School Closure Policy & Procedure
Lewis & Clark College will remain open unless conditions are so severe as to require closure. This policy applies to day, evening, weekday and Saturday classes of the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law and the Graduate School of Education and Counseling.
Individuals are advised to take all necessary precautions and to avoid dangerous conditions traveling to, from and around the campus.
DEFINITIONS
School Closure All classes are canceled and all support services other than those essential for resident students (i.e. Watzek Library, dining hall) are closed. Such closure is the result of either extended and/or potentially dangerous power outages or extremely hazardous on-campus and/or road conditions caused by snow, heavy icing, downed trees and power lines, etc., or natural or human caused disasters.
Late Opening Conditions which would otherwise require school closure if prolonged will result instead in late opening if the conditions are expected to moderate sufficiently within a reasonable time to allow for normal commuter movement and campus activities.
AUTHORIZATION
The Provost is responsible for making all decisions on school closure for the College. In the Provost's absence, the Vice President for Business and Finance will make the decision.
PROCEDURES
Morning In the event of severe weather conditions on and around campus that could lead either to school closure, class cancellation or late opening:
- Director of Campus Safety, or his backup, will call the Vice President and Provost, or her backup, the Vice President for Business and Finance, before 6 a.m. if possible.
If the decision is to close school or to delay opening, the Director of Campus Safety will, in order, have the following notified immediately:
Communication Services
- Senior Communications Officer or her backup will notify local media outlets, post the information on the SNOW-line, and update the College Web page;
- Information is relayed to the Director of Network and Technical Services or his backup for announcement placement on voice mail.
Food Services
- College Food Service General Manager or his backup.
Facilities Services
- Associate Vice President for Facilities or his backups.
Transportation Services
- Director of Transportation and Parking.
College Officials or their backups
- Vice President for Business and Finance or his backup;
- Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences or his backup;
- Dean of Students or Associate Dean of Students and Director of International Student Services;
- Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling or his backups (also for Saturday professional development classes);
- Dean of the Law School or Assistant Dean of Administrative Affairs;
- Vice President for Institutional Advancement or his backup.
In case of a power outage
- Director of Network and Technical Services or his backup.
These individuals are in turn responsible for relaying information to their sectional supervisors.
Afternoon When conditions worsen during the course of a regular school day, the Provost or the designee will notify Campus Safety of the action to be taken. Campus Safety will then respond by contacting those people listed in the previous section.
When conditions improve considerably during the course of a day in which the College was closed at 6 a.m., scheduled events may take place in the evening. Decisions about evening shifts, classes and public events will be made no later than 4 p.m. by the Provost or the designee in conjunction with the Campus Safety Director, Dean of the Law School, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Counseling, Director of Watzek Library and the Housekeeping Supervisor.
ANNOUNCEMENT POLICY
To avoid confusion and inconsistent and unauthorized messages, the public relations director or backup, whether in the early morning hours or during the day, will distribute ALL closure, cancellation, or late opening announcements. The public relations director or backup will post announcements to the SNOW-line and the Lewis & Clark home page and issue and announcement to media sources. Students, staff and faculty members should always use the home-page announcement and SNOW-line as their source of the most up-to-date and authoritative information.
In the event of delayed opening, the College as appropriate will announce "opening delayed until 9:30 a.m." or "morning classes canceled until 11:30 a.m." or "evening classes will be held/canceled beginning at 5 p.m." Regularly scheduled classes that begin at or after these times will meet. For example, if the College opens at noon and you teach a class that begins at 11:30 a.m. that class will not meet. If the College opens at noon and you teach a course that begins at 12:30 p.m., then that would be the first class of the day.
Individuals will have TWO possible ways of obtaining school closure information:
Do not rely on electronic media as the only source of information because it is susceptible to fraud.
When, as a result of varying conditions in the area, many other institutions have closed but Lewis and Clark is open, the senior communications officer will post a "school open" message on the snow line only: 503-768-SNOW (503-768-7669 or 503-768-7965).
COMPENSATION
If the College is officially closed before employees report to work, employees will not be expected to report unless specifically requested to do so by their supervisor and will be compensated for a regularly scheduled workday. Employees who are requested to come to work when the school is closed will not be penalized if they are unable to report for work because of road conditions, storm damage, injuries, etc.
If the school is open and employees are unable to report for personal reasons (i.e., road conditions in the area of their home), the supervisor must be notified as early as possible. Time lost due to personal reasons will be charged to accrued vacation. If an employee does not have vacation accrued, this time will be treated as time off without pay.
If a delayed opening is announced, employees are expected to report to work at the appointed time.
If the College closes after employees have reported to work, they will be paid for the remainder of their regularly scheduled shift on that day. When the College is open, employees are expected to report to work at their regularly scheduled time.
Revised November 6, 2006.
Revised June 4, 2008.
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