Bend-La Pine HS, middle school students to get out early

(Update: Bend-La Pine HS, middle school students to leave 20 minutes early)

Bend-La Pine schools were back in session Friday for the first time this week. But in the late morning, officials announced middle and high school students will be released 20 minutes early “to allow buses and student drivers extra time to slow down and drive to conditions.”

“Elementary students will be released at the regular time,” they added, and “after-school activities are slated to go on as planned.”

Calls of canceled activities continue to come in. For example, Redmond’s American Legion hall has canceled Friday and Saturday bingo.

After four straight days of snow-caused school closures, several Central Oregon districts decided Thursday to reopen for classes on Friday.

Bend-La Pine Schools said, “Staff members have been out driving school bus routes and tracking weather systems – both are looking good and we are excited to be getting back to school. After school activities will go on as planned.”

Superintendent Shay Mikalson sent this note to parents:

“THANK YOU

Thank you all for your words of support and understanding as we have kept safety at the forefront of our decision making about school closures this week. I believe students and families are best served when we are open. As a parent of students myself, I know school closures are hard on our families. Four school days have been canceled district-wide this week in an effort to keep students and staff safely at home while our community road crews dig out from under this record snow storm. These are not always easy decisions and we appreciate your support.

BACK TO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, MARCH 1

Now some good news! We are ready for students and staff to return to school tomorrow, Friday, March 1. We have been out driving school bus routes and tracking weather systems – both are looking good and we are excited to be getting back to school.

If you ventured out in the last four days, you may have noticed that while school has not been in session, our buildings have been abuzz with snow removal activity. Thanks to our maintenance crews who have been working overnight, and our custodians who have been tackling snow removal during the day, significant progress has been made at our school sites and, aside from the enormous piles of snow on our properties, it will be “business” as usual. Kids Inc is back on and after school activities will go on as planned.

I would be remiss to not use this opportunity to send out a sincere thank you to the numerous dedicated men and women who have been working around the clock to help clear our city, county and state roadways so that we can get back to class. Thank you!

SLOW DOWN AND DRIVE TO CONDITIONS

I hope that you will join me and our bus drivers as we slow down and drive to conditions.

There is still a lot of snow on the road and our buses will be delayed getting to stops. You can check the location of your students’ bus and anticipated arrival time by using My Bus Stop. And you might hear us coming… those bus tire chains make a bit of a ruckus.

DOWNLOAD MY BUS STOP TODAY

If you have a bus rider and your hand is currently on your phone or computer, I urge you to download the My Bus Stop app after you read this message. With Bend-La Pine Schools My Bus Stop, parents, guardians and students know where their school bus is and what time it will show up at their home stop — all from your smart phone, mobile device or computer.

Bend-La Pine Schools My Bus Stop graphically displays the school bus’s location on a map, as well as the estimated time of arrival (ETA) to your student’s bus stop. The school bus’s location is automatically updated and the ETA is recalculated to accommodate any delays due to traffic while in route. This allows families the comfort of waiting inside until you know we are about to arrive.

MAKE UP SCHOOL DAYS

Bend-La Pine Schools’ students are fortunate to receive exceptional learning opportunities every day in our schools. Making sure that our students receive the education they deserve is a priority. We expect that some or all of the days we have lost due to weather closures will be made up. The final decision on this will be determined once we are clearly out of this storm. I anticipate getting back to you in the next week or two with the updated school calendar.

SNOW ON ROOFTOPS

Our team, along with structural engineers, has measured and remeasured snow weight on all of our schools with flat roofs (as recently as this morning). Engineers reported that our schools are safe and rooftop snow loads continue to be rated below load threshold. They also noted that we do not need to remove snow from flat or pitched roofs at this time.

Thanks to daytime warming, that snow is beginning to melt off and turning to water, which is draining from the roof tops. We will continue to keep our drains and gutters clear so that water can flow – further reducing weight on our roofs.

If you have seen our teams up on roofs, they were likely clearing drains and valleys of snow and ice.

Our roofs will continue to be monitored by our staff and engineering firm in the days to come.

Thank you for your continued support of Bend-La Pine Schools students and staff. I am honored to be a part of this great school district.

Sincerely,

Shay Mikalson, Superintendent”

The Redmond School District, meanwhile, issued this statement:

“We are going to return to regularly scheduled classes tomorrow, Friday, March 1, 2019. Our parking lots and buildings are ready to go thanks to all the hard work of our facilities crew. We have contracted to have the snow removed from the roof at M.A. Lynch Elementary and they will finish up by the end of the day.

“Typically we only announce when school is closed, but nothing much about this week has been what we would consider typical.

“We also wanted to send this announcement out to be sure to communicate that although our buildings are ready to go, many city sidewalks, bus stops and turnarounds are still piled high with snow. If your student walks to/from school or waits at a bus stop, you may want to have an alternate plan to get them to/from school.

“If you feel the current conditions are unsafe, the district respects your decision to keep your student(s) home for the day.

“Again, all classes, programs and activities will be running on schedule, Friday, March 1, 2019.

“Thank you for your patience throughout this week,” the Redmond statement concluded.

Other districts and facilities reopening Friday included Sisters (2-hour delay) Culver (on snow routes), Jefferson County and Crook County schools. High Desert Learning Center opened two hours late, at 8:30 a.m.

Sisters’ superintendent sent this message to the families early Friday:

“As we head back to school today, I wanted to take a moment to thank our school, city, and county employees that have been working so hard to clear snow in Sisters Country. Without their hard work, we would not be back at school today.

“Additionally, I want to inform parents that we had an engineer inspect our buildings in regards to the snow loads on our roofs. We are currently under the snow load weights for our roofs. The engineer also did a visual inspection and saw no signs of weight deflection in our schools.

“Again, I want to thank everyone for their hard work and we are happy to be back in school.

Sincerely,

Curt Scholl

SSD Superintendent”

And St. Francis of Assisi School announced its reopening in musical fashion — a YouTube video, to the tune of “Would You Like to Build a Snowman?” from the hit movie “Frozen.”

The city of Bend issued its winter street operations update Thursday afternoon:

“Our winter street operations have remained in full swing today as we worked to catch up and plow out of this record-breaking snowfall. The contractors that plow residential streets are taking their second passes on neighborhood streets today and tonight. With a break from the snowfall, roads are generally passable. The biggest frustration we’re hearing from the community today is about the plows pushing berms across driveways.

“So, with roads passable, today’s weather changes and our desire to stop creating frustration with ice berms, we’re calling off the contractors (who are addressing neighborhood streets) tonight.

“There are still one-off problem areas that get inadvertently missed – a forgotten cul de sac here or a tricky intersection there. We will continue working our own equipment and crews on two shifts to triage problem spots in the coming days and as the roads continue to need work. We are monitoring the forecasts and can call contractors if and when they’re needed again.”

The city of Redmond had a different message in Thursday’s announcement:

“The City of Redmond is encouraging residents to shovel snow, ice or debris away from buried storm drains and fire hydrants. Keeping storm drains clear allows for proper drainage of melting snow and can prevent pooling or localized flooding on streets. Keeping hydrants clear of snow assists firefighters to locate hydrants quickly during a fire.

“An interactive map is available at www.redmondstreets.com that allows residents to search for hydrants and storm drains near their residence.”