SCHOOLS MUST SECOND-GUESS MOTHER NATURE

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature, but school administrators must sometimes try.

Fearing heavy snow, all public schools in Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Scott counties dismissed early Thursday, only to be surprised by the worst weather hitting to the south. Only about an inch of snow fell here.

"I didn't want to send the students home early today," Dr. Howard Jones, superintendent of Jackson schools, said Thursday. "Days like today are iffy because they can go either way. We want to err on the side of safety."

Jones said administrators usually have to decide quickly whether to cancel school, and they have a number of factors to consider. Existing conditions and the next day's forecast are important because conditions can worsen within hours after the first snowflakes. Officials in districts with few rural students can usually watch local weather reports and decide, but those in rural districts must know road conditions across their districts and decide early enough to inform parents that school is getting out early.

"People give me fits over why I wait to cancel school," said Jones. "Days like today are exactly why I do wait: We can't just look at what's going on in town; we have to look at what's happening in the rural parts of our district also."

Jones said in the southwest corner of the Jackson district Thursday morning roads were getting bad. A decision had to be made by 10 or 11 a.m. so that afternoon kindergarten sessions could be canceled, he said.

Cape Girardeau was among a number of area school districts that didn't pick up another snow day on Thursday. Dr. Richard Bollwerk, associate superintendent of schools, said dismissal after a four-hour school day is classified as an early dismissal rather than a snow day.

Ernie Lawson, superintendent of Chaffee schools, said: "We've missed more school this year than we've missed since the mid-70s. Our problem is we've missed six days and we don't have much room to make them up."

Jackson students have missed eight days of school because of bad weather.

State law requires schools to schedule at least 174 days each year, but Jones said most area schools have longer schedules that include extra days for inclement weather.

"Most schools in the area go extra minutes each day, and they accumulate over time," Jones said. "That way, if schools have to let out early, they'll make those missed hours up within a couple of weeks because they stay longer each day."

Area schools have missed between four and eight days because of snow and ice this winter. Nearly all school districts with the exception of Delta will hold classes Monday, Presidents Day, in an effort to make a day.

Meadow Heights School District at Patton has missed 11 days because of inclement weather and a late start because of school construction. So far the district is the only one in the area scheduling Saturday school hours as make-up days.

Nell Holcomb Superintendent David Fuemmeler said the bad weather has made it difficult to schedule make-up days.

"Every time we try to take a look at what we're going to do, we get another forecast for snow," he said. Nell Holcomb has missed eight days. Fuemmeler isn't yet considering scheduling Saturday classes.

Higher temperatures this weekend should offer some relief.