With winter weather in this week’s forecast, now is a good time to become familiar with how the Fayetteville-Manlius School District communicates about emergency school closings, delays and early dismissals.
To streamline its communication tools to those proven to be the most effective, the district will no longer use the School News Notifier (SNN) opt-in notification system or 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.
The superintendent will continue to use SchoolMessenger to notify parents, guardians and F-M staff members of emergency school closings, delays and early dismissals. The system generates an automated phone call, email message – if an email address has been provided to the district – and a text message for those parents, guardians and staff members who have opted in to the SchoolMessenger text message service.
If parents or guardians are unsure whether the district has their correct email or phone numbers on file, they should contact their child’s main office.
The district website and local news media will serve as backup notification systems and as a notification source for non-parents or community organizations. 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 send electronic notifications.
School closings will be announced on the following local TV and radio stations: Spectrum News (channel 10), WSTM (TV 3), WTVH (TV 5), WIXT (TV 9) and 570 WSYR.
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 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.