If it is necessary to close or delay school, the Canal Winchester Local School District will attempt to make this decision as early as possible. Once a decision is made to close or delay school, the information will be shared with the parents as quickly as possible.
The Canal Winchester School District has an automated phone, email and text system. This program allows the immediate notification to all households and parents of any critical or unplanned event that will cause school cancellation, delay or an early dismissal. The school will continue to use radio and television to broadcast school closings and delays due to weather.
*NOTE: While technology is great, sometimes a phone call may roll to your voicemail or a text is delayed due to service area or you may not have updated your contact information. You can always do things the old-fashioned way and check a local news station for cancellations or delays if you are unsure. We will also post to the district website if there is a cancellation.
Please be sure your phone numbers are listed in the PowerSchool forms. To make changes to this information, login to your PowerSchool account, make changes in the #3 Contact Form and resubmit to the district.
In the event school is placed on a morning delay, early release or closed, follow one of these patterns:
- Two (2) Hour Delay - All school start times and bus stop times will be pushed back 2 hours. (For example if your bus time is 8:15AM then add 2 hours for a 10:15AM bus stop time) Please see the detailed building schedule to the right.
- Early Dismissal – Early dismissal for inclement weather will automatically cancel all after-school activities. Only high school activities scheduled for 6:00 p.m. or later may be permitted depending upon weather as judged safe by the high school principal and superintendent.
- Cancellation of the School Day – Evening school activities may be permitted as determined by the building principal and superintendent.
- Please note that on days schools are closed or dismissed early due to inclement weather there will be no CW Recreation practices or games.
Each of the local television stations offer a school closing/delays text message program that sends closure/delay information directly to your telephone. Click on one or more of the following links:
If you have any questions, please contact the District Office at 614-837-4533.
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Cancellations and Delays
HOW DO WE MAKE OUR DECISION?
A decision to keep schools open or close for inclement weather is based on a careful review of several factors including:
Information from the transportation staff, administrators and local police and township personnel. Careful consideration is given to the most dangerous roads in the district. Although your street or road may appear clear, travel elsewhere in the district may be dangerous. The opposite may be true as well.
- The current amount of snow and/or ice accumulated.
- Whether conditions are worsening or improving.
- Weather forecast. Our decisions will not be based entirely upon weather predictions, but they are taken into account.
- Building conditions as it relates to electricity, heat and water.
- Parking and sidewalk conditions. We keep in constant contact with our maintenance and custodial staffs to be certain all school locations are safely cleared.
- Temperature and wind chill. We do not publish a specific temperature or wind chill at which schools will be closed because different sources can report different air temperatures.
- What other school districts are doing. We share information with other local school districts and check on their status.
WHO MAKES THE DECISION?
The superintendent of schools is responsible for the final decision, based upon the factors listed above and recommendations from key staff members.
HOW IS THE PUBLIC NOTIFIED?
The delay and/or closing process is challenging. It takes nearly a half-hour to notify all of the area radio and television stations, vocational schools, private schools dependent upon transportation as well as latchkey and pre-school providers of our status.
WHEN IS THE DECISION MADE?
We make every effort to make our decision by 5:30AM or earlier so radio and television stations can be notified.
WILL CANAL WINCHESTER SCHOOLS CLOSE SCHOOL IF CONDITIONS WORSEN?
The decision made at 5:30AM is based upon the information we have available at that time. Weather may cause us to make a decision as late as 6:00AM
Please know that we do our absolute best to keep our students safe during inclement weather. There is no perfect decision for everyone. If you do not feel as though it is safe for your child to attend school, use your best judgment on whether he/she should attend school. Please discourage teenagers from driving in bad weather conditions and offer them alternatives if the weather conditions worsen.