Bad Weather Protocols

We try to make the decision by 5:30 a.m. or earlier the day of the incident so we can notify local media and post the information on our website and start the automated texts, emails and phone calls by 6 a.m. If we believe that the forecasts won’t change during the overnight hours, we may make the decision to delay school or cancel school the night before. Our first buses leave the transportation center around 5:45 a.m., so we work diligently to make the decision as early as possible. Finally, we know that waiting much later in the morning limits parents’ options when they are making childcare decisions.

We make our decision to open or close schools in bad weather based on careful analysis of as many relevant factors as we can gather, including:

• Numerous consultations with our local emergency management consortia and weather experts. In the days leading up to a possible weather incident, we monitor local forecasts, both in the evening before the incident and in the early morning hours. We will talk to both Williamson County and Travis County, as we are split between the two.

• Information on road conditions from transportation staff and local law enforcement officials. We must give careful consideration to the most dangerous roads in the district. Even if the street in front of your house looks clear, travel elsewhere in the district may be dangerous. In addition, we must consider the risk to our least experienced drivers, our high school students.

• Amount of snow or ice accumulated and projected accumulations. We also consider whether or not precipitation is continuing.

• Building conditions, such as whether there is any interruption in our buildings’ electricity and heat.

• Parking lot conditions. We try to monitor the clearing and treating of parking lots and sidewalks.

• Temperature and wind chill. Some of our students walk to and from school and some have to wait outside in the elements at their bus stop.

• Weather predictions. We prefer not making our decision solely based on weather predictions, which are not always accurate, but sometimes it is unavoidable.If this is the case, we may make the decision the evening before.

• Consideration to what area school districts and universities are doing. While every district has its unique situations, we do stay in touch with other districts to help guide decision-making.

The superintendent is responsible for the final decision, based on the above factors and recommendations from district staff, including the facilities and transportation departments.

Because weather updates can happen rapidly and to avoid miscommunication, please check the PfISD website at www.pfisd.net for the latest accurate information.

For campus-related information, such as revised class/bell schedules please check the specific campus website, or with your child's coach.

If the district must cancel school for a day, the first (in calendar year order) “bad weather day” designated on the PfISD School Year Calendar will become an instructional day. If the district must subsequently cancel school for another day, the second “bad weather day” designated on the calendar will also become an instructional day. If school is canceled for more than two days, the district will either add days at the end of the school year or follow directives from the Texas Education Agency.

If PfISD starts school later in the day due to bad weather, there will be no morning Pre-K offered that day. Also, no breakfast meals will be offered for that day.