Policy
Severe weather conditions or damage to facilities from natural disasters may require the college to operate on a delayed schedule or to close. The President or his/her designee is responsible for determining when the college will start late, close early, or close completely. Classes may not be held during such suspensions under any circumstances.
Students and employees are expected to give first consideration to their personal safety when evaluating their ability to travel to the college.
Signed Policy
Procedure
A. Notification methods
In the event Clover Park Technical College must close or operate on a delayed schedule due to weather or other emergency conditions, the College will seek to provide such information by no later than 5 a.m. The information will be posted on the home page of the College web site, www.cptc.edu; and at www.FlashAlert.net where the information will be shared with news media. In addition, notification will be made via CPTCWarn, the college’s emergency notification system.
No announcement means normal operation. Announcements are generally for one day only.
B. Notification messages
The notifications will usually be one of the following types, and will usually, but not necessarily, apply to all College locations:
- Operating on a late start. A “one-hour late start” shall mean 9:00 AM, a “two-hour late start” shall mean 10:00 AM, etc. The term “late start” is not measured by a class start time or an employee’s normal work start hours. Designated responders (defined below) are expected to start work at their regular time.
- Closed (only designated responders report to work)
- i. “Designated Responders” are defined as those employees determined by management to be critical during an emergency event. The specific individuals will be identified based on availability and as the circumstances dictate. Typically, this will include Security, Facilities, IT, and at least one administrator or incident commander, but others may be identified as “designated”, depending upon the nature of the emergency.
- Closed early. This shall apply to all classes in session at the determined early closure time as well as any classes which start after that time. Employees, including designated responders, who are scheduled to work later than the determined early closure time are expected to leave campus at that time.
- Emergency message (as further specified).
C. Effects on Classes
- Late Start: Under a late start, classes may not commence before the re-scheduled opening time. Classes scheduled to be completed before that time will be cancelled or rescheduled. Classes which are scheduled to be underway at the re-scheduled opening time will commence at that time, and any missed time may be re-scheduled.
- Closure/Cancellation: Students must not be in class when the class location is closed or class is canceled.
D. Effects of Closure/ Late Start on Employees
- Late Start: Under a late start, an employee has the option of not reporting to work at his/her normal time if the employee believes that it is unsafe to travel and notifies his/her supervisor. Under those conditions, s/he may arrive as late as they deem necessary but they will be required to account for the missed time, as outlined in #3 below.
- Closure/Cancellation: Employees should not be at their work location when the College is closed or all classes are cancelled, except designated responders as directed by management who, amongst other duties, will close all campus buildings. However, an employee’s supervisor may assign or authorize the employee to work at an alternate location. If an employee has reported to work on time and the college closes early, the employee will be paid for the remaining work time scheduled for that day, and will not need to account further for that time.
- Accounting for Missed Work Time: An employee who is otherwise scheduled to work before a late start or during a closure or class cancellation, but is unable to work because of that delay, closure, or cancellation, must account for the missed time. The absence will be (a) charged to the employee’s accrued vacation, sick, or personal leave (or any available compensatory time for an overtime-eligible employee); (b) charged as leave without pay; or (c) made up within the current pay period through a temporarily revised work schedule approved by the employee’s supervisor and documented on the employee’s time and leave report. The supervisor should assure that any resulting overtime shall not result in increased cost to the College. An employee already scheduled to be on leave shall continue to be on leave as scheduled. Faculty members will decide, subject to review by their deans, whether any classes need to be made up. If a decision of the Governor causes the college to be closed, employees will be paid their regular wage without being charged any leave.
