Winter Weather Emergency Closing Procedures

(For Northeast Community College On-Campus Students and Employees)

KHWK/Hawk TV Cable One Channel 22 (that reaches Norfolk, West Point, Madison, Wisner, Tilden, Randolph, Pierce, Battle Creek, Hadar, Hoskins, Beemer, Pilger) is the only TV station that will be notified. No other media will be contacted, so you should only listen to these radio stations.

If the college is closed, the radio stations will be asked to phrase the announcement as "the college is closed" so employees will know they need not report to work. As a general rule, if the weather is severe enough to warrant canceling classes, employees are not expected to be at work either.
Stations will also be asked to announce that the decision on night classes will be made by 3:00 p.m. and the announcement will be made on the stations at that time. It is possible that classes will be held in the evening, even though daytime classes were canceled.

If the campus opening is delayed (to clear parking lots, roads, etc.), employees should not report until the time announced.
­A delayed start means classes will resume a normal schedule at the time announced. (For example, if campus opens at 10:00 a.m., 10:00 classes will be the first to meet that day and employees should also report at that time.)

If bad weather occurs during the day, the college may close and information will be announced as to the time the college will close and if evening classes are affected.
Students and employees on campus will be informed of a decision to close the college through an announcement on the campus paging system. Employees will also receive a voice-mail on their office phones regarding details of the early closing.

Credit and Noncredit classes on the Northeast campus are covered under the above procedures.
Decisions whether to hold classes in other communities will be made by the Regional Coordinators and they will notify the radio stations in their areas.

If the college was closed during the day, a decision whether or not to hold night classes will be made by 3:00 p.m. and will be announced on the radio at that time.
It is possible that classes will be held in the evening, even though daytime classes were canceled. If the night classes are not held because of the weather, night-time employees will not be expected to report to work either.

If bad weather occurs during the day, the college may close and information will be announced as to the time the college will close and if evening classes are affected. (See above procedures)
An internal notification system of phone calls and announcements over the intercom will ensure all on campus are notified.

Specific closing/cancellation procedures for classes delivered via distance education are included in the Distance Education Faculty Handbook, Appendix K. Distance education faculty should review these procedures with their students.

Regional Coordinators will make the final decision on class cancellation for off-campus credit and non-credit classes. The Regional Coordinators will notify the radio stations in their areas.

Coordinators for events should make the decision to cancel an event as soon as possible. An announcement separate from the campus closing announcement will be made.
The Marketing and Public Relations Office will contact the media. Call Janelle Gerharter at ext. 7063 or at home at 371-1732 and she will call the twelve regional radio stations to announce the change in plans. If possible, please make alternative date decisions for the announcement. (e.g., XYZ event will be postponed until next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.)

Announcement of Class Cancellation on Voice Mail
Some instructors may wish to make the announcement regarding class cancellations on their voice messaging at the college. This would be especially important for those with classes very early in the morning (whose students may not hear the radio announcements before leaving home) or who may have trouble getting to campus even though classes are being held. Be sure to tell students that special information will be available at your office extension. Just record a new announcement on your greeting.
To change your voice mail greeting from either a campus or off-campus phone:
1. Dial in to voice mail on 844-7485 (or 7485 if on campus)
2. Enter your extension number and # sign
3. Enter your password and # sign. You are now at the activity menu
4. Choose option three to create a personal greeting
5. Choose option one to change or create a greeting
**If changing an existing greeting, select that greeting number (eg. if it is number 3, press 3) then select 1 to re-record.
**If creating a new greeting, select a number to correspond to that greeting (0 through 9).
6. When finished recording, press # to approve or 1 to re-record.
7. To activate this greeting, press #. (The system will not use this greeting until it has been activated.)
8. If you run into problems doing this, don't hang up. Just press *R and it will go back to the activity menu and help you start over.
9. Remember to change the greeting when you return to campus!
The Switchboard will also have cancellation information on its incoming call greeting.

For those who cannot make it to campus even though the college is open:
Employees who cannot make it to work because of hazardous driving conditions are asked to call in to their supervisor as soon as possible. The employee and the supervisor should also make arrangements for the employee to make up the time missed. See the college's policy and procedures manual for specific information on this subject.

Students who are unable to travel to campus because of hazardous driving conditions should also call their instructor as soon as possible. The student should be allowed to makeup any work missed and should not be penalized.

For automated Phone Message, Dial (402) 371-2020 OR 1-800-348-9033

More Information

Janelle Gerharter
(402) 844-7063
janelle@northeastcollege.com