Moscow School District Emergency Closure Information

Emergency closures are a rare occurrence in the Moscow School District.  Student safety is our highest priority, and we always urge families to use their best judgment whenever inclement weather conditions strike.  Families who feel that they can’t safely make it to school when the weather is bad need to make a safety decision for their specific family situation and contact their
school as soon as possible if they are not going to attend.

Decisions to close school are usually made several hours before schools starts.  Our Transportation Director begins his day by 4:00 a.m., or earlier, by observing weather reports and driving bus routes.  In addition, he communicates with the North Latah County road crews by radio and cell phone.  The road crews begin their day plowing bus routes and other county roads by 3:00 a.m., or earlier, dependent on conditions.  In addition, Moscow City crews start early to ensure that arterials and other streets are plowed.   Idaho Department of Transportation officials are also included in the communication loop.

The Superintendent of Schools communicates with the Transportation Director between 5:30 and 6:00 to make the decision to close or open school.  If bus routes and arterials are safe for bus travel, schools will open.  The timing of bad weather, wind speed, and temperature are always important considerations.  Even though there may be lots of snow on the ground, school could still open if bus routes and arterials are plowed.

Closure announcements are usually made shortly after 6AM though parents may want to monitor reports throughout the day. Parents of children riding the bus should have a contingency plan for when emergencies may close the schools that disrupt the normal way and time children would get home. In the event of unanticipated school closures, please do not call school district phone numbers as this unnecessarily ties up the phone lines.

Even though we will use the School Messenger system to communicate directly, you can still tune your radio or TV to one of the following stations on days when weather is extreme or extraordinary events are occurring for closure announcements:

AM Stations               FM Stations                TV Stations

KMAX 840                   KUOI 89.3                    KREM Ch. 2

KQQQ 1150                 KPBX 91.1                    KLEW Ch. 3

KWSU 1250                 KRFA 91.7                    KHQ Ch. 6

KRLC 1350                   KRFP 92.5

KRPL 1400                   KZZL 99.5

KCLX 1450                   KRAO 102.5

KHTR 104.3

KVTY 105.1

KZFN 106.1

KMOK 106.9