White Salmon Schools
Superintendent's Page

Holiday / Winter Message

Superintendent's Corner A Message from Dale Palmer

Happy Holidays! It's December and the winter months are rapidly approaching. Last winter gave us a good reminder of how snow, ice and wind can impact our ability to conduct school (and other activities) as planned.

I would like to take this opportunity to outline our procedures for canceling or delaying school. As you can imagine, weather conditions vary greatly in our district. We have Bingen at river level and Snowden, Mt. Brook and Husum in the higher elevations. We must take all locations into account before deciding to cancel or delay school. Before deciding to close schools, I consult first with staff. Our Transportation Supervisor (Sharon Schalk - with 29 years of experience in this position!) drives portions of every single bus route every morning when potential inclement weather is upon us. Sharon contacts both the Klickitat County and Skamania County road crews, and before we close schools, we seek answers to the questions below:

• Can we ensure that buses navigate streets safely?
• Will students be safe waiting for buses, driving or walking to school?
• What are the predicted weather conditions later in the school day so we can also ensure students a safe return home?
• If we start school late (two-hour late start), will conditions be substantially improved?
• Will we have heat and lights in our schools?

We subscribe to ERF (Extended Range Forecasting) for minute-by-minute local forecasts. Sharon and I then confer and make the decision that would allow us to operate school on time, have a 2-hour delay, or cancel school altogether for the day. If conditions warrant it, bus route modifications will be made. These modifications may be different from day to day because of the varying weather conditions (different elevations within the district).

Our first priority is to always operate school. But student, staff, and community safety always is first and foremost, in our decision making process. Sharon will continue to drive routes and determine the safety conditions for our buses. If conditions are favorable we will operate school on every scheduled day.

Once we do make the decision to delay 2-hours or close schools, we try a number of ways to ensure the word reaches parents, students, and staff. We notify all local radio stations and, through another service provider, all Portland TV stations, of our decision. It is then broadcast beginning very early in the morning in most instances.

Again, we prepare and consider all the possibilities so we can ensure the safety and well being of our students and staff during extreme weather conditions.

-December, 2004

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