Superintendent Greg Power considers many factors when making the call, including the safety of students (including student drivers), hazardous road conditions, evolving weather forecasts, functionality of the district’s bus fleet and others.
The decision process starts early, beginning around 3:30 a.m. School officials monitor multiple forecasts and travel local roads. Since the Little Miami district covers nearly 100 square miles, conditions can vary drastically from one area of the district to another.
“The safety of our students and staff is foremost in my mind when making a decision to delay or close school,” Power said. “These decisions are not always clear cut and occasionally must be made using forecasts that change by the hour. Our desire is not to inconvenience families, but to keep students safe.”
Calamity Day & Closure Information
In the event of a school closure due to inclement weather or other spontaneous incident, teachers will provide review and practice exercises to students, as opposed to live lesson delivery. Teachers may provide videos, worksheets or learning exercises to reinforce learning that has already taken place in the classroom. Teachers will be available to remotely address questions regarding the prepared lessons.
Students should check Schoology and email regularly on these days for teacher information and directions.
When Little Miami Local Schools announces a school closure, the notification will indicate whether students will engage in remote learning or if the closure will result in a non-instruction day.
VLA Students
Students learning through the Virtual Learning Academy platform will continue to operate as normal when in-person students are on a weather-related closure or delay.
Closing for Cold Weather
Little Miami Schools will close on days when the temperature and/or wind chill are below -20ºF to -25ºF. Temperatures with wind chills in this range are considered dangerously cold if exposure is over 10-15 minutes. With students walking to school and waiting at bus stops, extreme cold of this nature is a safety issue.
90-Minute Delay Building Start Times
Bus Information
On a 90-minute delay, Little Miami will bus all LM students as well as all private students. Your child’s bus will run the same route, just 90 minutes later than a typical day. Please be waiting at your bus stop 90-minutes later than your typical pick-up time, unless you have a student in Preschool or PM Kindergarten (see below for more).
Preschool & Kindergarten Information
Preschool and Kindergarten will be in session on weather-delayed starts. AM students come in 90 minutes later than the normal schedule and will return home 45 minutes later than normal. PM students will be picked up 45 minutes later and return home at their regular time.
Communicating Closures and Delays
Little Miami strives to make announcements regarding school schedules by 5:30 a.m. No announcement means "school as usual."
Announcements regarding delays or closings will be made in multiple locations: