By Scott Harvey
Bonham – Nearly all are area school districts are either closing or delaying the start of school Wednesday in the wake of more snow.
The state encourages districts to plan for at least two bad weather days each year, they then need to apply for a waiver to make up for any additional days lost.
Following Wednesday's closing, Bonham ISD has now cancelled class six days this school year; accounting for one of highest totals in the area. Superintendent Sonny Cruse says making those days up becomes very difficult.
"You could make it up on Saturdays, which is difficult," Cruse says. "You could technically delete those holidays for spring break which, at this point in the school year, if you have families that have already made plans, that's kind of hard. The next option is you could extend the school year, but that becomes problematic, especially for seniors, because graduation has already been set and the invitations ordered."
He says his biggest concern from an education standpoint is the missed instructional days. But the most important aspect, according to Cruse, is keeping everyone safe by keeping them off the roads.
"We do think about buses and then we think about our student drivers that have to drive to school. We think about our parent drives. You're in a no-win situation. You want to come to school but if you make the call to have everyone come to school and someone gets hurt... I don't want to live with that."
A complete of area school and business cancellations and delays is available on the KETR homepage.