Inclement Weather Procedures

School closings or delays will be posted on the Edenton-Chowan Schools' website. Call-outs are sent to the students primary home phone number through our Alert Now System. The Edenton-Chowan Schools voice mail system features information about weather delays. After dialing a particular school, parents can dial 500 to access weather information at D.F. Walker Elementary School (252-221-4151), Chowan Middle School (252-221-4131), and John A. Holmes High School (252-482-8426). Parents whose children attend White Oak Elementary School (252-221-4078) should dial 600 for weather delay information. Parents also may find information concerning weather delays through the media outlets listed below.

Radio:

WZBO 1260 AM

WGAI 56 AM

WKJX KISS 97 FM

WRVS 89.9 FM

WRSF DIXIE 105.7 FM

WFMZ PRAISE 105 FM

Television:

WITN-TV 7

WNCT-TV 9

WTKR-TV 3

WAVY-TV 10

WVEC-TV 13


Weather conditions are always monitored by school personnel who remain in continuous contact with the Chowan County Emergency Operation Center. The local media is notified of any school cancellation, early dismissal or delay and given information of alternate schedules. If the local media or school voice mail systems are not announcing information concerning Edenton-Chowan Schools, the schools will operate on a normal schedule. For further questions, please contact Central Services at 252-482-4436.

When is the decision to close or delay school made? 

The decision to close or delay is made by 5:30 a.m. so that we can promptly notify bus drivers, radio and TV stations, post to the school Web site and begin the ConnectEd School Messenger phone and text message to notify parents and remaining staff members.

How do we do we make the decision? 

Transporting our students safely to and from school is our priority. The decision to close or delay school is made with the most up-to-date information the school system receives from local Chowan County Emergency Management, the National Weather Service, and observations of local weather and road conditions. Based on the best available information, a decision is made as to whether our school buses can safely travel on state roads with at least a one mile visibility at the 5:30 a.m. time frame. We have staff members throughout the county that help monitor the weather situations and report those findings. Our Transportation Director then calls and makes a recommendation to the Superintendent who is responsible for making the final decision.     

Can the decision change? 

Generally speaking, we do not reverse our decision to delay or close school in the morning due to the fact that a change may endanger our students. Once a decision is made to open the schools, many of our parents rely on that decision and go ahead and leave for work. A change in decision after the buses are on the road, may result in unsupervised children at home that were waiting on their bus pickup and for students that are already on their bus we do not want to chance taking them home to an empty house. Once the buses start running it is generally safer to complete the bus route to pickup our students and have them safely on campus with adult supervision.

There are times when the weather conditions can worsen throughout the day and an early dismissal is required. We strive to provide as much advance notice as possible to parents so that early dismissal arrangements can be made.

Our school system makes every effort to ensure that your child is provided safe transportation to and from school. We make every effort to make the best decision, although no perfect decision exists. We have all seen instances where fog suddenly covers the area while the buses are already on the road. We take every precaution possible to ensure the buses are visible (hazard lights, etc.) and strive to get students on campus as safe and quickly as possible.

If you feel as though it is not safe for your child to ride the bus or attend school based on the current weather conditions, please use your best judgment as a parent as to whether he or she should ride the bus or attend school that day.  

What should parents do?