Park University Logo

Parkville Campus

Social Work
Your Location: Park.edu Home > Policies and Procedures >Inclement Weather

Inclement Weather Procedures, Kansas City Area Campus Centers (Parkville, Downtown & Independence)



Purpose

To delineate responsibility for decisions concerning canceling classes and curtailing services in the event of snow/inclement weather, and to outline guidelines for communication and staffing over heavy snowfall/inclement weather days.

Policy

The University will remain open during snowstorms/inclement weather, but may cancel or reschedule classes and/or curtail non-essential services in response to the conditions. Since we have a national presence, under these conditions the University makes alternative arrangements to serve our students nationwide by relocating designated offices to our underground facilities at the Parkville, Mo., campus.

Procedure Summary

The University remains open during extreme snow conditions/inclement weather, since there is continuing activity to service other campus centers and Online students which requires some employees to work. If the University remains open for business, employees may use their discretion whether to attempt to come to work or to leave work early because of bad weather conditions. Employees who decide not to come into work or decide to leave early because of inclement weather must notify their supervisor in advance, and may choose to take a vacation day or take the day without pay. Certain extreme weather conditions may dictate the cancellation of classes (both day and evening). In this situation, the decision will be made by the University’s president or his/her delegate.

The decision will be communicated within the University community by telephone/e-mail/text/University web site by the vice presidents and/or their delegate(s). The decision will also be communicated to Kansas City area media outlets by the University’s Office of Communication. All communication with the media will be from the Office of the President or the Office of Communication.

 

Detailed Procedures

When a decision to cancel classes is determined by University senior administrative staff, it will be announced as early as possible using the following guidelines:

  • Day Classes — Announcement by 6 a.m.
  • Evening Classes — Announcement by 4 p.m.
There are several ways that Park University will notify Kansas City-area students, faculty and staff of a school closing:
  • Cell phone text alerts (If you haven't registered your cell phone to receive official Park University text alerts, visit https://www.park.edu/parkalert/register.aspx or https://www.park.edu/parkalert/registerqr.aspx (Please note that you must have a smartphone with a QR code reader or barcode scanner application installed on your phone to take advantage of this option.)
  • E-mail alerts
  • Park University's website home page, www.park.edu
  • Facebook (www.facebook.com/parkuniversity ) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/parkuniversity)
  • Kansas City-area media outlets (IMPORTANT: Please listen/read carefully for your specific campus center location — Parkville, Downtown Kansas City or Independence. Park's Wentworth Campus Center in Lexington, Mo., and Whiteman Air Force Base Campus Center in Knob Noster, Mo., could also be listed. It's possible one campus center could be closed while others remain open.):
TELEVISION* RADIO* NEWSPAPER* * While we realize that you may have a favorite TV or radio station that you watch or listen to regularly, or a newspaper website that you read often, the above media outlets have agreed to provide school closing announcements (for TV stations, please check with your cable provider for the channel listings).

Important Note: There may be times that administrative offices will remain open and staff will not be dismissed — even if classes are cancelled. Please listen carefully and/or read the message provided on the various formats to determine if you should report to work. Please contact your direct supervisor if you have questions.

Updated: January 11, 2012

^ Back to the Top

---------------------------------

University Resources