Foggy Day Protocol
On a daily basis, the morning supervisor checks the visibility on their way to work between 4:30 and 5:00 am. Upon arrival at the Transportation facility, they will contact our district spotters who are located throughout Central’s 88 square miles. They will give distance markers that correlate with the visibility in their area, which is logged. They will also check the NOAA website to confirm dewpoint and temperature throughout Central’s district. Using these methods, if the visibility is less than 250 feet, we will automatically go to a Plan A schedule (2 hour delay). This call will be made by 6:15 am in order to share the information with the district’s students, staff and community.
To ensure the safety of all students throughout the district, a foggy day plan will be called if it meets these parameters. It may be extremely foggy in several areas, with no fog in others, but the call is made for the whole district.
There are several different types of fog and it can drop in extremely late or dissipate moments after a call is made, but the initial decision is based on the visibility at the time of the call. All of the district’s school bus drivers are trained professionals and they follow Board Policy, Admin Regulation 3543 (c), and Vehicle Code 34501.6 on visibility restrictions. Once a call is made, operation of the buses will be based on the driver’s discretionary authority if the fog rolls in at a later time.
Foggy day delays minimize the risk of being involved in traffic collisions with morning commuter traffic. Once a call is made for a delay, further delays could be called due to a continued lack of visibility. These updates are made by 7:45, 8:45 and 9:45 a.m. if necessary.
To ensure the safety of all students throughout the district, a foggy day plan will be called if it meets these parameters. It may be extremely foggy in several areas, with no fog in others, but the call is made for the whole district.
There are several different types of fog and it can drop in extremely late or dissipate moments after a call is made, but the initial decision is based on the visibility at the time of the call. All of the district’s school bus drivers are trained professionals and they follow Board Policy, Admin Regulation 3543 (c), and Vehicle Code 34501.6 on visibility restrictions. Once a call is made, operation of the buses will be based on the driver’s discretionary authority if the fog rolls in at a later time.
Foggy day delays minimize the risk of being involved in traffic collisions with morning commuter traffic. Once a call is made for a delay, further delays could be called due to a continued lack of visibility. These updates are made by 7:45, 8:45 and 9:45 a.m. if necessary.
Did you know you can check foggy day schedules on Valley PBS?
If a foggy day schedule is called for Central Unified it will first air on Valley PBS, channel 18 at the bottom of the screen. You can also check if a foggy day was called by clicking HERE.