Winter weather dilemma: Student safety is No. 1 priority when closing school

SIKESTON -- January has just begun, but local school districts have already been forced to deal with more inclement weather than usual.

Since December Sikeston R-6 School District has closed three days due to winter weather. Other school districts in the area, such as New Madrid County R-1 and Scott County R-4 "Kelly," have each closed eight days due to snowy, icy and cold conditions.

"We're going to take into account what is the safest, best way to get kids to and from school. The kids are our No. 1 priority," said Sikeston R-6 Superintendent Tom Williams. "If we do have school, we have determined it is safe enough for our kids to get to school."

Deciding whether or not to call of school involves more issues than others may realize.

"There are several factors that go into making a decision on whether or not to have school: one is whether the buses can safely travel to the bus stops," Williams said.

Last month Sikeston let out school three days following the Dec. 5 winter snow storm.

"During those instances, the side roads were too slick for the buses to travel back and forth on," Williams said.

Early this week-- when temperatures fell below zero degrees -- school officials once again had to assess the situation.

"Tuesday was a situation where we had to check and see if the buses started up and would move," said Williams, who noted the district was already scheduled to be off Monday as part of their winter break. Sikeston was in session Tuesday.

Fara Jones, assistant superintendent for Kelly School District in Benton. said when it comes to inclement weather, district officials always err on the side of caution

"Sometimes the roads may be good for regular vehicles but not for buses. We have to consider a busload of 70 children," Jones said.

Another major factor for districts like Kelly is how rural their district really is. For example, the Kelly district is comprised of several rural roads ranging from the hills of Commerce to Benton and through the flats of Blodgett, Diehlstadt and rural Sikeston.

"We have so many rural roads that the snow plows aren't going to go down, and we have to depend on farmers to grade those road and for some of our roads to get cleared because many of them are dirt roads and not even county roads," Jones said.

Plus, many of the high school students drive to school, Jones said.

"Overconfidence and lack of experience is never a good combination in this type of weather," Jones said. "They do not have the experience the adults do in driving in these types of weather."

For the complete story, see the Friday edition of the Standard Democrat.