Policy Summary

Occasionally severe weather requires St. Charles Parish to suspend or cancel activities at the church and school for safety reasons. Our Church church policy is to follow the St. Charles School lead and suspend or cancel all parish activities until the safety concern has been lifted. This includes all church activities that are scheduled in the church, PAC, and Walsh Hall. Church activities will resume as scheduled when it is safe to do so, and they may resume on a different schedule than the resumption of school activities. Please refer to the parish website for closing and delay information.

Policy

During severe weather conditions, under a collaborative agreement, the City of Kettering Schools will make school closing and delay decisions and announcements on behalf of St. Charles School. Kettering Schools will post closing and delay information on our behalf on Channel 2 and Channel 7 TV stations. The church policy is to follow the area school closing and delay decisions until weather conditions improve and it is safe to resume normal operations. Therefore, if St. Charles School is closed or delayed due to severe weather, St. Charles Church will also close and all activities that were scheduled for that time will be canceled. This includes Masses and other liturgical events. If weather conditions improve and it is deemed safe to proceed with previously scheduled activities and events, our facilities will be re-opened and scheduled activities will resume as planned. Any activities that were scheduled during a severe weather shut-down will be rescheduled at the discretion of the event organizer.

Notes:

1. If severe weather conditions exist when St. Charles School is normally closed (such as weekends or school holidays), the Pastor or Business Manager will assess the safety risk and make a facility closure decision. Closure information will be sent out through OptionC and posted on our parish website. Information may also be available on Channel 2 and/or Channel 7.
2. If our facilities are closed for any reason, all visitors and non-essential personnel are discouraged from entering the property until the safety concern is resolved and the facilities are re-opened.

Scope

This policy applies to all church activities and functions including regularly scheduled worship functions. For their safety, all volunteers and non-essential personnel are asked to refrain from driving to the parish property under a level 2 or level 3 snow emergency and in other situations in which local streets have driving restrictions. In some cases, an emergency lock-down procedure may be in place that will prohibit facility access.