Children across Central Oregon were cheering at the announcement that they would not have to go to school Monday. It was a snow day following Sunday’s winter storm.
That is, unless it was a child in the Bend-La Pine School District, where everything was business as usual.
The Redmond, Jefferson County, Crook County and Culver school districts as well as Central Oregon Community College shut their doors Monday.
Crook County put a two-hour delay in place Sunday night, but decided on a full-day closure when morning arrived.
“Everyone felt comfortable that a two-hour delay would give road crews enough time to get, you know, streets plowed,” said Crook County School District Communications Director Jason Carr. “Ultimately, a lot of the side roads in those outlying areas hadn’t been plowed and cleared yet. And so when really looking at the road conditions this morning, our transportation team just didn’t feel comfortable that they could get all the buses out there.”
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But for the Bend-La Pine School District, the buses didn’t even need to use chains on Monday.
“The city did an incredible job last night getting the roads clear and our maintenance crews work on our schools. So they started about 1 a.m. last night and things just looked great for us,” said Kim Crabtree, Director of Transportation for Bend-La Pine Schools.
As for the week ahead, the forecast calls for below-freezing temperatures during the day and possibly single digits at night. A recipe for ice — but future plans are uncertain.
“It will be a situation again where we’ll assess everything tonight and then we’ll assess road conditions again, you know, first thing in the morning and then we’ll make a decision day-by-day,” said Carr.
“Just have to wait and see how much sun comes out and kind of melts things off,” said Crabtree.
