District Administration Office

District Administration Office

Mr. Sean Gallagher – Superintendent

629 Easy Street

Brookings, OR 97415

Office: 541 469-7443

Fax: 541 469-6599

Email:

Brookings-HarborVoices – School Closures

Hi, this is Sean Gallagher – Brookings Harbor School District 17C Superintendent here to update the community on how the decision to either delay or close school is made, under what circumstances, and what resources that the community utilizes for more information.

Occasionally the district may need to close or delay school for a number of reasons including bad weather, earthquakes, floods, fires, or other acts of nature. It is important to balance providing an education and safety interests. Safety for staff and students always takes top priority. Other events such as loss of water pressure in buildings, or failure of heating systems during winter months can also result in a closure.

The district’s transportation system is well equipped for the normal weather conditions around the Brookings area. When roads are slick, especially in the upper elevations of our community and surrounding area, busses simply cannot run in those slick conditions since it would present the potential for running off of the road and/or hitting another vehicle. Students are too precious to take these types of risks with.

The Superintendents office follows a strict protocol when making any type of school closure/delay decision. These procedures include careful monitoring of multiple weather reports, coordinating with local agencies, coordinating with our transportation director, and evaluating the district’s ability to safely open school doors on-time.

The decision is usually made as early in the morning as possible, but could occur anytime throughout the day. All activities that take place on school grounds and in school facilities including athletics are also canceled during a school closure.

When the decision is made to close or delay school, parents and students can visit the district website, listen to local radio and TV stations, visit local newspaper websites, visit school facebook pages, and visit the Superintendents Twitter feed @SuptGallagher

It is important for the community to know that the district takes any possible school closure extremely seriously with student and staff safety being the very most important priority to consider as we continue to ensure that Every Student Can Succeed here at Brookings Harbor School District.