Kendra Payne, Principal of the Welches Schools, noted that when winter
weather hits the Oregon Trail School District, things get going pretty early to
determine if school will be cancelled, delayed or kept open for the day. It
starts when the district’s director of transportation, who Payne added lives in
the Welches area, starts to gauge the conditions of the roads as early as 3
a.m.

“There’s a lot of layers to the process, but it also really boils down to a simple
thing: are the roads safe enough to drive on and will the students be safe
getting to school,” Payne said.

That process was frequently used in December, with the Welches Schools
racking up one late start and five days cancelled (giving students an early
start to their winter break).

Payne noted that a number of roads on the mountain are closely watched,
including Lolo Pass, Barlow Trail Road and Welches Road, while other
problematic roads in the district also get more attention, including Hwy. 211,
McCabe Road and Tickle Creek Road.

“Hwy. 26 is usually in really good shape,” Payne added. “The Oregon
Department of Transportation takes really good care of it. It’s the side roads
that end up being more problematic for us.”

The Director of Transportation and Superintendent take the information on the
roads and what the weather forecast is to then come to a decision.

Payne noted that snow can be manageable for keeping school open, but when
things ice over (as they did at times in December) it becomes clear that a full
closure is needed. In addition, the Welches Schools have flexible closure
protocol, allowing for the middle and elementary schools to be closed or have
a late start even if the rest of the district remains open.

“It’s recognized that Welches is at a different elevation,” Payne said. “For the
most part I think it works really smoothly.”

The only problem when the Welches Schools are closed or open late, she
noted, is for high school students. In that case, the bus typically stops at the
Hoodland Thriftway, while Payne noted that teachers at the high school are
also flexible in that case.

And while a snow day maybe a welcome respite for students, the snow days
in December may be twice as nice as Payne doesn’t believe the days will be
added to the end of the school calendar this summer. She noted that while
there is a formula for the number of instructional minutes students must
receive in a school year, there should be enough days remaining to meet that
requirement.

“It’s not out of the question that we might have to add days back, because it’s
early,” Payne said. “At this point, I don’t believe we are going to be adding
days on.”

The snow days also caused a number of school events to be cancelled, some
of which will be rescheduled, but some not, including a holiday concert (will be
a spring concert), a middle school dance, two basketball games (not likely to
be rescheduled), a high school band concert and a field trip to the Portland Art
Museum (likely to be rescheduled).

“It was really intense,” Payne said, adding how thankful she was to the
community for its understanding and flexibility. “It really has to start with
student safety, we don’t want anyone on unsafe roads.”

For more information and detailed snow route information, visit
http://oregontrailschools.com and click on “Transportation.”