Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310130
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most school systems in Western Virginia were closed Monday because of snow - and some will be closed again today, including those in Roanoke and Roanoke County.
But the bad weather of the past three days has been no match for last winter's record storms that caused some school systems to miss as many as 19 days.
A year ago Monday, Roanoke County students already had missed 10 days because of ice and snow storms. By comparison, this year's weather has been mild.
Monday was the first day this winter that Roanoke County schools and most others in the region had closed for bad weather.
Students were dismissed two hours early one day last month because of snow, but the schools did not lose a day of credit toward the mandatory 180 days.
By Jan. 30 a year ago, Craig County had missed 13 days; Botetourt County, 10; Bedford County, 9; Salem, 8; Franklin County, 7; and Roanoke, 5.
Because of the large number of missed days, the state Board of Education allowed most schools in Western Virginia to open before Labor Day this school year.
Like most counties in Western Virginia, Botetourt has many back roads that sometimes are not scraped until two or three days after it stops snowing.
``Some of the back roads are treacherous and unsafe for school buses,'' said Clarence McClure, Botetourt's school superintendent. ``Safety is the main consideration. That determines whether we are open or closed.''
In Bedford County, where schools are closed again today, Superintendent John Kent said he must consider the rural roads and make sure they are passable.
``We have to consider the condition of all roads - not just the main roads,'' he said.
School divisions have four or five snow makeup days built into the school calendar each year. Because the winter has been mild and no snow days had been used until Monday, many school superintendents are more inclined to close schools.
In most school divisions, snow makeup days are on teacher work days and parent-teacher conference days, when students had been scheduled to be off.
For example, Roanoke County students will attend school Friday, which had been scheduled as a parent-teacher conference day, to make up for missing Monday. They will make up today by going to school on a teacher work day next month.
Some school divisions also schedule snow makeup days as part of spring break. If the students miss only a few days for snow, they get a longer break.
While school systems in Virginia struggle to stay open during bad weather, snow and ice are no problem for school districts in Northern cities such as Buffalo, N.Y., and Duluth, Minn.
Buffalo misses one or two days a year because of snow and ice, said Ramsi Tick, a spokeswoman for the school system.
``We just get used to the snow and ice, and the city plows the streets,'' she said.
In Duluth, schools are closed only two or three days each winter because of bad weather, said Laura Johnson, supervisor of transportation.
The schools are closed only if a major storms hits the city during the night and snow-clearing crews don't have time to clear the streets before morning.
Johnson said Duluth has only two days for snow included in its school calendar. That is usually enough to make up the lost time, she said.
by CNB