Salem-Keizer School Closings Today — Live Status & Delays (Oregon)

Are Salem-Keizer schools closed today? Check live status below — updated every 10 minutes.

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Please enable JavaScript in your browser, then reload this page to see current closure and delay information for Salem-Keizer Public Schools and surrounding districts. In the meantime, check directly: Salem-Keizer Public Schools (salkeiz.k12.or.us), KATU 2, or KGW 8.

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Live status monitored for Salem-Keizer Public Schools (SKPS).

How Salem-Keizer School Closures Are Announced

Salem-Keizer school closings today are decided and communicated by the district office before families need to leave for school. When winter weather threatens the Willamette Valley, district leadership monitors road and forecast conditions overnight and posts a decision to the official website at salkeiz.k12.or.us as early as possible. Once a decision is made, ParentSquare and StudentSquare push out automated phone calls, text messages, emails, and app notifications to every enrolled family and staff member across the district’s 65 schools, and the announcement is mirrored on the district’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and submitted to FlashAlert for distribution to area newsrooms.

Because Salem and Keizer sit in the Portland television market, local TV stations also carry the announcement on their closings pages once the district publishes it. KATU 2, KGW 8, and KOIN 6 are the three stations most commonly cited by Salem-Keizer families checking for closures or delays. If no announcement has been posted by the time school is set to start, the district is operating on its normal schedule — Salem-Keizer’s policy is that no news on a snow day is good news, since the district only posts when something has changed.

Weather Risks That Can Trigger Salem-Keizer School Closures

Freezing rain and ice: A thin glaze of ice on Willamette Valley roads and sidewalks, especially on the hillier streets around West Salem and South Salem, is the most common trigger for closures or delays, since plowing and de-icing equipment is far less common here than in colder states.
Heavy snow accumulation: Salem typically sees only light, infrequent snow, but a fast-moving system that drops several inches at once can still close schools, particularly when it falls overnight and refreezes by morning.
High wind events: Strong windstorms moving through the valley can down trees and power lines along bus routes, which sometimes forces a delay or closure even without snow or ice on the ground.
Flooding from atmospheric river storms: Heavy, sustained rainfall from Pacific storm systems can cause localized flooding near the Willamette River and low-lying roads, occasionally affecting bus routes and access to some school sites.
Power outages: Winter storms that knock out electricity to a school building or to traffic signals along major routes can lead to a closure even when road conditions elsewhere are passable.
Poor air quality: During periods of regional wildfire smoke in late summer, the district may adjust outdoor activities or, in severe cases, alter the school schedule based on air quality index readings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How early does Salem-Keizer Public Schools announce school closures?

Salem-Keizer Public Schools (SKPS) aims to announce closures, delays, or early releases as soon as a decision is made, which is often the evening before a storm or by the early morning hours if conditions change overnight. The district posts to its website and pushes ParentSquare and StudentSquare alerts as soon as the call is final, so families checking before their normal departure time should have an answer.

What is the difference between a closure and a delay for Salem-Keizer schools?

A closure means all Salem-Keizer schools are shut for the entire day, with no in-person classes held. A delay means schools open later than the normal start time, usually by one or two hours, to allow road crews more time to treat icy or snow-covered streets before buses run. The district specifies the exact delay length in its announcement, and staff reporting times shift by the same amount as the student delay.

Do all Salem-Keizer schools close at the same time, or can individual schools close separately?

Salem-Keizer Public Schools generally makes a single district-wide decision that applies to all 65 of its schools at once, rather than closing individual buildings separately. This is different from large urban districts that sometimes close specific schools while others stay open; in Salem-Keizer, if you hear the district has announced a closure or delay, it applies across the district unless a specific school states otherwise for a building-only issue like a heating or water outage.

Which local TV stations report Salem-Keizer school closings?

KATU 2 (ABC), KGW 8 (NBC), and KOIN 6 (CBS) are the Portland-market TV stations most likely to report Salem-Keizer school closures, since Salem and Keizer are covered by Portland-based news outlets rather than a separate Salem television market. This page automatically monitors all three stations alongside the official Salem-Keizer Public Schools website.

How often is this Salem-Keizer school closings page updated?

This page automatically checks for updates every 15 minutes under normal conditions, and as often as every 5 minutes during active weather alerts affecting the Salem-Keizer area. Each check pulls from the official district feed, local TV station sources, and the National Weather Service forecast for Marion County.

Does Salem-Keizer ever close schools for wildfire smoke instead of winter weather?

Yes — in addition to winter storm closures, Salem-Keizer occasionally adjusts schedules or outdoor activities during periods of heavy wildfire smoke in the late summer and early fall, based on regional air quality index readings. These adjustments are communicated through the same ParentSquare and StudentSquare channels used for winter weather closures.

Salem-Keizer Public Schools — Full School Roster

High Schools

McKay High School
McNary High School
North Salem High School
South Salem High School
Sprague High School
West Salem High School

Middle Schools

Claggett Creek Middle School
Crossler Middle School
Houck Middle School
Judson Middle School
Leslie Middle School
Parrish Middle School
Stephens Middle School
Straub Middle School
Waldo Middle School
Walker Middle School
Whiteaker Middle School

Elementary Schools

Salem-Keizer Public Schools operates 39 elementary schools. The most prominent are listed below; the complete current list is maintained at salkeiz.k12.or.us/schools/elementary.