Three school districts closed Tuesday, two not
Staff writer
USD 408 and 410 schools were in session Tuesday while USD 397, 398, and 411 schools were closed because of inclement weather conditions.
USD 408 Superintendent Lee Leiker said he surveyed roads and bus routes, especially those from Florence, before making the decision to have school.
“Certainly the roads were not normal, but I felt we could get students safely to school,” he said.
Also factoring into his decision was the amount of snow, the forecast, projected temperatures, and wind conditions.
“With this particular snow, wind was a factor. You factor in all the different conditions,” he said. “There isn’t any storm that’s the same.”
USD 410 Superintendent Steve Noble was also analyzing the roads around Hillsboro at 4:30 a.m. He conferred with his Transportation Director, Keith Goossen, to determine that the roads were safe, except for one troublesome area in the northern bus route that drivers worked around.
“Based on my observations at 4:30, we thought it was reasonably safe,” Noble said.
When thinking of students’ safety, Noble was worried about frigid temperatures for walking students and students waiting for a bus.
Over the past two days when Noble studied how long students waited for buses, he found that students did not wait long and that buses pulled up next to their houses. He also determined that more parents would drive their children to school because of cold temperatures.
Giving parents the option to keep their children at home, Noble kept the schedule for a standard school day.
USD 411 Superintendent John Fast also studied the roads around Goessel at 4:30 a.m.
“I go to where there will be problems with drifts,” He said.
Because 78 percent of Goessel students live outside of the city, Fast did not want inexperienced high-school drivers battling the conditions. Even for students who ride the bus to school, Fast was worried that routes would take longer and young students would risk extremely low wind chills waiting for a bus.
“Students don’t bundle up like they should and they’re out there longer than they should be and that can be dangerous,” Fast said.
USD 398 Superintendent Rex Watson did not wait until this morning to call off school in Peabody. While driving home from the USD 398 Board of Education meeting Monday evening, Watson saw the roads were becoming slick. He heard the reports of high winds creating drifts and thought it was safer to keep students, parents, staff, and bus drivers off the road.
While approximately a third of USD 398 students live outside of Peabody, the large area bus drivers have to cover — 235 square miles — was a factor to Watson. Also, several faculty members drive from out of town — including a science teacher who drives from Mulvane and several staff members from Wichita.
“You can only make two mistakes as a superintendent,” Watson said. “Calling off school and not calling off school. You think about your own children and whether you would put them at risk.”
Fast, Leiker, and Watson agreed that calling off school for weather is subjective, especially because weather is so unpredictable.
“There’s no scientific way to determine it — if you have X amount of snow and X amount of wind you call it off,” Fast said.
Efforts were made to contact USD 397 Superintendent Jerri Kemble. Kemble could not be reached.