Communications

Emergency Communications

Flyer Distribution Guidelines

Media Inquiries

PCS Newsroom

Pender County Schools Logos

Social Media Guidelines

Weather conditions and emergency situations may make it necessary for Pender County Schools to close schools for the safety of students and staff. Announcements of this nature will be posted on the main page of the district website and communicated to students' parents/guardians as soon as as possible. Additionally, parents and students are advised to monitor local media outlets for weather updates. 

It is extremely important that the school district has each student's current address and the phone number(s) for each parent/guardian. To ensure your contact information is correct, please review and update information during enrollment or call your child's school to have the front office staff make those changes throughout the school year. Please also make sure the list of individuals authorized to pick your child up from school (including during an emergency) is up-to-date.

School closing/emergency information is available from many different sources:

• Pender County Schools text and phone/email alerts (Thrillshare)

• Pender County Schools Facebook, X

• Local news outlets WECT, WWAY, WSFX, Wilmington Star News, Port City Daily, Pender-Topsail Post & Voice

• Pender County Schools homepage

In the event of an emergency situation, the district's Emergency Procedures* will go into effect. *For security reasons, components of our emergency plans are not publicly available. Our plans do not replace the authority of emergency personnel. Our employees work in full cooperation with these agencies.

• All appropriate emergency response teams and agencies will be dispatched to the school.

• Depending on the situation, students and employees will be secured within the building or relocated to a reunification site.

• Families will be kept informed about the situation with as much detail as possible. The first and official way for us to contact you in an emergency is using our text alerts and phone/email alerts (Thrillshare).

• In an emergency situation, phones are needed to manage the situation and lines must remain open. We commit to communication as soon as law enforcement and school officials are able to relay information. We know the importance of clear and timely information for you.

• You will not be allowed on school grounds during an emergency. Emergency personnel responding to the situation need the area clear to do their job. After emergency responders determine that a safe student release is possible, arrangements will be made to reunite students with their families. This will occur at a reunification site or at the school, dependent on the situation.

During an emergency, families are asked to:

• avoid the crisis area and await further instruction

• avoid calling the school to allow for lines to remain open for emergency communication

• cooperate with first responders and school officials

• be aware of changes in student pick-up times/locations

• provide proper identification at the designated student pick-up site