Snow days becoming a concern in Bethel Park
School officials in Bethel Park are hoping for an early spring forecast on Groundhog Day, because fitting in all these make-up days is becoming a bit of a challenge.
Bethel Park canceled classes five times this school year and school officials have to get creative to make up for the lost instruction time without postponing graduation, which is set for June 2. The Bethel Park School Board discussed the options at its committee meeting Jan. 16, but some board members, as well as parents, have questioned whether the cancellations were truly necessary.
School board members said they received at least 60 emails concerning school cancelations due to bitterly cold weather in early January. Many of those emails were critical of the decision to close Bethel Park schools when nearby school districts remained open, though many delayed start times. Other parents expressed their displeasure on social media.
“Any time I have a concern about student safety, I will err on the side of safety,” Superintendent Joseph Pasquerilla said.
Bethel Park has to make up more days this year because of non-weather-related cancelations earlier in the year. School was closed twice in September after a threat against the high school circulated on social media. Classes were also canceled once in November because of a boil water advisory.
Some board members questioned why school was closed on those days, since police deemed the threat not to be credible and other school districts affected by the boil water advisory held classes and mitigated the water problem by distributing bottled water to students and staff members.
School director Ken Nagel noted that closures and delays are quite inconvenient for working parents. It can also be frustrating when parents cannot understand the reasons behind the decision to cancel school.
“I think it would help to better understand the decision-making process,” he said.
Pasquerilla said he has to get up quite early on bad weather days to assess road and weather conditions. He discusses the situation with several officials from the school district as well as the municipal public works department and consults weather forecasts and other data before reaching a decision.
“There are a lot of variables that go into this,” he said.
The backlash has prompted some residents to call for the board to establish a policy with guidelines for when school should be canceled or delayed. Right now, the decision to cancel school is solely the discretion of the superintendent, and it will likely remain that way. Many board members who were critical of the decisions to cancel school seemed disinclined to micromanage and take that call out of Pasquerilla’s hands.
“I don’t agree with some of those decisions, but I respect (Pasquerilla’s) right to make those decisions,” school director Pamela Dobos said. “I am concerned though that so much of your decisions are based on fear … I don’t think we should let fear rule.”
One makeup day could be the primary voting day on May 15, when schools are scheduled to be closed since some of the school buildings are used as polling places. However, the board could opt to hold classes in all schools and use extra security in the schools that also function as polling places. Alternatively, the board could hold classes in the middle schools and high school, since those buildings are not polling places, and leave the elementary schools closed that day.
Pasquerilla noted that the district will hold classes for the March 13 special election, so holding school on primary day shouldn’t be much different. The state scheduled the special election after Congressman Tim Murphy resigned in October.
Parent Adam Foote is concerned about having schools open during both the special election and the primary. He noted that great pains were made to lock down the buildings during typical school days and it’s a bit disconcerting to open some of those buildings to the general public on the election days.
School officials said voters will be restricted to one area of the building and efforts will be made to prevent any interaction with students.
Part of the difficulty in scheduling the makeup days is graduation. School officials said they are hesitant to move that date from June 2, since doing so would cause problems for graduating seniors and their extended families. Pasquerilla said he would like to alleviate that problem in 2019 by holding graduation on the second Saturday of June, rather than the customary first Saturday.
The first day of school may also be earlier, Aug. 21, under one of the proposed calendars for next year. The board will consider approving the calendar at the regular meeting Jan. 23.