Winter weather is on its way, and now is a good time to become familiar with Fayetteville-Manlius School District’s plans for emergency school closure days.
The district’s 2024-25 academic calendar allows for four emergency closure days, which are used when the district must close due to conditions beyond its control, such as inclement weather or an unplanned loss of utilities.
F-M’s four emergency closure days will be non-instructional days. Staff members and students in prekindergarten through grade 12 are not expected to report to school remotely or otherwise on these days. The district’s universal prekindergarten program (UPK) will follow F-M’s emergency closing schedule.
School delays and early dismissals are not counted as emergency closure days because students receive instruction during part of the school day.
Emergency Closure Communications
The superintendent uses ParentSquare to notify district parents, guardians and staff members of emergency school closings, delays and early dismissals. The system generates an automated phone call, email message and a text message. UPK families will also receive ParentSquare emergency notification alerts.
If parents or guardians are unsure whether the district has their correct email or phone numbers on file, they should contact the main office of their child’s school.
Students, substitutes, and anyone who doesn’t have a student active in the district, but would like to receive information about emergency closures, delays and early dismissals via ParentSquare may sign-up for the F-M Community Message Opt-In Group on ParentSquare.
You do not need to download the ParentSquare app to receive emergency texts, emails, and phone calls.
The district website and local news media will serve as backup notification systems and as a notification source for non-parents or community organizations. The district will share school closing and delay information with the following local news media: Spectrum News (channel 10), CNYCentral (channels 3 and 5); LocalSYR (TV channel 9), and syracuse.com.
The district does not use social media to notify the public of an emergency closing or delay since the district cannot control the time frame in which those notifications reach subscribers.
It is best to rely on more than one source of information when it comes to weather-related announcements. This is particularly true in situations that involve power outages, which can affect the district’s ability to update the website and send electronic notifications.
When there is inclement weather, the decision to dismiss early, delay opening or close school is based on the superintendent’s discussions with the F-M transportation director, director of facilities (buildings and grounds), and the latest weather predictions. Unless otherwise noted, all scheduled activities at F-M schools are canceled on the days school is closed or closes early. The same holds true on afternoons when after-school and or evening activities are canceled due to inclement weather.