Inclement Weather and Potential Closure Reminders

Snow Routes for Buses

Families with students who ride buses should be aware that there are also districtwide snow routes, which impact all general routes (1-59) and special needs routes (901-932). The City of Bellevue plows streets and roads accordingly, and for the safety of our students and buses, all bus routes will stay on major streets that follow the city’s plow schedule. Please visit the district’s Snow Routes webpage to learn how and when bus stops may be moved to accommodate for inclement weather.

Winter is approaching and may bring unpredictable weather. BSD encourages families to take the time to revisit the district’s emergency closure schedule protocols and our emergency closure decision-making process. During instances of inclement weather or severe conditions that could result in a delayed or canceled school day, BSD will communicate any schedule changes to families through direct messages, including email, text message, phone call, social media, FlashAlert, local media and posts to bsd405.org. Learn how to update your contact information in ParentVUE and set message preferences in SchoolMessenger to receive inclement weather and emergency communications according to your desired methods. While these decisions are made for the district at large, conditions may vary across the district. We encourage families to make personal decisions based on their specific circumstances.

Child Care

For specific questions regarding community partner programming and to confirm day-to-day schedules, we suggest contacting community providers directly. BSD partner programs such as Right at School and Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue will typically communicate directly with participating families on operations, plans, etc. In most instances, community partner programming will follow district precedent for emergency closures (i.e., if schools are closed, they will also be closed).

Power Outages

Various weather events can cause power outages in our region. District leadership and operations teams work directly with Puget Sound Energy to assess the next steps in the event of an outage. Depending on when the outage occurs, its severity and estimated restoration time, there may or may not be impacts to the school day — such as a delayed start or early release. If students are already at or on their way to school when an outage occurs, the district will ensure that they have supervision through the end of the school day and transportation for those who need it.

Transportation

Due to the current bus driver shortage and illnesses circulating across the region, the number of bus drivers available to transport students on any given day can fluctuate. As standard and daily practice, BSD Transportation assesses which routes can be covered based on driver availability. If your student’s bus route has been canceled on any given day, you will be notified via the Edulog Parent Portal, by 5:30 a.m. that morning. Learn how to sign up for Edulog here. You will also receive communication via email, phone call and text message through SchoolMessenger according to your preferred contact information provided in ParentVUE. Learn how to update your contact information in ParentVUE.

You may update your SchoolMessenger preferences to elect how you receive email, text messages and phone calls from the district.