District 200 Visitor's Page-Emergency Closings

The decision to close school because of snow, extreme cold, or other emergency will be made as close to 6 a.m. as possible. Dr. Charles Baker, Acting Superintendent, will record a telephone message to be delivered to the households of all District 200 families and staff announcing the closing by 6 a.m. For you to receive this message, your current phone number must be on file with your child's school. Families may also check school and District answering machines and the District's home page (www.cusd200.org) for closing information. Local radio and TV stations will also be informed and announcements should be made over the following radio and television stations:

WGN Radio 720	WBBM News Radio 78
CBS Channel 2	NBC Channel 5
ABC Channel 7	WGN Channel 9
Fox Channel 32	CLTV News Channel 48

Closing information is also available by:
Online: www.EmergencyClosings.com
E-mail: Sign up for personalized e-mail notification at www.EmergencyClosings.com
Facility Search: You will need to enter " Dist 200" or your child's school name along with the city that the school is located in at www.EmergencyClosings.com to search.

We will only announce when schools are closed.

If schools are not closed, parents and guardians have the option to keep their children home from school due to safety concerns. Children kept home due to weather conditions will have an excused absence.

Radio and TV stations are likely to report closings as Community Unit School District 200 or CUSD 200 and not list individual schools. Please listen to these announcements carefully as there are several District 200 school systems in the metropolitan area.

If it is necessary to close school once classes begin, students will be dismissed based on information parents provide at registration. While the school will make every attempt to reach parents, it is not always possible. In those cases, the emergency information provided by parents at registration will be used. Please be certain that the school office has current names and phone numbers of your family's emergency contacts. It is suggested that you discuss these emergency arrangements with your child.

Factors that influence the decision include the amount of snow anticipated and on the the ground, road conditions, temperature and wind chill, bus availability and potential schedule delays, and the arrival time and projected duration of weather conditions.

The District will base its decision on the following information:

•	The bus company believes that they can run all of their bus routes in a timely manner and deliver our students safely to school.
•	The District 200 facilities' department is confident that they can keep our driveways, walkways, doorways and parking lots cleared sufficiently for pedestrians, cars, and emergency vehicles.
•	The municipal street departments servicing District 200 can maintain all of the streets in an acceptable manner.
•	The weather forecast supports our decision.
•	The decisions being made by neighboring school districts.

Decision on the cancellation of after school and extracurricular activities will be made by 2:00 PM by District administration and may be unique for Elementary, Middle, and High School levels. Information about cancellations will be made available:

•	on the CUSD 200 website
•	through the telephone calling system, ConnectED