Clark County schools closed Friday due to weather

Clark County’s public schools will be closed Friday because of weather, the school district announced.

In addition to a call to parents, the Clark County School District sent an email at about 5:35 p.m. Thursday announcing the closure. Friday’s after-school activities, including athletics and the Safekey program, also are canceled.

SafeKey is administered by the county Parks and Recreation Department.

The cancellation is “due to reports of potential freezing conditions” that would make the roads unsafe for school buses in the morning.

“The school day will need to be made up this school year,” the district said.

School employees

Updates on school employees’ schedules will be posted on the district’s website.

All school district teachers will be excused Friday and will need to make up the day with students later in the year, according to the district’s website.

Support professionals on the nine-month track, 10-month S1 track, as well as 11-month tracks S2, S5 and E6, will be excused with teachers and will have to make up the day.

Administrators and other support professionals are expected to report to work on Friday “when they feel it is safe to do so,” the district said. Employees should work with their supervisor to adjust their work schedule or use accrued leave.

School police will also be required to work their regular shifts Thursday night and Friday. Nonemergency employees who work the night shift Thursday should end their shift at 6 p.m. and work their regular schedule on Friday, the district said.

Snow day

Students in Clark County schools haven’t seen a snow day in more than a decade, when the last major snow storm struck the valley in December 2008.

That storm, which started Dec. 16 and lasted a few days, hit parts of the valley with up to 10 inches of snow and prompted the school district to close all schools.

This week has seen two dustings of snow in the valley, though Friday is the first day school has been closed. After-school activities were also closed Thursday.

When the second storm hit Wednesday, it dropped more than 7 inches of snow on parts of the valley overnight and briefly closed major highways linking Las Vegas to Southern California and Arizona.

A winter weather advisory for the valley is set to end at 4 a.m. Friday, but the weather could cause dangerous and icy road conditions at the time buses would be taking students to school.

Black ice could form on roads overnight Thursday, mainly in western valley and overpasses and bridges on I-15, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Alexander Boothe.

The state Department of Transportation also issued a black ice motorist driving advisory for all of Clark County.

While the school district didn’t say when the snow day will be made up, the district’s calendar includes contingency days at the end of the school year for May 24, as well a May 28 and May 29.

UNLV, CSN, NSC cancel morning classes

Classes at UNLV scheduled to start before 10 a.m. are canceled Friday morning, the university’s school police tweeted Thursday night. Classes that start at or after 10 a.m. will be held as usual.

College of Southern Nevada and Nevada State College also canceled classes that start before 10 a.m. Friday, according to tweets Thursday night from both schools.

CSN said only “critical operations personnel” should arrive on campus before 10 a.m., and Nevada State College said only employees “in essential services for campus operations” should report to work at their scheduled time in the morning.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.