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Inclement Weather Information

Ensuring that students are able to get to school on time every day means that they need to be able to travel safely between home and school. While Oklahoma may have some beautiful days during the fall, winter, and spring, our weather can also be unpredictable and create hazardous travel conditions for our students, teachers, families, and staff.
 
When inclement weather is approaching, school officials begin driving the district as early as 4:30 a.m., evaluating the conditions on Owasso roads and bridges. By 6:00 a.m., we make a determination about closing school on the impacted day. When possible, we may make the notification by 10 p.m. on the night prior to the weather event. 
 
We use these principles to guide us and make decisions about closing schools for inclement weather:

  • Time spent in the classroom is integral to preparing students for academic success.

  • Students and staff must be able to get to and from school safely.

  • Parents and guardians must have adequate time to make arrangements for transportation or childcare.

What might appear to be a simple decision involves the consideration of many different factors, and the decision to close school is only reached after seeking the counsel of many sources. The District's first priority is to ensure the safety of OPS students, parents, and staff.

School closings are communicated widely via the following process:

  • Staff will be notified via email;

  • Families will be notified first via a text from School Messenger, the district's automated messaging system

  • Families will receive an email with details

  • Local news stations are contacted; and

  • The information is also posted to the district website and social media accounts.

If inclement weather persists and school is closed for the following day, we will repeat the above contact procedures. If no push notification email or automated text is received, school is in session.

If school is closed due to inclement weather, the district will utilize distance learning on those days. Students will log into Google Classroom and follow their normal schedule, receiving virtual instruction from their OPS teacher. If your student has a question or issue with logging into Google Classroom, please reach out to their teacher or school site. For complete information regarding distance learning, please reference our Distance Learning Plan.

Spring Severe Weather

Owasso Public Schools stays in touch with the meteorologists and receives regular briefings. School officials also monitor weather reports on local news stations.
 
Once school is in session, we will not release buses early. There is too much danger in having young children at home with no adult present. If we need to hold buses to ensure the safety of our students, we will. As always, if you are uncomfortable with the approaching weather, you can check out your child. Please be aware of the individual school’s policy on pickup if you are arriving close to the actual dismissal time. Should the tornado warning sirens sound, children will be sheltered in the building and the front doors to the schools will be locked so our staff can get to shelter as well.