Inclement Weather Policy

The Center follows the University’s inclement weather policy. Any decisions to close, open late or close early are made by designated officials at the University. We have no involvement in this decision. The University announces closures, delayed openings, etc. via HOYAlert (text, email, and phone calls), on radio and TV stations, on the University home page or by calling 202-687-SNOW (7669). Due to the essential nature (and, in some cases, emergency status) of our positions, all full-time Hoya Kids staff are required to sign up for HOYAlert. To enroll go to:http://emergencymanagement.georgetown.edu/HOYAlert/

If and when the University declares a closure, delayed opening or liberal leave status, the Director or Assistant Director will text each employee who is scheduled to work that day. We expect each of those employees to text back to confirm receipt within 30 minutes; for those who have not responded within that time, a phone call will be made to ensure the message was received.

As soon as the University communicates a closure or delayed opening via HOYAlert, Hoya Kids administrators will change the greeting on 202-687-7667 and send an email the HKLCparents-L listproc. In case of delayed opening, Hoya Kids will try to have the Center open 30 minutes prior to the time the University has announced its opening (e.g., HKLC opens at 10:30 if the University opens at 11:00). Please report to work in enough time to prepare your classrooms for the flood of children arriving at that opening time. Families will be permitted to wait in the lobby prior to that time.

When the University opens on time and declares that liberal leave is in effect, Hoya Kids Learning Center will open on time.  In this situation only, Hoya Kids employees are considered emergency employees and are expected to come to work as scheduled. In order for us to adequately provide child care for the staff/faculty that need to (or choose to) work, we are exempt from “liberal leave.” The email to HKLCparents-L to announce liberal leave states that we are open on time and asks families to email or call the Center by 8:30 a.m. to notify the Center whether or not they intend to bring their children in and their approximate arrival time.  This helps us maintain adequate staff-to-child ratios and if we learn early enough that attendance will be significantly lower than normal (which rarely happens), we may be able to allow some staff to stay at home depending on individual circumstances. Otherwise, please assume we will be depending on everyone that is scheduled to work that day. We appreciate your dedication to being here for the families despite less-than-ideal weather and travel conditions.

If the University declares that it is closing early due to serious weather conditions, we contact families immediately via HKLCemergency-L to communicate a designated time by which all children must be picked up. Late pick-up charges will be enforced for those families who do not pick up by the designated time. We will dismiss staff as allowable by staff to child ratios, generally in order of arrival time, also taking into consideration extenuating individual circumstances (the need to pick up children early, travel distance, means of transportation, etc.).

Time recording for closures, delayed openings, and/or liberal leave: the HR Contact receives an email from HR outlining the time recording procedures for each emergency closure, delay, etc. That information should be posted on the GMS website (gms.georgetown.edu); if you would like a copy of the email, please let your HR contact (currently the Assistant Director) know.