Fall is here on the Kenai Peninsula and that means winter is right around the corner. During the winter months, there may be times both in the morning and afternoon when road conditions become too hazardous for buses to travel on certain roads, which could trigger school closures or delays. This information will be posted on the district website, and parents should listen to KSRM for radio announcements.
“The colder weather is supposed to be settling in here,” according to KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland. “This fall it’s getting darker in the morning so it’s a good time for me to remind everyone that if we ever have a two-hour delay start for school, or a school closure for weather, we announce that by 5:30 a.m. A good place, besides KSRM, the fastest place to find that is on the KPBSD Facebook and we also put that on our webpage and try to get that out by message.”
The district encourages all parents to assess the conditions at your location. If parents feel road conditions are unsafe or weather conditions hazardous, they may make a personal decision to keep students at home until it is safe to travel. Notify the school if you choose to do so. The decision to close schools for the day is the responsibility of the Superintendent of Schools. Additionally, KPBSD’s superintendent may delay the running of individual routes of all bus routes by two hours if roads are impassable due to inclement weather. The two-hour delay gives road crews additional time for sanding and plowing.
Holland discussed the possibility of conducting classes at home through Zoom in the event the KPBSD has to call in a snow day, “There’s been some talk about doing that. When we talked about it last time, it was…because there’s so many families and locations that don’t have internet access, the reality is we wouldn’t be able to access a number of our students. That’s our issue with that even though it sounds pretty good. Yeah, there’s still that anticipation factor for students. No school, no school!”
In the case of a two-hour bus delay, the school or schools involved will be open at the regular time for students arriving by foot and for students whose parents are able to safely transport them. Schools will dismiss students at the normal time unless announced otherwise.
Parents should have an alternate plan for the care and safety of your children on those days when school openings are delayed, or schools are closed because of road conditions.
Click here for School Delays and Closures Protocol.