Superintendent’s Corner

By Tim Saylor

                Canceling school in Harlan County during inclement weather is not always an easy decision.

                Due to the county’s geography, decisions during inclement weather must be made on a county-wide basis, not just on one section of the county or on certain roads. While city, county and state road crews clear priority routes first, there are other roads that take longer to get to and create issues for our transportation department.

                During morning and afternoon routes, the district has 73 buses transporting more than 3,000 students to and from school.  Buses cover about 4,000 miles daily – 2,000 on morning runs and 2,000 during afternoon runs.  Our longest route takes more than an hour to complete. Counting extra-curricular trips, our buses travel just under 1 million miles per year.

                In addition to our buses, a lot of private vehicles are on the road bringing students to school. More than 1,000 students are transported in private cars or walk to school. Private transportation includes high school students driving themselves to school and parents dropping students off. Some students walk to our elementary schools.

                During periods of snow and ice, the following areas traditionally create concern for student safety: Little Shepherd Trail, Happy Top, Terry’s Fork, Watts Creek, Cloverlick, Sand Hill, Bob’s Creek, Holmes Mill, Lynch, Smith, Bigelow, Salt Trace and Big Laurel.  Many roads are hilly, curvy and narrow.

Therefore, each road travelled by our buses must be considered in our decision. Many routes require buses to turn around and exit a community the same way it came in. Turnaround locations must be clear of snow and ice.

                The decision to cancel school involves a team effort, again because of the size of our county. There are five “spotters” dispatched into the different areas to report road conditions to the transportation director.  The reports are given to me. We then consider the weather forecast, current and expected temperatures and other important data before making our final decision. This year we have held conference calls with National Weather Service and Emergency Management officials.

                Frigid temperatures create havoc on our drivers. When temperatures drop into the low teens and single digits, condensation could develop in the fuel and break lines of buses. The temperatures make it difficult to start the buses, requiring drivers to start them daily even if school is cancelled.

                Most decisions are made about 5:30 a.m., unless conditions are severe the night before and temperatures are not expected to rise during the night. As the district has experienced this year, sometimes it is imperative to cancel school simply because of the forecast. It is hard for a district our size, covering so many miles of highway, to have school when a winter storm warning is issued by the National Weather Service, with the predicted precipitation expected to begin at 1 p.m.

                As of February 4, we have missed 15 days due to inclement weather and illness already this school year. The winter is still young. We also face threats of heavy spring rains and flooding each year too. It is safe to say that we will probably miss more days.   This is almost one month of classroom instruction missed.

                The number of missed days missed this year is reason for concern as students will be taking required state assessments in the spring. Our students will have far fewer days in the classroom than students in other areas of the state being tested.  This creates a disadvantage for our students, our schools and the district when the testing results are announced.  This could also have a significant impact on whether schools receive sanctions. Schools across Southeastern Eastern Kentucky share this same problem.

                I cannot brag on our school bus drivers enough for the job they do each day. Without them, it would be impossible to get many of our students to and from school safely. I commend them for the job they do. They have the most important job in the entire school system.

It would be great to look into a crystal ball and make the decisions on what Mother Nature will deliver during the school day. Crystal balls don’t exist, but we do utilize every resource possible to make the decision that is solely in the best interest of student safety.  We want our children in school, but we also want them safe. Student safety is our number one priority. If there is a question about the conditions, we will err on the side of caution.