Emergency Closing Procedures
Every effort will be made to post closing information on the home page of this website as soon as possible.
Staff at GRS-TV, Channel 98 & 99 on Time Warner Cable, will add school closing information to those channels as a resource to GISD patrons. If you cannot obtain the info you seek on the web site, try these channels next.
Check the broadcast locations noted to the right for school closing information. They will be your most timely and accurate source of information. However, due to the large number of public and private schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, there may be a delay before our information gets into their rotation.
Please note: there are private schools in the Garland, Rowlett, and Sachse area. Be sure to read/listen to broadcast postings on commercial stations carefully to ensure that you don't mistake Garland ISD for a similarly named private school.
Garland ISD Bad Weather Closing Procedures
The following information is provided to help parents understand how the district determines whether or not to hold school on bad weather days and the notification procedures which are in place.
The Superintendent and staff members advising him on the decision must consider several factors:
- Road safety of students and staff and ability of school buses to travel safely
- Whether natural gas supplies to heat the schools will be available. (Occasionally, in very extreme circumstances, Lone Star Gas could be forced to curtail gas supplies to commercial customers to ensure that residential customers can stay warm.)
- Some young students may not have adult supervision during the day if school is closed.
- Other students may not have a warm place to stay during the day.
Be assured that the decision to close school is a very important one and is made only after thorough consideration.
Here are some guidelines to follow:
1. Assume that school will open as
usual.
2. The district’s procedure for closing schools is as follows:
- We closely monitor weather reports on the major television and radio stations.
- We are in contact with the police and sheriff’s department as needed.
- We are in contact with neighboring school districts.
- Administrative personnel begin driving roads and major arteries at approximately 3:00 a.m. to determine the degree of iciness and road safety.
- At approximately 4:30 a.m., the Transportation Director will contact the Superintendent to discuss the conditions throughout the district, with special emphasis on areas traveled by school buses. At this time, the Superintendent will determine if more data is needed before the decision is made whether or not to open school.
- Student and staff safety on the roads is our major consideration.
- If/when the Superintendent makes the decision to close schools, all notification procedures are put into place between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m.
3. Check with one of the following sources of information to obtain information:
• GRS-TV Channels 98 & 99 on Time Warner Cable
• GISD Web site at www.garlandisd.net
• Major television stations (see list on right)
• Major radio stations (see AM and FM lists on right)
As noted above, school closing decisions are made between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m. Should the Superintendent determine that closing schools is the appropriate course of action, the Director of Communications immediately begins alerting the media. We will NOT inform the media if we will NOT be closed.
4. If schools must be closed, the school day must be made up later in the year on one of the dates designated as a “bad weather” day.
5. Other conditions such as heating capabilities may influence the decision.
6. Please do not call the schools, the Transportation Department, or the Harris Hill Administration Building.
Most schools and departments have only one or two phone lines. If schools are in session and the weather is getting bad, it is important that we be able to keep them open for emergencies. If it is still very early in the morning, it is unlikely that there are staff members manning the telephones.
If the decision is made to close schools, the media (TV and radio) are the first people we notify. You will get the most accurate and timely information from these sources.