Why Pike County Did NOT Delay or Cancel School
(Flickr/Twix)
The decision to keep Pike County schools on schedule this morning was made because by the time the weather rolled in, students were already on their way to school. In an interview with HTN Daily, Mike Hildedrand, Director of Support Services for the Pike County Schools, said he was out checking the roads around 4am this morning. At that time, the roadways were perfectly clear so the decision was made to keep school on the normal schedule.
Even at 6:15, when all 10 buses in the district began to roll out to pick up students, the roads were clear, and the icy conditions had not begun.
Hildenbrand says it wasn’t until about 7 a.m. that the roads started to be a problem. That’s when several decisions were made. The superintendent first determined that any student that could not be reached by their bus would not be counted as absent for the day. The second decision was that all students on the buses would be brought into the elementary schools to get warm and then buses would leave one at a time, but in a staggered fashion – so that each bus could be as safe as possible.
Bus drivers were also advised to keep their speed between 20 and 25 mph on asphalt and that the most slippery area reported was at the intersection of 61 and 56, right in front of Pike Central High School. They were advised to use the most extreme caution and to use all of their lights, plus allow extra stopping distance to let drivers know what they were doing to keep the children safe.
Not one Pike County School Corp. bus was involved in an accident or slide of this morning, even though several reports to the contrary were seen on Facebook.
