PLACERVILLE, Calif. — Schools in the foothills are preparing to call Thursday a snow day for many. The potential of multiple hours of snow overnight is making many districts feel less confident they can open schools safely.
Superintendent Eric Bonniksen for Placerville Union School District will be up at 4:30 a.m. driving the roads to see if it’s safe to have school.
“Everybody doesn’t have chains, everybody doesn’t have snow tires, so we want to make sure again that our road conditions are safe for the drivers we have in our area,” said Bonniksen.
If Placerville Union does end up taking an inclement weather day, they have three built in.
“At this point, we haven’t had to use any, so this would be the first one and it’s built into our calendar that we would use it after the last three days of the school year,” said Bonniksen.
District says they also plan to evaluate conditions Friday morning as well for another potential snow day.
All local districts in Pollock Pines, Placerville and Grass Valley communicate in a joint call about conditions. Grass Valley School District said they also get input from California Highway Patrol. Grass Valley said their transportation bus company makes their own decision whether to operate or not.
For more plans from local school district, view below.
El Dorado Union High School District
In statement El Dorado Union High School District said:
The El Dorado Union High School District is closely monitoring the severe weather conditions and the impact on our schools.
We will be out assessing road conditions early on the mornings of Thursday February 23 and Friday February 24, 2023 and will make determinations based on that information by 5:30 am each morning.
We anticipate the weather will not impact Oak Ridge High School. Ponderosa High School may be impacted. We anticipate that El Dorado High School, Union Mine High School, Independence High School as well as our Pacific Crest Academy will be significantly impacted.
The forecast is for multiple hours of snow falling overnight tonight and Thursday night makes us less confident in being able to safely keep schools open.
We will be monitoring the conditions in conjunction with our other partner school districts and will inform the school community by 5:30 am.
Mother Lode Union School District
Mother Lode Union School District also provided a statement that can be viewed below.
As you know, we are expecting some very low snow levels this week. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority and we are closely monitoring this situation.
Our decision on whether to implement a delayed start or close schools is based on a variety of factors. Specifically:
● Our ability to safely transport students to and from campus.
● The impact on approximately 50% of our teachers and support staff (transportation, food service, etc) that live in Placerville, Pollock Pines and other communities expecting significant snowfall to travel to work.
We understand that a delayed start or closing schools may be difficult on families and appreciate your understanding and cooperation in keeping our students and staff safe.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to the district office or your school's site administration.
Any decision to delay start or close schools would be communicated via ParentSquare and Email no later than 6:00 am on the impacted day. Please monitor your email and ParentSquare for any updates or decisions related to school delays or closures. Delayed start times and/or school closures will also be posted on the district website and the EDCOE website.
In the event we close school for 1 day, we will make up that day on March 31, 2023. In the event we close school for 2 days, we will make up that second day on April 10, 2023.
In the event we implement a delayed start:
●Herbert Green will start at 9:50 am and dismissal will remain the same as a normal school day.
○Bus pick-ups will be delayed two (2) hours from the normal pick-up time.
●Indian Creek will start at 10:55 am and dismissal will remain the same as a normal school day.
○Bus pick-up will be delayed two (2) hours from the normal pick-up time. If you have specific questions, please reach out to your site principal.
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