Campus Closures
We care about your safety when you are on any of the campuses of Seattle Colleges, and we work to keep you informed about any situations affecting our facilities. Especially during winter months, the possibilities increase that weather may affect travel to one or more of our colleges and centers. We encourage you to review these closure procedures.
Consider Your Personal Safety First
First, everyone should consider personal safety prior to attempting to travel to your college campus in any winter weather situation, without regard to our announcements or closure decisions. Because our colleges are in distinctly different locations and we come from so many parts of the community, it’s difficult to take everyone’s situation into full consideration. It’s important for you to evaluate your own situation first.
Making a Decision Regarding Campus Closure
In cases of hazardous weather, such as a snowstorm, each college president—for North, Central, and South—works with the chancellor, the other college presidents, and campus security and facility crews at their college to determine whether conditions call for a closure, delay, or early release. In the event of widespread or catastrophic emergency, a decision and announcement will be the same for all campuses and offices across the district.
Considerations include:
- If a storm causes conditions to deteriorate overnight, a decision will be made by 5 a.m. on whether campuses will be closed or have adjusted hours (i.e., late start).
- It is possible the decision will be made the night before if the forecast clearly calls for hazardous weather.
- If a storm occurs during the regular workday, a decision on whether to close campus early will be made by 3 p.m.
- While we attempt to make closure decisions as a district, it is possible conditions could be considerably worse at one campus or center compared with another. In those cases, we may make a late start or closure decision for one while others remain open.
- Because Siegal Administrative Center is located close to Seattle Central, if Seattle Central is closed due to inclement weather, then Siegal Administrative Center will also be closed.
- An alert will be sent to students and employees attending a specific college campus if the campus will be closed or have adjusted hours due to inclement weather.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: An alert will not be sent if your campus remains open.
Closure, Late Start, or Other Emergency Alert Notification
In case of a weather-related closure or other emergency, our SeattleCollegesAlerts System (aka Rave Alerts) is the primary and official notification system used by Seattle Colleges across the district to notify students, faculty, and staff. Alerts are automatically sent to your Seattle Colleges email account, but we encourage everyone to sign up to receive mobile text and voice alerts as well.
Registration is free and takes only a few minutes. All U.S. mobile carriers are supported. SeattleCollegesAlerts will not charge you in any way, but you are responsible for paying all messaging charges associated with your wireless carrier plan.
To sign up for alerts and access your Seattle Colleges Rave Alerts account to activate, review, update, and make changes, go to www.getrave.com/login/seattlecolleges. The system works well only when it has accurate contact information, so please take the time to check it now to ensure your information is up to date. The information you provide is kept private and can be used only to notify you about emergencies, such as dangerous weather, fires, power outages, or other unsafe conditions.
You should have received an email invitation to sign up for Rave Alerts when you joined Seattle Colleges as a student or an employee. If you did not activate it at that time or haven’t accessed that account since then, you may not remember your login and/or password. To help with this, on the login page there are links that will help you get your username and password (forgot your username?/forgot your password?).
Once you are able to access your Rave Alerts account, you will find additional FAQ and information at the “Help” button at the top of your account page.
For those of you with additional questions, refer to the district’s FAQ for Rave Alerts.
Adding Contact Information for Parents and Family Members
Rave users have the option to include additional contact numbers and email addresses in their accounts. Students, you can add your parents’ contact information to your alert account. Employees, you may also add family members’ contact info.
Additional Sources of Information About Campus Closures or Adjusted Hours
As the primary notification system, Rave uses your Seattle Colleges email address and your provided mobile phone number for texts and voice alerts. However, you also may check for information on campus closures at the following sources:
- Your college website
- Your college or the district social media channels
- Your college main switchboard phone line
- The regional Flash Alert website (note: click on your college for information regarding closures.)
- Local radio and TV news outlets
Note: Because of circumstances such as loss of electrical power, not all of these lines of communication may be available in every emergency situation.
College-Specific Emergency Information
The following website links are provided for additional college-specific emergency closure information:
Online, Hybrid, and Web-Enhanced Courses During Unexpected Campus Closures
Faculty who have online, hybrid, and web-enhanced courses may continue instruction online during campus closures.
Essential Personnel
In the event of a college campus closure or late start, some employees are asked to be available for work in spite of poor weather conditions. They are designated as essential personnel. Typically, this includes facilities and security employees. Should you have a question about your own status, check with your administrative supervisor. If you are considered essential personnel, this should be discussed with you well in advance of a closure situation. But if you have any questions about this process, please check with your supervisor. Supervisors and managers, please forward your questions to your vice president.
Working During Closures and Suspended Operations
The scenarios below are a guide to pay, schedule, and work environment during closures and suspended operations. It is only a guide. Ultimately, staff should follow the instructions of their supervisor.
Scenario 1: I only work on campus.
- If you are required to physically work on campus during a closure or suspended operations, you will be paid according to the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement (e.g., 2.5 times your regular rate of pay for Classified staff for those hours physically worked on campus during a closure or suspended operations).
- If you are not required to physically work on campus during a closure or suspended operations, you will be paid according to the provisions of your applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement. You may be paid your regular rate of pay while:
- Working your regular shift, if you are able to work remotely.
- Completing training assignments or other professional development work to complete during the closure and/or suspended operations.
- Using paid leave, if required.
Scenario 2: some days I work on campus and some days I work remotely.
- If you are required to physically work on campus during a closure or suspended operations, you will be paid according to the applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement (e.g., 2.5 times your regular rate of pay for Classified staff for those hours physically worked on campus during a closure or suspended operations).
- If you are not required to physically work on campus during a closure or suspended operations you will be paid according to the provisions of your applicable Collective Bargaining Agreement. You may be paid your regular rate of pay while:
- Working your regular shift, if you are able to work remotely.
- Completing training assignments or other professional development work to complete during the closure and/or suspended operations.
- Using paid leave, if required.
Scenario 3: I only work remotely.
If you are not required to physically work on campus during a closure or suspended operations, you will work your regular shift remotely, as if operations were not suspended on campus.
More Info
Employees should contact their supervisor for more information. Classified employees can see Article 17 of The State of Washington and Washington Federation of State Employees of Higher Education Community College Coalition Collective Bargaining Agreement for additional details.
About Emergencies
Emergency events pose a safety risk to the campus community. The most common use of Rave Alerts is to communicate college closures due to weather conditions. Other types of emergencies may include fires, power outages, earthquakes, or any unexpected event that poses danger or puts your safety at risk.
About Rave
Seattle Colleges’ Emergency Alert System uses Rave Mobile Safety. Learn more at www.ravemobilesafety.com.