. Breakfast is not served; however, lunch is.
FULL-DAY PROGRAMS:
If school is delayed one hour, parents should make sure children are at the bus stop one hour after their regular time; if school is delayed two hours, then they should be at the stop two hours after the normal time.
GED SESSIONS:
GED Session I (morning) will not be held. GED Session 2 (afternoon) is to report as usual.
If school is scheduled to close an hour early, children should arrive home an hour earlier than they normally do. Early in the school year, parents are asked to make arrangements in the event that school is dismissed before the end of the regular school day.
If the child is to go to a residence other than his or her own, parents will be asked to make the school aware of this arrangement. Please discuss what to do with your child if no one is home when schools are dismissed early.
When schools close early due to inclement weather, all athletic events and after-school activities are canceled and will be rescheduled. Team practices may be held if approved by the building principal with appropriate authorization from administration. These practices would be voluntary as no required practices can be called. The superintendent will determine whether a district, regional or state championship will be held.
Please remember that there are no activity buses when schools are closed or close early.
If students are en route or at school:
If schools close while students are being brought to school, the school division will notify schools and the media, and bus drivers will return the students to their bus stops. Students may be returned to school if roads to the bus stop are blocked.
If schools have to be closed after classes have started, a dismissal schedule will be announced and the school division will alert the media and update telephone recordings. Pre-kindergartners and kindergartners must be met by an adult at the bus stop or they will be returned to school.
When it is announced that City of Newport News City Offices are closed, Youth Programs will be closed.
If Newport News Public Schools are closed and the City of Newport News Offices remain open, Youth Programs will operate 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Brittingham-Midtown Community Center (or until city offices close).
Please note that if there is a delay during the school year, Youth Programs will operate on the same delay, i.e., for a one hour delay, Youth Programs will open its centers at 7:00 a.m.
Delayed Opening:
The reporting time for ten and eleven month employees (except cafeteria and key transportation personnel) is adjusted by the same number of hours as the student reporting time.
Cafeteria personnel report as soon as possible in order to prepare lunch. Breakfast is not served on days of delayed openings.
Morning half-day programs at Gatewood PEEP will not be held when there is a delayed opening.
Afternoon half-day programs at Gatewood PEEP will be held if the opening of school is delayed on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday.
School Cancellation:
If school is canceled, all schools shall be closed for theday.
Ten and eleven month employees do not report to work unless the Superintendent deems it necessary to use the day as a make-up teacher work day in order to avoid weekend or holiday make-up workdays.
Early Dismissal:
Unless otherwise directed, the dismissal time for ten and eleven month employees (except cafeteria, transportation, custodial, clerical and administrative personnel) is adjusted by the same number of hours that students are dismissed early.
Delayed Opening:
All twelve-month personnel (other than custodial, transportation, and plant services personnel) are to report to work as soon as reasonably possible given the conditions at the time.
School Cancellation:
When schools are closed all offices are open unless the closing of offices is specified.
All twelve-month employees report unless otherwise specified
Early Dismissal:
In the event of early dismissal of students, twelve-month employees and all cafeteria, custodial, transportation, clerical and administrative personnel will work their regular schedule unless otherwise notified by their supervisor.
Twelve-month day custodial, transportation and Plant Services personnel will report at the regular time if other twelve-month day personnel are to report at any time during the day. They will then be provided appropriate compensatory time based on the number of reduced hours for other twelve-month day employees.
Twelve-month night custodians, transportation night monitors, and Plant Services night shift will report at noon if students are not in school and at their regular time if students are in school.
The Division Superintendent or designee will make the decision to approve the closing of an individual school or a small group of schools, which may be necessitated due to local emergency conditions. Executive directors and principals will contact Transportation to make the necessary arrangements to take the students home. Principals of elementary schools shall make every effort to contact parents and shall make arrangements to provide for children who do not have emergency care. Schools should indicate the emergency closing location or pairing of schools for emergencies in their emergency operations plans (i.e. emergency that occurs in route to school).
School employees will be assigned as needed to facilitate the alternate arrangements.
For detailed information about how to stay safe during an emergency, please visit www.vaemergency.gov. Information about what Virginia is doing to prepare for current storms is available at www.vaemergency.gov.
