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Hood River News Editorial
February 24, 2007
The weather, and how we respond to its
joys and problems, largely creates distinctly individual responses in
people.
When it comes to traveling in snow and ice, though, people generally
fall into two categories: those who believe it is no trouble to drive
in it, and those who find greater concern in its dangers.
Granted, there is gray space between the two views: a sort of slush
between perspectives, but when it comes to public transportation of
students, the school district has two primary concerns — safety and
economics — when it decides whether or not to run school on a snow or
ice day, or whether classtime should be delayed for the day.
Twice this week the Hood River County School District delayed classes
by two hours, because of snowfall in the upper valley.
A large measure of patience is due the school district for this
nettling decision. (The district is required by law to provide
transportation for all students living one mile or more away from
school.)
“Oregon has the shortest instruction year in the nation, and we are
not anxious to make it any shorter,” district Superintendent Pat
Evenson-Brady said.
Besides the matter of safety for students, and staff (one quarter of
whom live in areas typically affected by bad weather), there is a
fairly simple matter of economics that goes into the decision to delay
school:
Some bus runs serving multiple schools are in the areas most affected.
For example, the bus picking up students on the Dee Flat takes some to
Parkdale Elementary, some to Wy’east Middle School and some to Hood
River Valley High School. That means in the interest of instructional
consistency, all schools are delayed the same amount, rather than, for
example, closing the upper valley schools for the day and keeping the
high school open. In such a case, up to 25 percent of the HRVHS
student body would be missing for the day.
Scheduling separate bus runs for each school would triple the cost of
transportation for the district — already a major budget item as fuel
and other costs continue to rise.
Snow delays are unfortunate for their impact on the length of the
instruction day, and it is understood that they represent difficulties
for families with working parents.
But there are definite realities the school district must work with,
and underlying them all is the concern for student safety. |
