Weather forces schools' closure

SANDPOINT - Inclement weather and dangerous driving conditions forced the Lake Pend Oreille School District to suspend classes Wednesday for the fourth time this winter.

Idaho Code requires students to attend a certain amount of instructional time each school year, depending on grade level. Ninth through 12th grade students need 990 instructional hours per school year, more than any other level. Other grade levels range from 900 hours for fourth- through eighth-graders to 450 hours for kindergarten students.

The district is allotted 11 hours for weather or facility related closures, which pencils out to approximately two days of instruction, said assistant administrator Doug Olin.

To guard against dipping below the necessary instruction time,  Superintendent Dick Cvitanich said the district purposefully implemented  instructional hours that go beyond what is required.

Even with the added hours built in, the district runs the risk of  exceeding its allowance if Cvitanich approves too many snow days. If the district does go over the limit, it can add time to school schedules until students reach their requirements.

While maintaining an adequate level of instructional time is important, Cvitanich said it does not play a role when deciding when to suspend school.

"It's completely based on the conditions," Cvitanich said. "Safety is the number one factor and that's what makes those such difficult judgment calls."

When making that judgment call Cvitanich and his staff rely on a number of sources, including weather forecasts and experts on road conditions. Wednesday's closure came after temperatures spiked to 43 degrees, which caused unsafe driving conditions, according to an LPOSD announcement. 

"From my perspective, we rely on bus drivers in terms of the roads, and we rely on (LPOSD facilities director) Sid Rayfield and the facilities department on the snow load. We look purely at the safety. If you started looking at how many days you had to make up or didn't have to make up, I think it would cloud your judgment a bit. Frankly, I don't think about that at all, I just think about safety," Cvitanich said.