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UPDATED: Park City School District cancels Wednesday classes due to snow

The Park City School District canceled classes on Wednesday due to a severe snowstorm.

The district notified parents Wednesday morning, citing the snowfall and the potential for icy road conditions. The storm began hammering the area Tuesday, and weather forecasts called for more snow throughout the day Wednesday.

Todd Hauber, business administrator for the district, said road conditions were made more unsafe due to warmer temperatures before the storm, which caused ice to form on the roads. Then, several inches of snow fell overnight.



A winter storm warning was in effect until 6 p.m. Wednesday. The continuous snowfall was another reason the district ultimately decided to call a snow day, Hauber said. Snow was expected to continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday, but Hauber predicted Wednesday morning that school would be back in session Thursday.

“It was just a myriad of factors that started to come together, and then they stacked up to a point where it’s like, ‘It’s not going to be a good day to try to drive buses through and for parents to drop off their children,’” he said.



The district last declared a snow day in Park City in January of 2017. School officials at that time said it was the first time they’d canceled classes for snow in more than a decade. The decision in 2017 was made after officials determined snow plows would be unable to clear neighborhood streets for buses.

Hauber said district leaders began talking with the district’s snow plow drivers and city and county officials early Wednesday morning about the road conditions. By 5:30 a.m., the district made the decision to close schools and notify parents.

Hauber said the district currently does not have a policy in place that would allow for a delay to the school day rather than a complete cancellation. But, he said, the district will likely look into amending policies to allow for delays.

The current plan is for students to make up the missed day on June 6, a day after what was scheduled to be the last day of school. Utah law requires that students have 180 days of instructional time, and Hauber said the school accounts for possible school closures while making the calendar.

In 2017, though, the district received a waiver from the Utah State Board of Education allowing it to not make up the missed day.

Schools in the North Summit and South Summit school districts remained open Wednesday.

Education


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