School Closing Information
How do I know if school is canceled?
Ritenour schools close because of severe weather or other emergencies only when it is necessary for the safety of students and staff. Every effort is made to keep school in session according to the regular school schedules.
When school is closed, Ritenour families will receive a phone call with a recorded message, a text message and email through the district’s rapid telephone notification system. Messages can be replayed by calling toll free 1-855-4REPLAY (737529).
You have the option of opting out of phone calls and text messages by following the instructions at the end of each message. If you accidentally opted out and would like to opt back into phone calls, call 855-502-7867 from the phone number that has been opted out. Then follow the prompts (Press 2 to opt back in to receiving phone calls).
The district also will use its website, the Ritenour App, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to spread the word.
Be sure your child’s school has your current phone numbers and contact information, “like” Ritenour School District on Facebook and follow @RitenourSchools on Twitter.
In addition, tune into the following radio and television stations to find out if Ritenour schools are closed:
- Radio: KMOX (1120 AM);
- Television: KTVI (Channel 2), KMOV and (Channel 4), KSDK (Channel 5)
Make sure your family contact information is accurate:
- Check your family's phone numbers and contact information on the Parent Portal of Tyler. If you do not have a Tyler account, find out how you can get one.
- If you need to update this contact information, please call your school office personnel about any changes.
- Ritenour's automatic notification system receives a nightly upload of student contact information from Tyler. Any new contact information we receive from parents is uploaded within 24 hours.
Remember to opt-in for text messages:
If you are not receiving text messages and would like to, please follow the instructions below.
- Text the words Start huskies (Note capital letter and lower case letters in each word) to 53291 and 23177 from the cell phone/wireless device you wish to receive text messages from Ritenour. You will need to send two different text messages, one to each code.
- 53291 and 23177 are Ritenour's short codes for text messaging. Please add these numbers to your phone contact list.
- Make sure this cell phone number is included in your contact information in Tyler. Texts will only be sent to cell phones associated with your students' information in Tyler, so please contact your child’s school if this is a new number.
Ritenour sends out two types of messages:
- Emergency: In case of a crisis situation, Ritenour will send out notifications to all phone numbers listed for our students - including the household, cell and work numbers for parents.
- Outreach: The district and schools keep parents connected to news and information by calling parent(s) cell phones, as well as sending out emails and text messages to the email addresses/cell phone numbers on file with their child's contact information.