Prince William County School Closings Today — Status & Delays (Virginia)

Are Prince William County schools closed today? Check live status below — updated every 10 minutes.

**Live status monitored for Prince William County Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Stafford County Public Schools, Manassas City Public Schools, and Manassas Park City Schools.**

### How Prince William County School Closings Are Announced

Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) posts closing and delay decisions on its official website at [pwcs.edu](https://www.pwcs.edu), through the district’s ParentVUE portal and direct family notifications, and via local television and radio. PWCS reviews conditions across the entire 350-square-mile county — including significant elevation differences between the higher northwestern areas and the lower, more populous central and southeastern areas — before making a countywide decision, which is why a closing can happen even when your own street looks clear.

The district tries to make closing and delay decisions as many hours in advance as possible. In most cases, PWCS announces the night before; in more uncertain conditions, the decision typically comes no later than 4:30 a.m. the morning of. Local Washington DC-area television stations — NBC4 Washington (WRC), ABC7 (WJLA), WUSA9 (CBS), and FOX 5 DC (WTTG) — receive closing notifications directly from the district and broadcast them during early-morning programming, in addition to posting them on their own closings pages.

### Weather Risks That Trigger Prince William County School Closings

• Winter storms (snow): Accumulating snow is the most common cause of closures and delays, especially when it falls overnight or during the morning commute before roads and bus routes can be cleared.
• Ice storms: Freezing rain and black ice on roads, sidewalks, and bus lanes are treated as more dangerous than snow of the same depth, since the region has less de-icing infrastructure than colder states and untreated ice can linger for days.
• Elevation-driven road conditions: Prince William County spans more than 350 square miles with real elevation changes — conditions in the higher northwestern part of the county can be significantly worse than in the lower, more populous central and southeastern areas, sometimes triggering a closure even when roads look clear near Woodbridge or Manassas.
• Tropical storm remnants and flooding: Late-summer and fall tropical systems moving up from the Gulf or Atlantic coast can bring heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding to low-lying areas along the Occoquan and Potomac watersheds.
• Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes: Spring and summer severe weather, including occasional tornado warnings, can prompt shelter-in-place procedures or early dismissals timed around the storm’s path.
• Extreme cold: Dangerously low wind chills can delay outdoor bus stops and, in rare cases, prompt a delayed opening even without snow or ice on the ground.

### Frequently Asked Questions

How early does Prince William County Public Schools announce school closures?

PWCS tries to make delay and closure decisions as many hours in advance as possible — in most cases the night before a storm, or in more uncertain conditions, no later than 4:30 a.m. the morning of. This page checks for updates automatically so you don’t have to keep refreshing the district site yourself.

What’s the difference between a closure and a delay in Prince William County?

A full closure cancels school and all school-related activities for the day across the entire division. A delayed opening (commonly 2 hours) pushes back the start time for students and staff while buses run a compressed route, used when conditions are expected to improve as the morning goes on, such as an overnight snow that’s tapering off by mid-morning.

Do all Prince William County schools close at the same time, or by individual school?

PWCS makes one countywide decision that applies to every school in the division at once — it does not close individual schools separately based on local conditions. The same is true of the smaller independent districts covered on this page, Manassas City Public Schools and Manassas Park City Schools. Fairfax County Public Schools and Stafford County Public Schools, also monitored here as neighboring metro-area districts, likewise each make a single districtwide call.

Which TV stations report Prince William County school closings?

NBC4 Washington (WRC), ABC7 (WJLA), WUSA9 (CBS), and FOX 5 DC (WTTG) are the primary Washington DC-area stations that report Prince William County closures, typically during early-morning newscasts starting around 4–5 a.m. This page monitors all four alongside the official PWCS website.

How often is this page updated?

Status checks run automatically every 15 minutes under normal conditions, and every 5 minutes during active winter storm alerts, so you get the fastest available update without needing to check multiple sites yourself.

Does Prince William County have any unique closure procedures?

Because the county covers such a large and geographically varied area — from dense, low-lying communities near Woodbridge and Dumfries to higher, more rural terrain near Haymarket and Gainesville — PWCS bases its decision on conditions countywide rather than any single neighborhood, which is why the district sometimes closes even when your immediate area looks fine.

### School Roster

#### Prince William County Public Schools

##### High Schools

• Battlefield High School
• Brentsville District High School
• Charles J. Colgan Sr. High School
• Forest Park High School
• Freedom High School
• Gainesville High School
• Gar-Field High School
• C.D. Hylton High School
• Osbourn Park High School
• Patriot High School
• Potomac High School
• Unity Reed High School
• Woodbridge High School

##### Middle Schools

• Louise A. Benton Middle School
• Stuart M. Beville Middle School
• Bull Run Middle School
• Fred M. Lynn Middle School
• Gainesville Middle School
• Graham Park Middle School
• George M. Hampton Middle School
• Lake Ridge Middle School
• Emlyn H. Marsteller Middle School
• Parkside Middle School
• Potomac Middle School
• Potomac Shores Middle School
• Ronald Wilson Reagan Middle School
• Rippon Middle School
• Herbert J. Saunders Middle School
• Unity Braxton Middle School
• Woodbridge Middle School
• The Nokesville School
• Pennington Traditional School
• Mary G. Porter Traditional School

##### Elementary Schools

PWCS operates 61 elementary schools; the list below reflects the 30-school cap noted in the CFG data. Full roster: pwcs.edu.

• James W. Alvey Elementary School
• Antietam Elementary School
• Ashland Elementary School
• Bel Air Elementary School
• Belmont Elementary School
• Maitland C. Bennett Elementary School
• Bristow Run Elementary School
• Buckland Mills Elementary School
• Cedar Point Elementary School
• Chris Yung Elementary School
• Coles Elementary School
• Covington-Harper Elementary School
• Dale City Elementary School
• Dumfries Elementary School
• Suella Gilbert Ellis Elementary School
• Enterprise Elementary School
• Featherstone Elementary School
• Fannie W. Fitzgerald Elementary School
• Glenkirk Elementary School
• Samuel L. Gravely Elementary School
• Haymarket Elementary School
• Alexander Henderson Elementary School
• Innovation Elementary School
• John D. Jenkins Elementary School
• Kerrydale Elementary School
• R. Dean Kilby Elementary School
• Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School
• Lake Ridge Elementary School
• Leesylvania Elementary School
• Loch Lomond Elementary School