CONWAY PUBLIC SCHOOLS' INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Ensuring the safety and well-being of our students, staff, and parents remains our top priority during inclement weather. We understand that the decision to hold school can be both straightforward and challenging, and we want to keep you informed of our policies and procedures.

  1. If we do not believe the roads throughout the district are safe to drive buses on and for parents and students to drive on, we will not have school. There will be times when the roads are clear in the city but rural, shaded sections of roads are not safely passable. If that is the case, we will not have school.

  2. It is not always possible, our aim is to communicate this determination by 5:00 pm on the evening before a potential closure or by 6:00 am on the day in question.

  3. If we are having school, we will not make any announcement: “No news is good news.”

  4. If we are not having school, we will make the announcement through all possible communication channels.

  5. We will also notify our parents with a phone call and using social media . If you have not been receiving messages from Conway Schools this year, make sure we have updated contact information for you at your child’s school.

  6. We will give our closings information to local television stations.

  7. If we have to close school days will be made up according to the CPSD School Calendar.

  8. If conditions warrant, we may open school on a 2-hour delay. If this happens, everything moves back exactly two hours. (For example, if a bus normally picks up your student at 7:10—it would pick him up at 9:10.) On a 2-hour delay, school will officially begin at 10:00 am.

If conditions warrant, we may have school, but run our buses using our school bus snow routes.

School Bus Snow Routes

CONWAY PUBLIC SCHOOLS STORM SHELTER INFORMATION

Conway Public Schools has 14 multi-purpose storm shelters or "safe rooms" located throughout our school district.

They can be found at the following CPSD schools:

The storm shelters, which are located throughout the city, are available for use by the public during non-school hours. School hours are from 7:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday during the school year.

The shelters are wired in with the City of Conway’s Severe Weather alert system, so when the sirens go off for a Tornado Warning, the doors open automatically for community members to go inside. During storm season, the doors will be checked weekly to make sure the automatic openers are working properly. Rules are posted at each site. The doors will automatically lock when the warning expires.

Community members who plan to use the shelters in the event of severe weather should visit the shelter during non-school hours and a non-weather event to locate parking, entrances, etc. to formulate the best plan should severe weather indeed necessitate using the shelter in an emergency situation.

Tornado Safe Room Rules

  • Safe Room doors will unlock remotely when a tornado warning is issued. 

  • During School hours, the Safe Room is for School use only.

  • The Safe Room is open to the public only when a tornado warning has been issued, after school hours.

  • The Safe Room will remain open only until the warning is lifted.

  • When the warning expires, the Safe Room must be evacuated.

  • Pets are not allowed in the Safe Room. 

  • Food and drink are not permitted in the Safe Room. 

  • In accordance with Arkansas law, smoking or the use of tobacco in any form is prohibited in Safe Rooms as well as on all school property.

  • Personal mobile multimedia devices, including but not limited to radios, smartphones and tablets (e.g. iPads) may be used only with individual earphones. 

  • Safe Room doors must remain closed at all times during weather events.