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Parent Information
Parent Information
Ketina Armstrong
Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Dear Parents: 

Temperatures are falling, and with that comes wintery weather! The Meramec Valley R-III School District recognizes the challenges that result from school being cancelled due to inclement weather.  As such, we want to share some information with you to keep you informed about our district's procedures for school closings and delays due to weather. 

In the case of inclement weather:

  1. The district administration will make a decision as soon as they can. In general, school officials will not cancel school based on a forecast. However, there are occasional instances where decisions could be made when inclement weather appears to be inevitable.

  2. When possible, the decision to cancel school will be made the night before, usually by 9:00 pm. However, in most situations, a decision isn’t made until the following morning. An early morning decision is typically made by 5:00 a.m. A decision to cancel school will be shared in the following ways: Email, text message, automated phone call, push notification through our mobile app, district social media sites, and local television stations and radio stations.

  3. NEW THIS YEAR: The district has implemented a 2-hour late start option. This option would generally be used if the weather forecast indicates the conditions present in the early morning hours will be temporary and improved weather/temperatures are expected.

As we look ahead, we ask that all parents: 

  1. Create a plan for unexpected school closures and share the plan with your student. School cancellations due to weather are unavoidable and will happen at some point. 

  2. Please watch our district website, app, and social media pages information related to school closures. We will post periodic updates about the decision making process. We typically will not respond to questions submitted on social media asking if we plan to have school. 

  3. Recognize that snow itself rarely closes school. Snow in the forecast is not our primary concern. Rather, visibility, road conditions, ice build-up, and the status of plowing are more important issues to consider. In addition, the capability of our staff to safely travel to school and for our maintenance department to clear sidewalks and parking lots have a large impact our ability to have school.

As always, the highest priority for our district is the safety and security of our students and staff, for whom we will always err on the side of caution. We appreciate your understanding as we focus on doing what’s best for kids. 


Ketina Armstrong; Director of Communications

Meramec Valley R-III School District