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 28 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 to ensure safe operation of buses, protection of our students from the actions of other drivers, safe walking and waiting conditions, and predicted conditions later in the school day that will allow students a safe return home. 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. However, during this past storm, we knew weather conditions would not improve substantially enough to allow us to reopen schools the next day. This permitted us to make the decision the afternoon or evening before the next school day and alert all media outlets in order to get out the word earlier.

On a similar note, the cancellation of 5 school days has necessitated the change in our school calendar. The state of Washington has a law that mandates the length of the school year. (RCW 28A.150.220). The law mandates that students are in school for 180 days per year (with the exception of seniors who are granted a 5-day waiver). This is different then the requirements of the state of Oregon. Oregon has a system that requires students to attend school for a certain number of hours each year vs. Washington's requirement of 180 days of school per year. Because we receive a significant amount of Oregon news, I want to clear this misconception as to what is actually required for this side of the river. Our school district had two snow days built into the calendar that will now see our students attending school on those days (February 13 and March 12). This will necessitate our students making up the remaining three missed days. These days will be added to the end of the current school calendar (June 14-16). Also, as a result of missing the 5 days of school, Columbia High School's graduation commencement exercises will be moved from June 5 to Saturday, June 12, 2004. However, as it is only mid-January, our calendar is susceptible to further changes if inclement weather continues - stay tuned!

-January, 2004