LAKE COUNTY — Snow and slick conditions over the past week have complicated the job of getting children to school, according to transportation directors at three Lake County school districts.
The decision to close schools varies from one district to another, and is largely decided by road conditions, according to Chuck Mansell, coordinator of emergency preparedness and school closure at the Lake County Office of Education.
“It is based around transportation ? whether or not that can happen for teachers and students,” Mansell said. “That”s the primary criteria for school closure.” Mansell calls transportation directors at the county”s five school districts and reports any closures to area radio stations.
Konocti Unified School District transportation director Wayde Zuiderweg said the decision to close schools is not an easy one to make. “The buses start rolling at 6:30 a.m., and we need a decision by then. Once you start picking up kids in the buses, mom and dad go to work and assume the kids are at school. We can”t turn around and drop them off,” Zuiderweg said.
Konocti Unified is the only school district in the county that has Connect-Ed instant messaging technology at its disposal to keep parents posted. The computer-based system allows an administrator to record a message and then call hundreds of parents within minutes, according to Zuiderweg.
“A lot of times it”s so hectic,” Zuiderweg said. “We”re getting radio calls from drivers updating us, the phones are ringing off the hook with calls from parents to see if the schools are open, and by the time we really should put out the call it”s almost over. There”s no easy way of doing this.”
“I stick my head outside to and see if I”m getting wet, and check the weather service and the highway conditions, then I drive the roads to look and see what it is,” Keith Somers said. Somers is the transportation director for Upper Lake Union Elementary School and Upper Lake Union High School districts, and serves about 400 students a day between the two.
“We”re probably the least affected by the weather; our routes are down at the lake level,” Somers said. “Certainly if anything within our district requires chains, then we consider it enough of a factor to cancel (transportation).”
Lakeport Unified School District transportation director David Norris said in the last 27 years, LUSD has only closed schools once or twice.
“We”ve been fortunate because the type of snow we”ve historically gotten has been very wet snow that doesn”t stick to the roads, and we”ve been able to travel,” Norris said. Norris said recent slick conditions may have caused 10-minute delays at the most. Delays, he said, should be expected as bus drivers are asked to slow down and exercise caution.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
