If a serious weather emergency is threatening your area, chances are you may become unable to teach a scheduled class. Here’s what you can do to support your learners and cancel meetings if needed – plus how Outschool works to support educators throughout a crisis.
Scenario 1: We Know the Weather Is on Its Way
In the best cases, you and your family will have some warning if significant weather is approaching your home or wherever you teach from. Outschool keeps an eye on any imminent weather events (like major storms, fires, and earthquakes), and our team will reach out to educators in the threatened geographic area if it’s looking like your ability to teach will be impacted.
If possible, we’ll encourage you to take proactive steps to support your enrolled families before the weather hits. You should:
- Cancel any upcoming meetings and refund enrolled learners, or reschedule meetings for a later date. If at all possible, this should occur more than 24 hours in advance of the class meeting.
- Communicate to parents through a message or a classroom post that there may be an unexpected change to the class schedule.
- Stay in touch with Outschool Support via chat or support@outschool.com if you need any assistance with the above.
Scenario 2: A Weather Emergency Occurs Quickly
Sometimes, our best predictions may still not prepare us for a weather emergency. If you find yourself in this situation and need to cancel classes with less than 24 hours’ notice, rest assured that extreme weather events fall under our list of extenuating circumstances for last-minute cancellations. In this situation, you should contact Outschool Support as soon as possible, especially if you miss any classes without being able to cancel them in advance. After we become aware of your emergency, we will work with you to manage any classes occurring in the next 24 hours or address missed classes as outlined in our emergency cancellation policy.
If a weather event results in widespread damage that may continue to prevent you from teaching upcoming classes (such as an extended power outage or loss of a safe space to teach from), our team will do our best to contact educators in the affected area and learn more about your situation. If you don’t hear from us, please don’t hesitate to connect with our team at support@outschool.com to coordinate how we may best support you.
