Weather and Emergency Information
Are you prepared?
Do you have a backup plan if schools are delayed, closed or release students earlier than expected? For example, could you:
- Adjust your work schedule?
- Hire a babysitter or take the kids to daycare?
- Ask a friend, neighbor or family member to watch the kids?
The weather can change quickly and without warning, making it difficult or impossible to follow regular routines. It’s important to be prepared—long before the storm hits.
How we notify families
- Automated phone calls, emails and texts: Please keep your contact information updated in Skyward (Family Access) or contact your school office. On weather days, calls may begin going out as early as 5:30 a.m. to families who have not opted out.
- Information line: 360-885-5343 (updated by 6 a.m. on impacted days).
- District website: Bookmark www.battlegroundps.org for easy access.
- Social media accounts
- Flash Alert: Sign up for email alerts or download the mobile app for updates about emergency and non-emergency issues. You must re-subscribe every year.
- TV and radio stations, local newspapers may share information at their discretion.
Battle Ground Public Schools administrators consider many factors when determining school closures, and notify families only if there is a change to the school schedule.
Weather-related late starts are two-hours!
In the event of a late start, school begins two hours later than normal. If a weather-related, two-hour late start occurs on a Wednesday late-start day, the teacher collaboration time will be canceled and school will start two hours later than the regular (Mon./Tues./Thurs./Fri.) start time. View school start/end times as well as late start and early release information.
Parental discretion and weather-related absences
Even when a school is open, parents and guardians may use their own judgment whether it is safe to send their children to school. Weather-related absences are excused if they are reported to the school by a parent or guardian.
Bus snow routes
Snow routes are posted on our bus routes webpage.
North and south split
The district is split into “north” and “south” schools for the purpose of weather closures. Please note whether your school is designated as a “north” or “south” school.
- North schools – Battle Ground High, Yacolt Primary and Amboy Middle schools, Captain Strong Primary, Chief Umtuch Middle, Tukes Valley Primary and Middle, CAM Academy, River HomeLink, and Summit View High School.
- South schools – Prairie High, Daybreak Primary and Middle, Maple Grove Primary, Pleasant Valley Primary and Middle, and Glenwood Heights Primary and Laurin Middle.
Phone calls
In case of a school closure or late start, we may begin calling families as early as 5:30 a.m. Please update your child’s contact information on Skyward (Family Access) or with your school office so that we can notify you. If you do not receive a call, you can call our information line at 360-885-5343 to check if there is a change in the school schedule. Additional weather information is on the district website.
Other Programs
Right At School
In the event of schedule changes due to inclement weather, Right At School follows the district’s decisions:
- If the school is closed, Right At School programs at that school will be closed.
- If the school is 2 hours late, Right at School at that school will open 2 hours late at 8:30 a.m.
- If the school closes early or cancels afternoon activities, Right At School at that location will be closed after school.
- In the case of a split district, Right At School follows the schedule of the school where it is located.
Community Education
If Battle Ground Public Schools closes schools, releases students early or cancels after-school activities due to weather, all Community Education enrichment and recreation events, classes and practices will be canceled.
In the event of a split-district closure, all Community Education enrichment and recreation events, classes and practices will be canceled at closed locations. If school and/or after-school activities are not canceled, all activities will go on as scheduled.
Course instructors will reschedule missed classes due to inclement weather. Practices will not be rescheduled.
Weekend events and classes
If inclement weather happens on a weekend when Battle Ground Community Education activities are scheduled, look online or call 360-885-6584 for cancellation information.
If it is a game or tournament:
- All game supervisors and referees will be called.
- It is the responsibility of the coaches to look online or call Battle Ground Community Education at 360-885-6584 to get the up-to-date closure information and call their players.
- Within two weeks coaches will be notified of the rescheduled games and it will be the coaches’ responsibility to inform their players.
If it is a class:
- The instructor and students will be called.
- You will be notified of the reschedule as soon as possible.
- Course instructors will reschedule missed classes due to inclement weather.
Tigerland Preschool
If Battle Ground Public Schools has a late start due to weather conditions, morning Tigerland preschool will be canceled and rescheduled. Afternoon Tigerland preschool will be held at the regularly scheduled time.
If Battle Ground Public Schools releases students early due to weather conditions, afternoon Tigerland preschool will get out early or be canceled depending on the time of the decision.
Occasionally, our schools go into lockdown. Lockdowns are performed for the safety of students and staff members. Exterior doors are locked and no one is allowed to enter or leave a building for the duration of the lockdown.
Why lockdowns happen
Lockdowns can occur for multiple reasons. Sometimes schools are put into lockdown by law enforcement as a precaution because of activity in the surrounding area that is unrelated to the school. Lockdowns often occur with little or no advance notice and are lifted within minutes. Most of the time, classes continue as usual. In these cases, the district often does not notify parents and guardians.
Communication during a lockdown
Parents and guardians also should be prepared for the possibility of a prolonged lockdown. We know that everyone wants the most immediate updates and information both during and after this kind of situation. However, calling the office or driving to the school during a lockdown can tie up staff resources and seriously impede the work of law enforcement and district security personnel.
School leaders, local law enforcement and school-safety experts have worked together to establish guidelines that balance safety with communication. During a lockdown, only limited information will be released for the safety of students, staff members and first responders. As incidents unfold, often it is difficult to verify details and facts may be delayed. News sources and information posted on social media may not always be true or up to date. We will work to provide accurate information.
In some situations, students and staff members may be discouraged from using cellphones for safety reasons.
Emergency procedures practiced in Battle Ground Public Schools
Evacuation: Students and staff calmly leave the building in an orderly manner to a designated location on campus.
Modified lockdown: Students and staff are brought inside the building; exterior doors are locked.
Full lockdown: Students and staff are brought into classrooms, classroom and exterior doors are locked, windows are covered and students remain quiet and out of sight.
Shelter-in-Place: Depending on the hazard (tornado, biological, volcano, earthquake), students either drop, cover and hold; seal the room; or move to a shelter area.
Run, Hide, Fight (code silver): Protocols endorsed by Clark County law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security for responding to a life-threatening situation in schools. Students are urged to 1) Run when it is safe to run. 2) Hide where it is safe to hide. 3) Fight if you have no other options.
Reunification
Schools have established safe areas where parents can pick up their children in the event that students are evacuated off campus. Parents and guardians will be notified of the reunification location and procedures. For safety reasons, these locations are not shared in advance.
The person picking up a student must be listed on their emergency contact list and provide a photo ID with a name that matches the name on that list.
- We ask that our community be vigilant in reporting anything concerning. You can report anonymously online. Emergencies should always be reported to 911.
- We have procedures in place for securing buildings and evacuating students during emergency events, and we practice these procedures regularly so that students and staff know what to do if an emergency happens.
- Upgrades are currently underway to make school entries to be more secure. The upgrades vary from site to site, but the goal is to install audio/visual devices, doors, cameras and programmable software that will require visitors to communicate with office staff in order to gain entry to buildings. Office staff will be able to monitor and control access.
- All staff must wear identification badges during the day, and visitors must check into the school office and also wear identification while on campus.
- The district has security personnel on its high school campuses and school resource officers available to all of our schools. In the event of a threat or heightened safety concern, there may be additional security staff on campus as needed.
- Security cameras are placed in various locations throughout the interior and exterior of our buildings.
- A computerized phone calling system allows us to notify families about emergency situations in a timely manner.
- One of Battle Ground Public Schools’ goals is to support the emotional and social well-being of students. The district has support services in place to both identify and help our students, including school psychologists and counselors, behavioral intervention strategies and community mental health counseling.
- We believe that community relationships and caring adults play a big part in helping to identify youth in crisis, and have worked over the last several years to build partnerships in support of our students.
11104 N.E. 149th Street,
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 200 
360-885-5300