Information on School Closings
Follow Us on Twitter!
Visit the home page of our website and “follow us” on Twitter! Forest Hills Public Schools has created a special District-Wide News Alert Twitter Account which will be used exclusively for News Alerts such as School Closings, School Delays, and other ground-breaking news. By following the District-Wide News Alert Twitter Feed, you will receive immediate notification about any school closures or delays directly from the Superintendent’s Office as a determination has been made, in real-time.
TV/Radio Stations Notified of School Closings:
The following local TV and radio stations are notified through the GRAIL System when Forest Hills Public Schools are closed due to weather conditions or other circumstance.
TV Stations:
WOOD TV-8 WZZM TV-13 WXMI TV-17
Radio Stations:
WOOD AM/FM WMUS WGRD WKLQ WODJ WLHT WLAV
Special Notes:
When school is closed due to winter weather conditions, all after-school activities for the day will be cancelled unless specified otherwise by the Superintendent. In the event of early dismissal, notice will be immediately provided via list serve, web site, and local media stations.
Tornado Watches & Warnings and School District Operations:
Here is a reminder of how Forest Hills Public Schools operates during tornado watches and warnings:
Tornado Watch – When the NWS issues a tornado watch, the District will do the following:
• Continue a normal school day schedule.
• Move recess and other scheduled outdoor activities to inside the building.
• Ensure that a staff member in each building monitors official weather bulletins and local radar.
• Consider the impact of storm fronts and squall lines on the transportation of students; transportation times may be altered to avoid transporting students during a thunderstorm when a tornado watch is in effect.
• Cancel or postpone after-school activities and athletic events if the watch is issued prior to the start of these activities.
• Designate a staff member to monitor weather bulletins and local radar if a watch is issued during after-school activities and athletic events (these events may be halted at the discretion of the on-site supervisor).
Tornado Warning – When the NWS issues a tornado warning for any region encompassed by the geographical area of the Forest Hills Public Schools, the District will do the following:
• Issue the tornado warning alert/alarm/ announcement.
• Move people to designated shelter areas.
• Continuously monitor weather bulletins and local radar.
• Suspend all routine operations until the warning has expired (this may include delay of the starting and ending of the school day).
Recently, the NWS has changed many of their long-standing practices and protocols as it pertains to tornado warnings. Specifically, the NWS is no longer issuing tornado warnings for an entire county. Instead, warnings are issued for geographic areas in the probable path of a tornado. Also, the NWS is no longer only issuing warnings based on the visual sighting of an actual tornado or funnel cloud. Instead, the NWS will issue a warning at the presence of radar-indicated cloud rotation. Since radar-indicated cloud rotation is more prevalent than an actual tornado, we should expect tornado warnings to be more frequent than in the past.
We urge parents to refrain from coming to school to pick up their child during a tornado warning. The process of checking a child out of school diverts the attention of staff when their presence is needed to perform other important tasks during a warning.
Finally, children take their emotional cues from the caring adults in their lives. Please discuss with your family what should be done during periods of threatening weather. Severe weather watches and warnings are a common aspect of living in Michigan, and children are able to learn to calmly and deliberately respond to tornado watches and warnings.
If you have any questions regarding the District’s procedures during a tornado watch or warning, feel free to contact your child’s principal. For contact information, please visit your child’s school web site.
