DSHA Snow Days and Weather Closures

If Divine Savior Holy Angels needs to cancel classes and/or co-curricular activities or announce an early dismissal due to inclement weather, the following procedures will be followed:

School closing

If classes are cancelled prior to the start of the school day or the day turned into a virtual asynchronous teaching and learning day, a decision by Principal Dan Quesnell will typically be made by 5:30 a.m. and communicated via the following: 

• A notice will be placed on the homepage of the website – www.dsha.info.
• A voice message will be sent to all parents’ primary phone numbers via the BrightArrow communication system following the decision.
• An email will also be sent to parents using the BrightArrow system.

Early dismissal

If the principal decides on an early dismissal after the school day has started, the following procedures will be followed:

• A voice message will be sent to all parents’ primary phone numbers via the BrightArrow system following the decision. A text message and an email will also be sent to parents using the BrightArrow system. This will be done prior to dismissal.
• Students will receive an announcement via the PA system. 
• A notice will be placed on the home page of the website – www.dsha.info.
• Students will be instructed to leave for home immediately, but the building will remain open until all students have left or have been picked up.

The decision to close school because of weather is made by the principal after consulting with other Catholic high schools, including MUHS, Dominican, and Catholic Memorial and local public school districts. Divine Savior Holy Angels will not necessarily close if Milwaukee Public Schools close.

Athletic team games and practices

If school is closed for the day, a decision regarding scheduled games that evening will be made by the athletic directors at both schools in communication with their principals and then communicated to the team members and school communities involved.
Team practices may still be held after 3 p.m. based on weather conditions improving. The decision to hold athletic practices will be made by the athletic director who will communicate with coaches. Coaches will, in turn, communicate with their athletes. Information also will be posted on the school’s website when a decision is made.

Non-athletic co-curricular activities

If school is closed for the day, non-athletic co-curricular activities will be handled similarly to athletic decisions with consultation by the activity moderator and the DSHA administration. Any exception to this policy will be communicated either through the moderator or via the school communication systems.

Important note

Important Note:  Since we have students coming from many areas of southeastern Wisconsin and weather conditions can vary greatly, parents are reminded that they should make the final decision as to whether it is safe for their daughters to travel to school when weather is a factor. Parents must notify the Attendance Office (414) 721-2920 if their daughters stay home or come in late because of weather conditions.

Bus Transportation

Bus Transportation: If your daughter travels to school via the southside bus, information regarding this bus and school cancellation is below. Should school ever dismiss early due to weather, DSHA will pursue alternate arrangements with the bus company, however there is no guarantee that an earlier departure will be arranged.  Johnson Bus Company – Southside bus: Service from Notre Dame Middle School and Bruce Guadalupe is tied to the decision DSHA makes regarding school. If school is open, the buses will run.  

Post-COVID online school during weather events

It is our intention at the onset of winter to have traditional weather-related cancellations rather than automatically turning a “snow day” into a virtual day. However, our schedule only permits for a couple of traditional snow days. Therefore, we have developed an asynchronous teaching and learning plan for virtual days (see below). We will use this when we’ve exhausted our allotted snow days, when there are consecutive days impacted by weather, or when a weather day is close to extended time off, such as a long weekend.

Any time a traditional school day is called due to inclement weather by DSHA (i.e., a snow day) and we turn that day into a virtual asynchronous teaching and learning day, the following guidelines apply. Asynchronous teaching and learning will allow curriculum, instruction, and learning to continue forward and allow for students to learn at their own pace that day. It accommodates the possibility that multiple people in a household will be learning/working remotely and enables students to access the learning resources anytime that day and from anywhere.  

If/when DSHA calls a weather emergency, the following will be implemented for that school day:

• Faculty will engage students in learning and curriculum relevant to the current unit of study.
• Teachers will have learning expectations, assignments, and/or homework posted by 9 a.m. on the weather emergency day; teachers may use myDSHA, Teams, or DSHA email to communicate with students. Students are encouraged to check all three communication tools (myDSHA, Teams, and DSHA email). 
• The day of the weather emergency will follow whatever the planned day would be. 
• Students can expect to engage in active learning in each of their courses on a virtual asynchronous day.  Exceptions to this would be Applied Wellness and courses that require specific supplies or programs that a student might not have available at home, or for courses that are performance-based (e.g, fine arts courses, fitness, science labs, etc.) Alternate learning opportunities may be provided.
• Students must verify their attendance in classes per teacher guidelines by submitting work, responding to an online prompt, or by checking in in some way) by 5 p.m. 
• Teachers must enter attendance in myDSHA before midnight. • Teachers will be available actively during “class hours” and will also be available intermittently throughout the virtual asynchronous day, 7:50 a.m. - 3:15 pm, to answer questions, provide learning support, explain assignments, or help with homework questions.
• School counselors will be available via Teams and DSHA email from 7:50 a.m. - 3:15 pm, and can meet with students via Teams.