By Brigid Nease
Dear Washington West families, community members and employees,
I want to provide information about the decision not to delay or close schools on Tuesday, November 29, and Monday, December 5. I sent a letter out to all families a few weeks ago outlining the specific detailed procedures we follow to make the best possible decisions about school closings, so I won't repeat those steps here. You can find that resource on the homepage of our website at wwsu.org. I have been doing this now for eight years and have learned that there is no perfect, 100 percent guaranteed plan. This is Vermont and weather can change in what seems like a moment's notice without warning. This is exactly what happened on Tuesday. On Monday, more snow fell than predicted and again at precisely the worst time, after the buses were already in route.
All of our procedures were followed. On Tuesday, it was completely dry at the bus barn between 5:30 and 6:20 a.m. when the buses departed. The most recent weather reports indicated that rain would come in around 8 a.m. We did not receive any freeze warning or weather advisory notices from our state of Vermont site prior to the storm. Road crews did not tell us not to go and they themselves were caught off guard. They did not go out early to sand the roads. Between approximately 6:45 and 7:15 a.m., it started raining and began to freeze. Our buses were already on the roads (many without sand) and we directed them to park until a sand truck came by in front of them (see the explanation below from Danny at the Bus Barn). As of 7:30 a.m., there were no schools delayed or closed in Vermont except in Sharon and Grafton. The same was true on Monday, December 5.
I am terribly sorry for any difficulties any of you had. I made the same decision that nearly every other superintendent in this state made on Tuesday and Monday with the best information I had. I want to remind all parents that the final decision to send your child to school on bad weather days is yours. Conditions can be vastly different from the mountain back roads to Waterbury Center. Individual roads and driveways can and should affect a decision and I have no way of knowing those individual conditions. Our goal is to always put student safety first, while keeping our schools open for most students if we can. That might mean that parents keep some students home because some roads are not safe. We understand that and recognize that that is a reality given our geography. We also take very seriously closing school because we know that many students then must remain home alone. Many students rely on our breakfast and lunch programs.
It is also vitally important that every family has a safety plan for students waiting at a bus stop. It doesn't happen often, but weather like Tuesday's, mechanical problems, down power lines or trees, and the like, can and do happen.
I will continue to do everything I can to keep all of our kids safe by using the best resources at hand. I take this responsibility very seriously. That said, days like Tuesday, November 29, and Monday, December 5, can happen even though I did my very best. Please read the message below from our Bus Barn coordinator, Danny Bellavance, to me.
Greetings,
Many Monday morning quarterbacks out there – would have – could have – should have, etc. I am grateful for the overall results based on the decision not to have a two-hour delay Tuesday.
Centered on the latest weather information we received Tuesday morning, the freezing rain was to enter the WWSU area just before 8 a.m. A two-hour delay would have placed our buses on the mountaintops of every back road between Warren and Waterbury at about 8:45 a.m. (This would not have been good as this was the peak of the storm passing through.) My objective was to stay on our morning schedule (all buses depart by 6:30 a.m.). By keeping the morning schedule, all buses would have time to navigate the mountain roads and return to or near Route 100 by 7:30 a.m. to finish up. From Waterbury to Warren, our buses are off the mountains by 7:30 and the plan, based on the weather information, would allow us time to proceed as planned. Briefing my drivers prior to departure, all plans were set in motion (proceed with our routes and get off the mountain roads by 7:30).
All buses had departed by 6:30, and by 6:45 significant rain entered the area. Between 6:55 and 7:15, road conditions were changing fast, first Warren and then north to Waterbury Center. The back roads were turning to ice and drivers were instructed to find a safe place to park and wait for sand trucks. Two buses waited 15 minutes, while four other buses waited much longer. Regardless of time, we were to proceed with safety and remain patient.
Out of 20 bus routes, seven buses remained on schedule, four buses were 15 to 20 minutes behind, seven buses heading south from CBMS were close to schedule but were delayed coming to HUHS due to the car rollover on Route 100 and two Moretown buses were delayed more than one hour.
Had we waited with a two-hour delay, the road conditions would have been far worse than what we experienced that morning and who knows what could have or would have happened.
Monday presented another test for us. The forecast called for a dusting to an inch of snow and turned out to be much more. Laura was called to announce a 15- to 20-minute delay due to four buses that were delayed due to traffic/road conditions and weather at the time. I had to call her well after they were in route.
In the end, 11 buses remained on schedule through to completion, six buses were running between 12 to 18 minutes behind, and three buses were behind by 35 to 40 minutes and they were as follows:
A. Blush Hill in Waterbury – sand truck was on time salting and sanding, but cars were sliding down in the way of our bus going up Blush Hill.
B. Kew Vasseur in Fayston – bus was unable to go due to slippery conditions on the very steepest part – and waited on sand truck.
C. Moretown Mountain Road – plow truck was stuck on Hathaway Road – waited for him to get unstuck to sand hill and bus was delayed – but safe.
We do live in Vermont and we are in the valley between mountains and the weather pattern worked against us last week and again this morning, yet we did well.
This is rather lengthy, but I do feel comfortable and will sleep well tonight.
Respectfully,
Danny Bellavance, location manager
Nease is the superintendent of the Washington West Supervisory Union.
