Schools skip snow days with limited bus routes

Sticking to paved roads gets most to class

NWA Media/JASON IVESTER 
With snow and ice still on the ground, the sign out front welcomes students Saturday at Harrison High School. A number of districts in Northwest Arkansas opened Monday with limited bus service because of slick rural roads.

NWA Media/JASON IVESTER With snow and ice still on the ground, the sign out front welcomes students Saturday at Harrison High School. A number of districts in Northwest Arkansas opened Monday with limited bus service because of slick rural roads.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Icy patches on dirt roads that cross mountains kept at least two Northwest Arkansas school districts out for another day Monday, but some superintendents avoided taking an additional snow day by offering limited bus routes.

Limited bus routes are new this school year for the rural Gentry School District in Benton County, Superintendent Randy Barrett said. Gentry canceled school fourdays last week before reopening Friday with limited bus service, and the attendance rate was 80 percent, he said. On Monday, attendance had improved to 88 percent with the district still running limited routes.

“We’d missed 15 days of school,” Barrett said. “We reached a point where it was safe to run a bus on the paved areas.”

A harsh winter with storms in December, January and February has led to 10 or more snow days for more than two dozen school districts across Northwest Arkansas. Some districts have missed the equivalent of three weeks of instruction. The most recent storm, which began Feb. 2, was followed by bitter cold temperatures that meant driving conditions were slow to improve.

Most school districts in Northwest Arkansas were back in session Monday, but many adjusted bus routes because of icy conditions that remain on back roads.

Huntsville and West Fork were out for the 18th snow day of the school year Monday.

While some roads remained too slick for a bulky, rear-wheel-drive bus, Barrett thought roads would be safe enough for parents to drive to stops that were accessible to buses.

“I am really hesitant to continue using snow routes if 20 percent of our students aren’t here,” Barrett said Monday morning. “Superintendents everywhere, we’re just trying to work our way through this and find a good balance between the safety of our students and being able to provide educational service.”

Barrett posted information on the district’s website that explained limited bus routes to parents. The district’s rural bus routes were limited to paved roads only, which meant some changesin bus stops. Barrett asked parents to wait for their children to board buses in the mornings and meet the buses to pick up their children in the afternoons, so that children would not be unattended.

The superintendent offered an excused absence for children who could not get to a bus because of safety problems or because parents could not wait with them at the bus stop.

Barrett said he continues to evaluate the limited bus-service routes, and he wouldn’t want to continue limited routes for an extended period. That would cause another set of problems because some children would fall behind in instruction, he said.

While school has been in session since Thursday in the larger Fayetteville School District, the district has limited bus service to some hilly areas, especially near Goshen and Wheeler, where dirt roads are still covered in snow and ice, district Transportation Director TommyDavenport said. The district offers alternate stops when buses can’t make it.

On Monday, bus service remained limited for about 40 children, Davenport said.

He hoped to return to regular routes by this afternoon, he said.

West Fork Superintendent John Karnes and his transportation director have driven roads every weekday in the southern and northern portions of the district, which covers 133 square miles, primarily in Washington County. Many bus routes run on dirt roads with steep inclines around mountains, and some still had long stretches of ice on Monday, Karnes said.

“I’m always going to err on the side of safety,” he said. “I know we have some that are frustrated.”

In the 11 years that Karnes has been with the district, the district has not previously run limited bus routes, but he planned on Monday night to discuss the option with the West Fork School Board. He was concerned that opening with limited bus routes could affect attendance.

In the Huntsville School District, which spans 757 square miles, primarily in Madison County, road conditions Monday were still too bad to open, even with limited bus routes, Superintendent Robert Allen said. Allen estimated that had school opened Monday, bus drivers would have been able to pick up about a third of the children.

A majority of the district’s roads are dirt roads that still were icy Monday, Allen said.

“Dirt roads can’t be treated very well,” Allen said.

Allen was hopeful about opening today with limited bus service. In Huntsville, bus drivers contact parents to let them know whether the bus can make it.

The district doesn’t post limited bus routes because the situation will change across such a large geographic area.

In the Omaha School District in Boone County, school resumed Monday under limited bus service on a day that brought a dusting of snow, Superintendent Jerry Parrett said. The district has so far has missed 17 days this school year because of wintry weather and icy conditions.

“We just needed to get back to school and have school,” Parrett said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/11/2014