WESTSIDE — Students were out of school again last week, after a two-foot-plus snow fell on the region Wednesday morning.
On Thursday many side streets were buried with snow, while other main roads remained slick. Schools remained closed on Friday as well, due to snow-covered and icy roads. Friday was the 12th day students in the Gentry School District have missed school this year.
“Seventy percent of our students ride a bus,” said Gentry superintendent Randy Barrett. “Our primary concern is to make sure that when we do run buses, that we run them safely.”
Barrett said the school board took into account snow days when building this year’s calendar.
“We did shorten our Thanksgiving and Christmas break and front-loaded staff development days to the beginning of the year,” Barrett said.
The district plans to just add the snow days to the end of the calendar, Barrett said.
The last day of school was set for May 17, but will be on June 3 if the district does not miss any more days, Barrett said.
School was canceled the remainder of the week in Decatur and Gravette as well.
Larry Ben, Decatur School District superintendent, said Friday was the 11th snow day this year.
“The roads aren’t the only issue,” Ben said Thursday. He said the district has tin awnings on some buildings that started to sag because of the snow.
“We have had to dismantle,” Ben said. “We sawed in through the bottom to let the tin and snow fall through in a controlled setting.”
The Decatur School District only had five snow days built into the schedule so the calendar will have to be revised, requiring board approval, Ben said.
Ben said he wants students to get out of school before Memorial Day. He said the district holds professional teacher development days before the start of school and only has three days scheduled for spring break.
The district was scheduled to get out May 13, but will get out May 27 if district officials decide to use one day during spring break as a makeup, Ben said.
A final decision on how Gravette School will make up six days lost to inclement weather will not be addressed until a meeting of the school board next Monday, Feb. 21.
District superintendent Andrea Kelly said the school has missed 11 days with five missed days built into the school calendar.
"I will be making a recommendation to the board on how to address the problem,” Kelly said.
The superintendent did provide some possible answers, one being to utilize the April 5 parent-teacher conference day for regular instruction time. This would require parent-teacher conferences to be scheduled afternoons and evenings of April 5 and 6.
Kelly indicated that possibly scheduling classes on Saturdays would provide a solution but, she added, “All options are on the table.”
Any days unable to be made up will have to be added after the scheduled May 31 closing date.
Kelly also said she was questioned regarding the statement, “If a district is out of session for 18 consecutive days, a disaster is declared and districts won’t be required to make up all of the days missed.”
That question to Tom Kimbrell, commissioner of education, resulted in the following reply: “No, there is no such provision that I am aware of from ADE or the Governor’s office. I will check with the Governor’s staff and if different will let you know.” She has not received any later communication from the ADE.
The superintendent did say that Saturdays may be used to make up missed days and that adding timeto a school day would require state approval.
The school experienced only one frozen pipe, which did not result in structural damage to the old gym. Repairing that and the cost of clearing parking lots have been the only unexpected monetary expense. Only one bus from the Bella Vista area was late - by 10 minutes - Monday when school resumed after being dismissed last week, Kelly said.
If the area experiences another weather-related closing, as has sometimes occurred in late February or early March, further adjustment will be required.
News, Pages 1 on 02/16/2011