Bus routes. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)
A late decision by Salem-Keizer School District officials to delay the start of school two hours on Tuesday morning prompted frustration and confusion from parents and school employees.
District leaders notified parents at 7:13 a.m. after making a late decision because of worsening ice on the roads, district spokesman Aaron Harada said. That’s less than an hour before most district elementary schools begin classes at 7:50 a.m.
Parents took to the district’s Facebook page, saying they received word of the closure after they’d already dropped children at their bus stops or taken them to before school programs.
“I have defended the district’s decisions over the past two years but this one is a disaster: kids waiting at bus stops, some kids on the school bus when the call was made entirely too late because someone was not doing their job and paying attention to weather conditions,” wrote parent Rob Owen on Facebook.
Owen told Salem Reporter he was five minutes from heading out the door with his elementary school aged son when the call came. Other parents on the district’s Facebook page reported they had already taken kids to school or saw elementary schoolers waiting for delayed buses outside.
District policy is to make a decision about whether to close or delay schools due to weather by 5:15 a.m., according to the district website. Typically, that’s done by checking road conditions in the early morning hours before buses set out on their routes.
Tuesday’s decision came after the transportation department checked road conditions from 3 to 4:30 a.m. and found they were driveable, according to a post on the district website. Road conditions worsened after buses headed out on routes, leading to the late decision.
The post didn’t specify where conditions were checked prior to the call, and Harada did not provide further details by 4 p.m. Tuesday in response to questions from Salem Reporter.
Students already on buses when the decision was made were taken to school and supervised by staff, the district said.
-Rachel Alexander
