Ice, snow cause closings: Schools battle lost days problem

Photo by Randy Moll With temperatures just below zero on Monday morning, ice covered most of Crystal Lake in Decatur following freezing rain, sleet and snow on Sunday morning. Snow and ice also covered roadways, making travel treacherous.
Photo by Randy Moll With temperatures just below zero on Monday morning, ice covered most of Crystal Lake in Decatur following freezing rain, sleet and snow on Sunday morning. Snow and ice also covered roadways, making travel treacherous.

WESTSIDE -- A four- to five-inch snowfall Sunday, coupled with subzero temperatures, forced cancellation of schools in the area Monday and Tuesday of this week, the day schools were expected to resume after the lengthy Christmas break. The temperature dipped to a minus 7 degrees Monday morning.

Roads, streets and highways were covered with a layor of ice under snow on Monday morning, making travel treacherous. Police reported no serious accidents but some minor accidents and many vehicles which slid off into ditches.

Added to the five or more days cancelled because of weather conditions in December, officials are scrambling to adjust schedules to meet the 178 days required by the Arkansas Dept. of Education.

Schools in Decatur, Gentry and Gravette have all exceeded the snow days, usually five, built into the schedules. Additional sub-freezing temperatures which are forecast this week may delay melting which can add to the problem.

For Gravette schools, which were to resume Monday, the school Personnel Policy Committee is expected to make a recommendation on how best to make up any additional lost days. The board will make the final decision. The same is true in Gentry. At this time, June 2 is still considered as the last day of school in Gravette. May 30 is the last day in Gentry.

Under discussion in Gentry is the use of Feb. 18 (a professional development day), Good Friday and Memorial Day as student days.

For Decatur schools, which resumed classes last Friday, their board has scheduled classes on several in-house service days. At this time, May 28 is still considered as the final day of school.

If additional days are lost, they also will have to be made up. If the early winter weather trend continues, the modifications could be extreme.

Bad Weather Nothing New

A similar situation occurred during the late 1970s when a three-year cycle of heavy snow/ice occurred.

NOAA weather records in Gravette show the greatest number of missed school days occurred during the 1977-78 school year. In Gravette students missed classes on 10 days in January 1978. That was followed by 11 days lost in February and another missed day in March, bringing the total to 22 missed days. It was in that year the Dept. of Education waived such weather related misses from the 175 required if the schools made efforts to correct the problem. In that year, Gentry missed 18 days and Decatur 15.

The Gravette school board cancelled the spring break, but did not schedule any Saturday classes. This allowed for a 169-day school year, six short of the requirement. Graduation was held on May 19. The coldest day in that January was a minus 2-degrees on Jan. 17.

The board also planned for 10 snow days for the following year, 1979. They were needed because heavy snows in January resulted in 12 missed days.

The three-year bad winter cycle actually began in January 1977 when a nine-inch snow fell on Jan. 10 and the temperature dropped to a minus 11 degrees. Eleven days of school were missed that year.

Records show that January is the month in which most heavy snows and/or ice storms occur. February also records extremely cold temperatures and a number of heavy snows. And March, according to records, often has the deepest, but short-lived, snow storms.

An occasional snow occurs in April and last May set a record in Arkansas for the latest ever and deepest snow ever recorded when five inches of snow fell in northwest Benton County.

General News on 01/08/2014