4.3 - Closing of the College

Last updated on April 14, 2023

POLICY: College closings due to extreme conditions may require the cessation of all college operations.  Those include major inclement conditions, major mechanical system failures presenting health and safety hazards, and other reasons under which the major activities of the College would be extremely difficult to continue.  In such instances, maintenance staff may be required to report to duty in order to remedy conditions which exist.

SCOPE:

This policy applies to all eligible employees including the following:

DETAILS:

  1. The President or designee is responsible for the decision to cancel and/or reschedule instructional services as well as the complete closing of Spoon River College. Individual decisions are made regarding day and evening classes for each location.
  2. Certain conditions may require the cancellation of instructional classes but do not require the complete closing of the College. In this situation, employees report for duty with the exception of full-time faculty.
  3. Eligible employees receive regular pay for scheduled hours.
  4. Any classified employee called to work by his/her supervising administrator when the College has been officially closed will be paid two (2) times his/her normal rate for the hours worked.

PROCEDURE(S):

  1. Whenever possible, the decision to close the College will be made by 6:00 a.m. The decision to close the College will still be made based on the inability to provide students and employees adequate heat, safety, or access to the parking lots and buildings.  The decision will reflect requests from the State Police to stay off the highways.  Poor road conditions alone or the decision of the area school districts will not necessarily result in the College closing.  If the College remains open and conditions in a particular area are treacherous, individuals should make personal decisions on what is best for them.  Supervisors and faculty are encouraged to be understanding of the circumstances. If the employee chooses not to come to work when the College is open they must use vacation, personal, or PTO time.

    Employees will receive a text notification notifying them of closures.  Employees who opt out of text notifications will not receive alerts.  Employees must notify the human resources department to update their contact information.

  2. The College webpage and local television and radio stations will provide information on whether the College is closed. The following radio and television stations will be contacted: WEEK (NBC, 25); WMBD (CBS 31); WHOI (ABC 26); WBYS (107.9 FM) in Canton; WDUK (99.3FM) in Havana; WKAI (99.3FM), WIUM (91.3 FM), WJEQ (102.7 FM), WGEM (NBC, 10), and WKQA (CBS, 7) in the Macomb area; and WKXQ (92.5 F M) and WRMS (94.3 FM) in the Rushville area.
  3. Closure announcements will be sent to Canvas users.