Weather or not, Monongalia County Schools Superintendent Eddie Campbell Jr. will likely have to make some more snow day decisions for the rest of week.
Tuesday was one of those for Mon students.
Calling school, he said, was easy after that road report the day before from the state Division of Highways.
The storm that dropped snow here Sunday and Monday didn’t bring the precipitation totals forecasters were initially predicting, but it was just enough to snarl traffic and cause accidents.
Especially with the windchill and plummeting temperatures.
“I would have liked for us to have gone today but the DOH wasn’t confident it could clear the way for all of our bus routes,” he said.
“You get anywhere outside of Morgantown and it gets tricky,” the superintendent added, talking about what happens when ice and snow take hold on roadways that can be dicey on good days.
“It gets tricky in town with the side streets. They’re narrow and there’s always a 45-degree hill somewhere. Buses get hung up.”
Campbell, who was superintendent of schools in mountainous Tucker County before moving to Mon, said he doesn’t fret much over the weather — in that if there’s snow, and it looks bad, or an official entity says it’s going to get bad, he keeps kids home.
“I never roll the dice,” he said.
Today is expected to bring a warm-up, in the meanwhile. The National Weather Service and other forecasters are calling for a high up to 44, enough to melt snow and ice.
Which, might be a problem.
A wintry mix of rain and snow is likely this evening to go with that low of 20, increasing the probability of black ice into Thursday morning, at the time when those yellow buses will be transporting students.
Thursday will only be a little warmer during the day, with a projected high of 27 — but down to 5 that evening, reports say.
Even with mostly sunny skies predicted, forecasters are calling for the cold to stay put Friday with a high of 23.
“The only thing we can do right now is wait and see,” he said.
Tuesday was the second snow day of the season for Mon’s district.
Campbell said the county could switch over to remote learning during bad weather, but that’s also contingent upon teachers being able to safely motor to their classrooms.
Snow days don’t matter to the state-mandated 180 days of instruction required for Mon and other districts. A district still has to get that time in, no matter what.
“We’re in good shape right now,” he said. The last day of school in Mon is June 3.
What’s not in good shape, he said, are his vocal cords; however, he added, chuckling, he’s quite OK with that.
Around 2019, sonically adventurous school superintendents in the wintry climes across the U.S. started singing their snow day announcements — with the weather-warbling going viral, more often than not.
A school superintendent in Missouri had that response with his vocals last week. The forecast for any such musical happening in Mon?
Not a chance, Campbell said.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure people don’t want to hear me sing.”
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