Extreme cold shuts down some schools, delays others

By Kayla Gahagan, Journal staff | Tuesday, December 16, 2008

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Monday's school day looked a whole lot different for Sturgis Brown High School students than it did for Rapid City school students, even though the two schools are only 25 miles apart.

Area school superintendents took different approaches to Monday's sub-zero temperatures -- down to minus-15 and wind chills to 35 below zero, according to the National Weather Service. That's cold enough to cause frostbite within minutes.

Several school districts, including Spearfish and Douglas, delayed school start times by two hours, while Sturgis, most rural school districts and some reservation schools closed. The Rapid City School District began classes on time.

Sturgis Middle School was closed first thing Monday morning because of a burst water pipe, said Superintendent Jim Heinert. The Meade School District planned to delay the start of its other schools, but cancelled all classes when drivers had a hard time getting buses started.

Heinert said if it hadn't been for the burst pipe and the buses, students would have had classes because the roads had been cleared of most snow and ice, and the wind had diminished from the weekend's blizzard conditions.

Douglas schools serving Ellsworth Air Force Base and Box Elder delayed classes by two hours to give bus drivers extra time to warm the buses and make sure they weren't going to stall with mechanical problems, said Superintendent Loren Scheer.

"We're sure glad we did," he said.

Pete Haugh, the district's transportation coordinator, said a fuel additive used year-round in the buses includes an anti-gel mixture to keep diesel fuel from gelling in cold temperatures. It is more difficult to start buses anytime the temperature falls below zero, he said.

"But 10-below is when you get the big problems," he said.

Haugh said they also keep the buses' engine block heaters plugged in overnight so the engines stay heated.

"If not, there's not enough oil pressure," he said, and the engines won't stay running.

Spearfish Superintendent Dave Peters said district officials last week began considering whether to delay Monday's classes by two hours.

"I visited with the bus contractor Friday and he rode the routes," Peters said.

They worried about the fuel gelling, especially when the buses sit over the weekend without use.

"We decided, let's give it a couple of hours, when it's warmer and daytime," he said.

Peters said he decided Sunday to delay classes Monday morning and called surrounding districts as a courtesy so there's no confusion about who will be open or not.

"Today, Meade was closed and people were fired up, so it's good to know," he said.

There were a few parental concerns about students being outside in temperatures that reportedly dipped as low as 30 below zero in some parts of the state, he said.

"We always say it's the parents' decision if they think it's too dangerous," he said. "But the schools are warm, and hopefully the kids are dressed warm."

Red Cloud Indian School superintendent Bob Brave Heart said worries about the wind chill factor were part of his decision in delaying, and then eventually canceling classes at Red Cloud.

Some of his students ride an hour and a half one way to school every day, and he didn't want to risk one of the buses breaking down or a heater not working.

"We could have picked up kids and they would have been frozen on the bus, and I wasn't going to have that," he said.

Mike Kenton, director of support services in Rapid City, said the district began preparing early for Monday morning by starting, checking and plugging in the buses Sunday.

"They all got out on time," he said. "Our whole strategy today was that it would be cold, but it would better to run normal time. No matter how hard you try, not everybody gets the media announcements."

Lots of kids were waiting in parents' cars when buses stopped to pick them up, he said.

"We're really proud of our drivers, they did a great job for us this morning," he said.

Haugh credited his crew too, and said his head mechanic Lonnie Painter does the year-round maintenance to make sure the buses run well even when the weather is extreme.

"Daily maintenance is key," he said.

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com.