COLD COULD PROMPT SCHOOL CLOSINGS
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 -- 9:28 AM
You?ve heard of a ?snow day??local school officials may call a ?cold day? this week.With dangerous wind chills predicted throughout the week, school administrators are keeping an eye on the mercury.
"I always look at a range from 30- to 40-below with greater windchill factors. That's where we set our scale for calling off school," says Loyal superintendent Graeme Williams, "That's a pretty dangerous level."
Williams says a main concern is students waiting outside for buses, and the potential of a bus breaking down on the way to or from school.
The DPI requires districts to have class for the equivalent of 180 school days. Loyal builds at least one snow day into their schedule.
"We have, basically, one that we build in that we give off the contract and the students attending, but we usually go from there, whether it's a faculty make up, or whether it's a student make-up day," Williams says.
Loyal hasn?t cancelled school this year, though they did run 2 hours behind once. We have a Wind Chill Advisory in effect until noon today.
The coldest air will hit Thursday night, with lows of around 20-below.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.