Kids want to flake out; schools wait on weather

Just what area school kids need: another day or two off.

They already had Monday off for the Presidents Day holiday, and they are taking off several cost-cutting days this school year so districts can balance their budgets. But now, with Old Man Winter threatening to rear his snowy head tonight, maybe they’ll also get Thursday, and even Friday, off.

Most kids love a “snow day.” But school administrators? Not so much.

“I’m not looking forward to it, I’ll tell you that,” South Lane schools Superintendent Krista Parent said Tuesday.

The Cottage Grove area district’s students will miss seven school days this year because of cost-cutting, Parent said.

Each school district budgets and plans for snow days differently, with some creating a calendar that assumes a few snow days, and others adding teaching days as snow days occur.

As the one who makes the last-minute call whether to close school because of weather, Parent says friends of her son, who is a student in the district, will often call and say: “Has your mom made a decision yet? Tell her to hurry up!”

Eugene School District Superintendent George Russell and other staff members will be out on the roads early Thursday morning if there is snow on the ground or other slick conditions, to make the decision on whether to cancel or delay school, district spokeswoman Kerry Delf said.

Cold snaps can be fickle and fast-changing this time of year in the southern Willamette Valley.

But if the National Weather Service forecast holds true, the high will be near 40 today with rain turning to snow showers by evening. There’s a possibility of 1 to 3 inches of snow on the valley floor overnight when the temperature is expected to dip to 31. Thursday calls for a high of 37 with an inch or two of snow possible, then dropping down to an overnight low of 26. There’s a chance of snow showers on Friday, with little accumulation because of a high of 38. The overnight low, however, is expected to be a frigid 13, before a slight warming trend begins to assert itself. High on Saturday is expected to be 42 with an overnight low of 30.

“If you look on the weather map, it looks like the mother of all storms, but we’ll see,” Crow-Applegate-­Lorane School District Superintendent Susan Nakaba said.

If there are 3 inches of snow on the ground in Eugene, it’s safe to say that Eugene School District students will have a day off late this week, right?

“One can’t assume that (the schools) would be closed. It depends on the road conditions,” Delf said.

Superintendent Colt Gill in the Bethel School District is another school leader who hits the roads himself to make the call.

“He’s usually up by 3:30 a.m. and out the door by 4:30 a.m.,” district spokesman Pat McGillivray said. Gill also consults with the National Weather Service and other school districts because “it’s not only students, it’s getting our teachers here,” McGillivray said. “They live all over (Lane County).”

Bethel students already are scheduled to be off eight teaching days this year as the staff takes furloughs, McGillivray said.

“It’s a fine line between wanting them in class and learning, and making sure of their safety,” Mc­Gillivray said.

These days, all school districts post closure information on their websites. Many even “Tweet” them.

For the Crow-Applegate-Lorane district, it’s key that school buses be able to get up the hills in the rural areas, Nakaba said. The district’s maintenance supervisor hits the roads in a four-wheel-drive about 4:30 a.m., and if he can’t get up the hills, then the school buses won’t be able to, she said.

As for students at Crow High School? They’ve been doing their “snow dance” in the hallways since last week, Nakaba said.