GARFIELD-PALOUSE SCHOOL DELAY / CLOSURE PROCEDURES
Some situations will require the Garfield-Palouse Cooperative Schools to be closed or delayed due to weather conditions, power outages or other safety concerns. Emergency Bus Routes may be in effect, rather than normal bus routes, due to road conditions. When implemented, emergency plowed pavement bus route status will be in effect for all bus routes in the Garfield-Palouse Cooperative district. Emergency routes will NOT be specified on a road-by-road basis, or on a district-by-district basis.
Two Hour Delay - Paved and Plowed Bus Routes are limited to State Highway 27, State Highway 272 and all paved county roads that have been plowed. Busses will NOT operate on any gravel roads, or on any paved roads that are not safely passable by school busses. Pick-up/Drop-off times may vary with weather and road conditions. Students will be dropped off in the afternoon at the same location they are picked up in the morning.
After School - Paved and Plowed Bus Routes are limited to State Highway 27, State Highway 272 and all paved county roads that have been plowed. Busses will NOT operate on gravel roads, or on any paved roads that are not safely passable by school busses. Pick-up/Drop-off times may vary with weather and road conditions.
4:00 – 4:20 Route and 5:45 – 6:10 P.M. Activity Route will run as normal on 2 hour late days. However, all practice and study halls will be cancelled if schools close during the day or it is decided that the roads will not be safe by 6:00 PM.
City Bus Routes are limited to normal in-town bus stop locations in the town of Garfield and city of Palouse, and the Middle School and High School shuttle buses that operate between the two school buildings. No rural bus routes will operate in this situation. Pick-up/Drop-off times may vary with weather and road conditions.
Pre-school and Kindergarten schedules will be altered when Two-Hour Delayed start is implemented.
--- Garfield will have NO morning Pre-school and NO morning Kindergarten.
--- Palouse will have NO morning Pre-school and NO afternoon Pre-School.
AlertNow is a rapid communication service that allows the Garfield-Palouse Schools to contact hundreds of parents or guardians within minutes. Our district has recently implemented this parent/guardian notification system. The AlertNow system will be used to notify families regarding cancellations and weather related school delays or closures. You may receive these notifications by phone, e-mail or SMS text messages on your phone. AlertNow works even when local power, Internet or school phone lines are inoperable.
Recipients will see the Palouse school’s phone number (509-878-1921) on caller IDs for routine calls. Emergency messages will be displayed as “411-000-0000” on caller IDs; this makes a distinction between informational calls and emergency notifications. SMS text messages will come from 55629 or 23177.
