Published: January 10, 2009 10:32 pm      

Weather taking away from school time

West Virginia law mandates that students receive 180 days of instruction per year.

According to West Virginia Code 18A-5-2, “any school or schools may be closed by proper authorities on account of the prevalence of contagious disease, conditions of weather or any other calamitous cause over which the board has no control.”

Inclement weather such as snow, freezing rain and even flooding — which generated early dismissals at five Raleigh County Schools last Wednesday — can make it nearly impossible for schools to meet the yearly requirement.

Concerned that children aren’t getting enough time in the classroom, some parents have gone as far as questioning whether schools should abolish spring breaks.

“Based on the way the calendar is made, we cannot start school before Aug. 26 and cannot end after June 9, so there’s only so many days we can work with,” said David Seay, Fayette County’s director of transportation.

Due to the mandated calendar requirements, Seay says, schools are left with only four days that can be used as make-up days.

In the 2007-08 school year, Fayette County reported six school cancellations. It also experienced 10 two-hour delays, equivalent to about three days of instruction. After four make-up days, the county reported a total loss of five days.

According to Raleigh County Superintendent Charlotte Hutchens, Raleigh’s loss of instructional days was about the same as Fayette’s.

Nicholas County reported 12 cancellations last year as well as six two-hour delays. After four make-up days, the county reported a total loss of 11 school days.

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The state board leaves it up to each county’s superintendent to make the final call on how many days/hours of instruction students will lose in a given year.

“You really have to watch the weather the day before and anticipate what’s going to happen. I drive 30 to 40 miles between 3 and 4 a.m. to see how road conditions are,” Seay said.

He also checks weather forecasts and calls the state Division of Highways and other counties to see what they’re experiencing.

“I never say that I make a recommendation. I lay out all of the facts for him (Superintendent Chris Perkins) and he determines what we’re going to do. Normally we try to make a decision before 5 a.m. and get it out as quickly as possible.”

Hutchens says she often receives calls from parents complaining their streets are a mess and school should have been canceled. Or that the weather was fine and they wonder why school was closed.

“You can’t win,” Hutchens said.

“People need to understand that when we make the call, we make it based on conditions in the entire county.”

She says just because one part of the county is clear, the other side may be too hazardous for school buses.

Hutchens says parents know what’s best for their children, and “if you feel your child shouldn’t be going to school, don’t send them.”

She collaborates with Jerry Redden, Raleigh County’s director of transportation, in making the final decision.

“There is no template. We look at road conditions, listen to weather forecasts. We don’t make a lot of decisions based on weather predictions as they’re not always accurate. If they’re predicting ice and snow, we go out and check the roads from one area of the county to the other,” Redden said.

“We also check in with the (DOH) to see how they’re keeping up with the conditions.”

He says he’ll often drive the roads himself at 2 or 3 a.m. prior to giving Hutchens his input.

“You just look at it the best you can. There’s no way you can have people out there predicting weather.”

Redden says parents should not allow children to wait at a bus stop for more than 10 minutes.

He also says in inclement weather, buses will at times be running late, and parents can call the transportation office to get the whereabouts of their child’s bus.