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: Please keep your contact information updated in Skyward (Family Access) or contact your school office. On weather days, calls begin going out at 5:30 a.m. to families who have not opted out.
- Information Line: (360) 885-5343 (Updated by 6:00 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.
- TV and radio stations, local newspapers
Weather-related late starts are two-hours! 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.
Parental discretion – 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.
Weather Related School Closure and Late Start GuideWeather-Related School Closure & Late Start Guide
(PDF)
SPANISH (PDF)
Split-district (“partial”) closures or late starts – Sometimes the weather forces us to close or have late starts at some schools but not others. In the event of split-district closures or late starts, it is important to know whether you live in the north or south part of the district:
- North Schools – Battle Ground High, Yacolt Primary and Amboy Middle schools, Captain Strong Primary, Chief Umtuch Middle, Tukes Valley Primary and Middle, and CAM Academy, River HomeLink, and Summit View High School.
- South Schools – Prairie High, Daybreak Primary and Middle, Maple Grove K-8, Pleasant Valley Primary and Middle, and Glenwood Heights Primary and Laurin Middle.
Late-start school hours
In the event of a late start, school begins two hours later than normal. Please note that 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 start time. View school start/end times as well as late start and early release information.
Snow Bus Routes
School-specific bus routes, including snow routes, can be found on the district Bus Route page. If snow routes are in effect in the morning, those same buses will be on snow routes in the afternoon, too, regardless of the weather by that time.
Community Education Inclement Weather Policy
If Battle Ground School District closes schools or students are released early or after-school activities are canceled due to severe 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 School District 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 School District 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.
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.
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, driving to the school or calling the office 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, via one or more of the above communication methods, at the discretion of law enforcement and district administrators, 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 may speculate or report hearsay, but we will work to provide accurate information.
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, 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: 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.
11104 N.E. 149th Street,
P.O. Box 200 
(360)885-5300