In the event
of inclement weather or an emergency situation, the Puyallup School
District takes every precaution to ensure the safety of students.
District staff works continually with local police, sheriff, fire, and
emergency management teams to improve and fine-tune district emergency
plans. Due to situations beyond our control, sometimes there is a need
to close schools or modify their start times. The reasons for this are
varied, but will most likely be due to ice, snow or power outages (due
to downed power lines or utility brown-out for a given area). Closures
typically involve the whole school district. However, occasionally
there is a need to close down an individual school due to an isolated
problem.
Emergencies during school hours
The
district has a centralized Emergency Operations Center (EOC), and each
school site has a building EOC. These EOC teams have developed plans for
and hold drills on a variety of crises including fire, earthquakes, Sheltering-In-Place,
intruders, and lahar (valley schools). As part of these emergency
plans, there are trained staff members in the schools to respond to
emergencies. Depending on the type of emergency, decisions affecting
schools will be made by district officials in collaboration with the
Pierce County Sheriff and Puyallup Police Department. Please do not call
the school, transportation department, or district office. If the phone
lines are working, they will be used for emergency communication. The
district will communicate decisions to parents via SchoolMessenger Communicate, and sometimes radio and television.
Emergency announcements
The following is an explanation of district announcements used during inclement weather or other emergency situations.
Closed or Schools Closed: No
schools are in session in the Puyallup School District. This applies
only to the day that the announcement is made. There is no
out-of-district transportation. The district will communicate whether or
not after-school and evening activities will be held.
Two-Hour Late Start:
• Monday - All Grades
Elementary, junior high, high school, Options, Gateway, and Advance students will start school one hour later than their regular Monday late start bell schedules. Lunches will be served. Students will be dismissed at their normal Monday release times. Extended day preschool and a.m. Summit will not be held.
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday - All Grades
In the event of a weather-related or other two-hour late start on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, bus pick-up schedules will be two hours late, and buses will try to operate on all normal routes. Classes will dismiss at the normal time unless otherwise announced.
Adverse weather conditions may lead to all schools and buses in the Puyallup School District starting two hours late. In this case, the following can be expected:
- - there will be no morning (a.m.) or extended day preschool;
- - afternoon (p.m.) preschool will begin and end school on regular time;
- - there will be no morning (a.m.) Summit at Sparks Stadium;
- - elementary band and orchestra will be canceled;
- - there will be no out-of-district transportation;
- - Right At School daycare also will run two hours late;
- - lunches WILL BE served throughout the district.