When a snowstorm is on the horizon, you don't have to
lose any sleep worrying about how you'll find out if Johns
Hopkins is open or closed: All the information you need to
know will be available by calling the university's weather
hotline or going to its Web site.
The fastest and most accurate source for snow closings
and other weather emergency information at Johns Hopkins is
the weather emergency phone line. Call 410-516-7781 or,
from areas where Baltimore is a long-distance call,
800-548-9004.
The same information is posted online at
webapps.jhu.edu/emergencynotices.
The weather message is recorded and the Web page
posted as soon as the university decides what to do,
usually by 6 a.m. after an overnight storm. Decisions on
part-time evening classes are usually made by 1 p.m. During
major storms, both the phone line and the Web page are
updated frequently.
On any given snowy day, chances are that you will be
confirming what you'd already guessed: The university is
open. Johns Hopkins policy is to remain open whenever
possible, both because so many employees and students are
involved in patient care and because minimizing
interruption of teaching and research is a priority.
Even on those rare occasions when there is a late
opening or a closure, outpatient clinical services usually
remain open. In fact, the oncology clinics never close,
even in the worst weather emergency.
Also, all required attendance employees in nonclinical
departments of the university have to report to work.
(Check with your supervisor if you are not sure whether you
are a required attendance employee.)
All that information and much more — about
shuttle bus schedules, Peabody Prep, evening classes, and
library and rec center operations — will be posted on
the phone line and the Web site.
Radio and TV stations, which deal with closing
announcements for scores of institutions, do not have time
to provide all the relevant Johns Hopkins information. And
since they must compress their reports so much, broadcast
information can be misleading, or even wrong.
University policy on weather-related closings can be
found online at
hrnt.jhu.edu/elr/pol-man/section.cfm?id=35.
The sections on the Required Attendance Plan, Liberal Leave
Plan and Delayed Arrival Plan explain what happens if those
options are invoked by the university.
The hospital's weather emergency policy is also
online, at
www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/operations_integration/
OPS/weather.cfm.
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