School Closings & Delays

Snow Days – The school community is notified of snow days, delays, and cancellations through the following:
  • ConnectEd call to all families and staff at approximately 5:40 a.m.
  • School and District Websites
  • District Social Media Channels
  • ChelmsfordTV
  • Channel 4, 5, 7 and 25
  • Various Radio Stations

Closing of School – In cases of inclement weather or other emergency necessitating the closing or delaying of school, the Superintendent will make the decision. Central administration personnel then notify the radio and television stations between 5:00 a.m. and 5:45 a.m.. A ConnectEd phone call and email will be sent to all families and staff. Cancellations and delayed openings will be posted on the district and school websites. School cancellations or delays will also run on Chelmsford Telemedia.

Delayed Opening – In the event of a delayed opening, school will be postponed by 2 hours. All activities in the schools will continue as usual including the same dismissal time. CHIPS Preschool classes will be cancelled when the start of school is delayed. Lion’s Den Preschool (located at CHS) when there is a 2 hour delayed opening we begin at 9:45AM. Lion’s Pride Preschool (located at the CommEd Building) when there is a 2 hour delayed opening we begin at 9:00AM. Please see the school website for a complete listing of school start and dismissal times. There will be no change in Preschool hours on delayed opening days. Dismissal for afternoon Kindergarten will be at the regular time.
Emergency Closings – On a rare occasion school may be closed due to a weather-related event. In this case, all children must be sent home, with the exception of those children scheduled to attend the Community Education Extended Day Childcare program. Elementary children enrolled in the Extended Day Childcare program will remain at their school and parents will pick them up as soon as possible, but no later than 6 p.m. McCarthy Childcare students will be bussed as usual to Parker, and parents should pick up Parker and McCarthy students at Parker as soon as possible, but no later than 6 p.m.
  1. The Superintendent would notify the school that buses would be arriving to take children home at a specified time.
  2. A Connect-Ed call would be used to notify parents of dismissal procedures.
It is important that parents keep their home, business and emergency numbers current with the school office, as these are the numbers, which will be called through Connect-Ed. Parents who plan to come to the school to pick up their child are strongly encouraged NOT to call the school and tie up the phone lines. Just come to the office and your child will be dismissed. It is imperative that each child knows where to go in the event that a parent cannot be notified. For parent peace of mind, this would also help in those rare cases when an emergency arises and a parent cannot get home to meet their child.