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Emergency & Severe Weather Notifications

We encourage you to take a moment to review West Chicago Community High School’s emergency and severe weather notification procedures. Familiarity with these protocols is important in the event that weather conditions or a significant emergency disrupts the school day or leads to a delayed start or school closure.

Please Note: Official WCCHS communications are shared directly with students, parents/guardians, and staff through the school’s notification system. If you receive information from sources outside of this system, please consult the official WCCHS website for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Emergency Notification Procedures

An emergency notification will be issued by school officials as soon as reasonably necessary and without delay to communicate when:

  • school will be cancelled*; or
  • there will be a delayed start or change to dismissal time; or,
  • there is a disruption of the school day such as a lockdown or safety incident.

*E-Learning Days: In order to reduce or avoid the need to make up days at the end of the school year because of school cancellations, WCCHS has implemented an E-Learning program. This program is approved by the Community High School District 94 Board of Education and verified by the state. For more information, visit the E-Learning web page.

School Closings/Delays

The decision to close school or delay the morning start time is made if the District believes that weather conditions or a significant emergency pose a danger to students and staff.

  • Staff will be notified by phone and email through the school’s notification system. The notification system will send emergency notification messages to staff based on the email address(es) and/or phone number(s) provided in Skyward. Staff should verify and update this contact information regularly.
     
  • Parents/guardians will be notified by phone and email through the school’s notification system. The notification system will send emergency notification messages to ALL phone numbers and email on file for all guardians in PowerSchool SIS, including mobile, work, and home numbers, and email. Parents/guardians should routinely check and update in PowerSchool any necessary communication information
     
  • Students will receive a copy of the parent/guardian email through their school email account (@d94.org).
     
  • If the decision is made to delay the opening of school, the delay will ALWAYS follow the Late Start Day Bell Schedule with a 9:15 a.m. start time unless otherwise stated.
     
  • If a decision has already been made to close or delay school for the following day, the decision will be communicated on the evening before a closing or delay will occur. However, the Superintendent has the discretion to make the decision about closings or delays in the morning if conditions worsen, and/or it is no longer safe for students and staff to come to school. In these rare cases, the decision to cancel or delay school will be made and communicated as early as possible.
     
  • Unless an emergency notification is issued through the school notification system as stated above, West Chicago Community High School District 94 will be open and operate on a normal school day schedule.
Early Dismissals/Disruption to School Day

For unplanned early dismissals and other emergency situations that may cause a disruption to the school day, such as a safety incident:

  • Students and staff will hear emergency notification information and instructions over the school’s P.A. system. If the situation permits, staff also will receive an email with this information and any additional instructions through their Gmail account (@d94.org).
     
  • Parents will be notified by phone through the school’s notification system to all phone numbers on file for all guardians in PowerSchool SIS, including mobile, work, and home numbers. If it is necessary to dismiss students early, a phone message will be sent as soon as the decision is made. An email will be sent as soon as reasonably possible and as the situation permits.
     
  • Staff will receive a copy of the parent/guardian email through the school’s notification system. This email will be sent to the email address provided in Skyward. Staff should verify and update this contact information regularly.
     
  • Students will receive a copy of the parent/guardian email through their school email account (@d94.org).
     
  • Text messaging will be used to send and receive safety alerts related to severe weather and emergency notifications, as deemed necessary by administration. 

For All Emergency Notification Situations:

  • In the event of a school closure, delayed start, or early dismissal, the school’s main switchboard number (847-424-7000) will have a recorded announcement and information will be posted on the school’s website (www.d94.org/) and shared on the ETHS mobile app, Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WCCHS), and X (formerly Twitter) page (@CHSD94).
  • Local media will be notified, and WCCHS D94 will report school closures, delayed starts, and early dismissals to the Emergency Closing Center at www.emergencyclosingcenter.com, which shares this information with local TV news and radio stations.
  • Information about disruptions to the school day will not be communicated with the public while an emergency situation is still in progress if a first responder determines that issuing an alert may compromise the efforts to contain, respond to, or mitigate the emergency. In those cases, information will be shared with the public after an all-clear is issued.

Severe Weather Considerations

If school is in session on days when severe weather is predicted, students and staff are urged to allow extra time in the morning to get to school safely. Whether walking to school, taking the bus, driving, or being dropped off at school in a vehicle, students and staff are encouraged to take extra precautions to stay warm by wearing additional layers and protective outerwear. Parents are encouraged to make decisions about their child's attendance at school, based on current weather conditions and safe transportation to and from school. All WCCHS employees are expected to make a reasonable effort to report to work as scheduled.

Please note that while District 25, 33 and 34 schools and WCCHS D94 attempt to coordinate plans whenever possible, there may be different weather-related delays, dismissals or closures announced for each district.