A typical two-day weekend soon turned to five as inclement weather led to three consecutive snow days in a row. Most parents and staff members were in agreement with the past snow day announcements, however, yesterday’s day off was controversial.
The unexpected announcement came early at 5 a.m. Tuesday, Jan 23.
The WSD announced a snow day due to slick road conditions in the western part of the district. While roads and conditions were clear for most of the district, many people were confused on why Wentzville had a snow day.
Superintendent Dr. Danielle Tormala’s team of experienced drivers, drove specific routes at 3:45-4:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. These team members had difficulty staying on the roads and making it up hills. The WSD Department of Transportation was unsure that their busses could safely navigate these icy roads.
Francis Howell School District, along with Fort Zumwalt School District were opened on Tuesday. And because of that, busses were over two hours late because of these dangerous conditions on certain roads.
Just hours after Tormala made the call, cancelling school for the day, accidents were reported all over the western portion of the district.
Commonly traveled roads such as Highway DD, which is the road that travels right next to Frontier Middle School, had reports of a solid sheet of ice covering the road. Cars would struggle climbing the road, and some even slid down sideways.
While most people didn’t live in these affected areas, it left many people wondering what’s the cause?
“I was not expecting a snow day yesterday because the roads were safe and there was no ice,” Patrick Kessler said.
WSD’s Facebook page was swarmed with parents and staff members as soon as the announcement was released.
“This is ridiculous. Our students need to be in school. Roads are fine,” Jennifer Phillips stated in an Instagram comment. Other parents were in agreement with the superintendent’s decision.
“I am personally one of the western employees that cannot get out of my area, I’m thankful!” Megan Malay commented on Facebook.
Some parents were even curious on why the WSD didn’t announce a late start. If only western parts of the district had dangerous conditions, then why close the entire district?
“A late start was considered, but with road conditions as they were for some of the roads in the western part of the District, road temperatures, and air temperatures only projected to get up to 37 degrees by 8 a.m., it was unlikely that the roads in question would be significantly better at that time,” Tormala said.
Unfortunately, no certain school can close due to weather. Snow day decisions are made for the district and not for individual schools, so in this case Tormala was ensuring the safety of all students and staff members of the district.
