Effective 01/2021

Procedure Name	Weather Response Team
Responsible Division Head or VP	Senior Vice President of Student and Campus Life/Chief Health Officer
Responsible Department(s)	Public Safety
Procedure Author(s)	Director of Public Safety
Last Known Revision Date	10/28/2020
Previous Version Number	WeatherResponseTeam.10.28.2020.R1
Current Procedure Effective Date	01/28/2021
Current Version Number	WeatherResponseTeam.01.28.21.R2
Link to Related Policies	Weather Policy

PROCEDURE TEXT

When the weather forecast predicts inclement weather, the Director of Public Safety will convene a conference call with the Weather Response Team (defined below). The Weather Response Team will convene to discuss current conditions and whether any type of suspension of on-campus operations is necessary.

The Weather Response Team will consult the following resources to inform their work prior to the call:

National Weather Service (Reading, PA)
AccuWeather (Reading, PA)
Albright College Emergency Closing Information

For illustrative purposes, the following procedures assume a weather event for the next morning. Depending on the forecasted timing of the inclement weather, these timeframes will be adjusted.

The evening prior to the morning weather event, the Director of Public Safety will schedule a conference call with the Weather Response Team via the following e2campus text notification:

FR:Albright e2Campus

SUBJ:Conference Call Tomorrow Morning

MSG:Due to anticipated inclement weather we will convene at 5am. Teleconference information to follow

FR:Albright e2Campus

SUBJ:Phone Information For Call

MSG:Tele-Conference number – The number and passcode will be provided in the sent e-2 message

Should weather conditions not materialize as confirmed via input from the Director of Public Safety and Director of Facilities (by 4:50am, if a morning weather event), the Director of Public Safety will send a text message canceling the meeting via e2campus text notification.
In the event of minor forecasts of snow that don’t include ice in the forecast that negates the potential need for a delay a sub section of the Weather Response Team consisting of The Senior Vice President of Student and Campus Life, The Vice President of Communications, The Director of Public Safety, The Director of Facilities and The Assistant Director of Facilities will communicate regarding the forecast. Communication will entail any facility needs to address the potential inclement weather. The Director of Public Safety will initiate communication regarding the forecast, if the forecast changes and further precipitation is anticipated the Director of Public Safety will alert The Weather Response Team and schedule a conference call as needed.

Timeframe – The conference call will last for a maximum of 20 minutes with a decision coming at the end of the discussion and a confirmation with the President. This timing is important to ensure we can notify students, faculty, staff, and the broader campus community by 5:30am to allow everyone time to plan accordingly and ensure safety.

Prepare Ahead Information – The Weather Response Team is composed of the following individuals, who have responsibilities as assigned below. Each member will be responsible for gathering their information prior to the call so it can be shared, briefly, with the group. If weather is anticipated the next day, efforts will be made to schedule the call the evening prior to the weather event.

Order of Updates – During the conference call, each Weather Response Team member, in turn, will provide their brief update as described below as facilitated by the Director of Public Safety

Weather Response Team Conference Call Procedures

Step #	Responsibility	Primary Position(s) Responsible	Back-up Position(s) Responsible
1	Call convener and leader – will begin the teleconference with a roll call of attendees and then will provide insight into campus and road conditions. Local and regional road conditions will be gathered from on duty staff assessment and use of news services traffic cameras and traffic flow monitors.	Director of Public Safety	Assistant Director of Public Safety
2	Campus conditions update – an update on the campus conditions and expectations as well as an update on the weather and regional road conditions; will also outline the Facilities departments approach and current status to address campus conditions.	Director of Facilities Services & Operations	Assistant Facilities Director
3	Academic Affairs – to provide insight into academic programs including what course schedules and events we need to pay attention to, for example: what classes, exams and/or events would be impacted, what are library hours during the weather event, and an update on input from other higher education institutions are doing in the area.	Provost and SVP of Academic Affairs	TBD
**	School for Professional Studies (SPS) – to provide insight into SPS academic programs including what course schedules and events we need to pay attention to and may be impacted by the weather event. NOTE The SPS representative does not participate in early morning calls and will be consulted by the Director of Public Safety in the early afternoon to help develop a recommendation for SPS sites, as necessary depending on the weather event.	Dean of the School of Professional Studies **	Assistant Dean of the School of Professional Studies**
4	Student & Campus Life – to provide insight into student and campus life issues, health issues, dining hours and service level and Schumo fitness facilities.	SVP of Student and Campus Life and Chief Health Officer	Dean of Students, and Title IX Coordinator
5	Athletics – to provide insight regarding scheduled athletic events and athletic facilities.	Assistant Athletic Director	Athletic Director & Head Women’s Basketball Coach Athletic Director & Head Men’s Basketball Coach
6	Camps & Conferences and Admission Events – to provide insight regarding scheduled Camps and Conference events and Admission events	Director of Camp & Conferences	TBD
7	Risk Management – perspective regarding facilities and risk management during the weather event	VP for Finance and Strategic Partnerships	Controller
8	Communications – responsible for campus-wide email, e2campus notification, notifying local news organizations, and posting to the web and social media. This email and website information includes when the school opens, as well as dining hall, athletics facilities, and library hours. A notification banner will also be added to the homepage, which will later be removed at the appropriate time.	VP for Communications	Director of Communications
9	Discussions and Decision-making authority – Following completion of these updates, a recommendation will be made from the group regarding a potential schedule modification. Based upon the information shared by each person during this conference call a recommendation will be made by this group; the SVP of Student and Campus Life will call the President to notify her of the recommendation of the group.	SVP for Student and Campus Life and Chief Health Officer	Provost and SVP of Academic Affairs
10	Next Weather Response Team Meeting – a decision will be made about when, or if, the group should reconvene again (for example: a multi-day weather event).	Director of Public Safety	Assistant Director of Public Safety
11	Call to the President – Following a maximum 20-minute discussion of the group, a call to the President will be made to allow adequate time for appropriate communications to campus.	SVP for Student and Campus Life and Chief Health Officer	Provost and SVP of Academic Affairs
12	Confirmation to Weather Response Team – following the call to the President, SVP of Student and Campus Life will: confirm (or communicate an adjustment to) the decision discussed during the conference call via a follow-up group text message to the Weather Response Team and the VP of Communications will send an update email to Cabinet	SVP Student and Campus Life and Chief Health Officer VP of Communications	Provost and SVP of Academic Affairs VP of Communications
	The VP of Communications will initiate communications to the campus via the methods described later in these procedures.	VP of Communications	VP of Communications
	After the weather event has concluded, the Director of Facilities, or designee, will consult with the Director of Public Safety to determine the applicable start and end times for the weather event which warrant premium pay to the essential weather personnel and email those hours to HRIS@albright.edu, Payroll@albright.edu, and the supervisors of the Essential Weather Departments.	Director of Facilities, or designee	Assistant Director of Facilities

Weather Event Communications—

· The Communications division will initiate communication for any inclement weather schedule modifications via the following methods:

e2Campus text message: A brief text message from the emergency text messaging system e2Campus will provide status updates. Sign up or login here, and keep your cell phone on.
Albright website: Top-level information is posted on the home page; more detailed info is at https://www.albright.edu/emergency-closing-information/
College e-mail
Information is also posted to Facebook and Twitter as it becomes available.
Information may be sent to external media outlets

See below for the following examples of:

Late Opening of On-Campus Operations
Full-Day or Evening Suspension of On-Campus Operations (may be called closure or cancellation for news outlet purposes)
Early Suspension of On-Campus Operations (may be called early closing or early dismissal for news outlet purposes)
No Schedule Modifications **Note** This communication will only be used when local school districts are on a delay to avoid any confusion within our campus community

Late Opening of On-Campus Operations

Full-Day or Evening Suspension of On-Campus Operations

Early Suspension of On-Campus Operations

No Schedule Modification

REVISION LOG

DATE OF REVISION	MAJOR CHANGES *(Note: electronic copies of the former versions of the procedure must be maintained within the unit, department, or division)*
10/28/2020	New procedure document. Outlines basic steps of Weather Response Team.
1/28/2021	Updated procedures to reflect language that college is not closed, only suspending on-campus operations.
Click or tap to enter a date.

IMPLEMENTATION AND COMMUNICATION PLAN – For decision-making purposes only. This will not appear in the Final Procedure that is posted to the Procedure Repository.

The Weather Response Team has been meeting and abiding by most of these procedures for a period of time prior to these procedures being written. VP of Communications will notify the Weather Response Team to refrain from using the word “closed”.

View this policy as a PDF.