School districts keeping cancellations to minimum

BENTON COUNTY — School districts serving rural populations have been taking steps to keep cancellation days to a minimum this winter.

Districts such as Gentry, Gravette and Decatur are all faced with extending the school year a full week or more into the summer. But the number of cancellation days would be higher, superintendents say, if they didn’t adjust busing routes to avoid the worst of the ice and snow found on rural roads.

“We have some consistency in returning drivers over the years,” Gentry School District Superintendent Dr. Randy Barrett said Feb. 9. “Over the years, they’ve identified some areas that you wouldn’t want to take a bus.”

Barrett said drivers in his district communicated with parents who live on such roads, and asked them to bring school children to meet their buses on main roads, which tended to be better cleared of snow and ice.

By working with parents to circumvent the most-treacherous portions of routes, where buses may become stuck or slide off roads, districts avoid having to cancel school for all students.

Gravette School District transportation director Richard Carver said administrators sent letters to parents in November, warning there were certain routes that buses simply would not attempt in inclement weather. Carver said about 10 to 15 of the routes were typically shortened in such circumstances.