Good Afternoon Families and Friends of HCPS,
The purpose of this message is to assure each of you of the steps we are taking in preparation for our local impact from Hurricane Florence.
We hope you know that the SAFETY of our students and our staff is always first and foremost. We are confident in this case, that school closings are imminent; however, because the path, speed, and intensity of a hurricane are always subject to change, we are monitoring all available updates through 5pm Wednesday. We will have a decision around a potential closing for Thursday and Friday, should it be necessary, announced NOT LATER THAN 6pm Wednesday. Our latest information suggests there is a good chance we will need to close due to high winds and dangerous flooding at some point later this week. As a result, we are asking all teachers to prepare 3-4 days worth of work/projects/assignments for children to take home at dismissal Wednesday.
While not meant to alarm, this storm is being described by emergency officials as "history-making, catastrophic and a major disaster event for the Commonwealth." There are lots of unknowns, but this could be the greatest impact Virginia has ever experienced from a hurricane ever. We are taking every precaution known to keep our students and staff safe while also protecting and securing our systems and buildings. I am meeting with all administrators this afternoon to plan at the building/department level, so more updates will be shared as soon as appropriate. We will continue to use all media outlets for communication, but understand our communication could possibly be impacted at some point in the weekend. We trust our servers (with generators) will be fine, and this should allow us to continue to use our automatic notification/alert system.
Praying for our city and for all of you. We will get through this together!
Melody