ELY – ISD 696 Superintendent Alexis Leitgeb was questioned this week on her decision to cancel classes on Friday, Jan. 23 rather than implement the late-start procedure that was recently approved.

Road conditions were reported as icy in the early morning hours, but conditions improved quickly.

At a School Board study session Monday night, Leitgeb said the schools’ operations director Jeff Jankowski checked road conditions and called her at about 5 a.m. on Friday.

“That day, I also went out on the roads to check other parts like Echo Trail and Pioneer Road and I called Jeff back and agreed with him. Some of the main roads in town seemed safer but we also have to consider the kids coming from other towns.”

She noted that a letter sent to parents in December stating that the recently-implemented two-hour late start procedure, including notification of parents and bus drivers, will be determined, if possible, the night before a possible schedule change.

The decision to close school next day can be determined the night before if the weather forecast calls for inclement weather or as soon as possible in the morning.

“Our past practice has been to cancel all after-school activities when school is closed,” she said Monday.

Students and parents were disappointed with the last-minute cancellation as many activities planned at school that day, scheduleded around the annual Winter Frolic celebration, were also cancelled.

A pep rally and other school activities were scheduled during the day. In addition to a home basketball game and hockey game, a fund-raising dinner for the class trip to Washington, D.C., was going to be held in the cafeteria. The Winter Frolic school dance was scheduled for later that evening.

However, the High School Nordic ski team was allowed to travel to Duluth for a meet on Friday.

The decision to cancel school, versus enacting the two-hour delay procedure, was added to the School Board study session agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

“What happened on Friday created quite a conversation in the community,” said Board Chairman Ray Marsnik, “and I would like to know what went into making the decision to close school.”

Leitgeb explained how she made the decision with Jankowski to close school by 6 a.m. The first school buses usually head out at about 6:10 a.m.

A School District Facebook announcement, posted at 6:27 a.m. on Friday, stated, “Due to icy road conditions, school will be closed today in Ely.”

“I think we are all in agreement that the roads were bad at 5 or 6 in the morning,” Marsnik said. “Most other schools up here called for the two-hour delay and temperatures were forecast the night before to be in the 40s on Friday. Why wasn’t the late-start option used?’

Most other area schools, including nearby ISD 2142 sites in Tower and Babbitt, and the east Range schools, all had regular starts that day.

Leitgeb said two variables are involved in the decision. “The letter sent to parents in December stated that if we do not call for a two-hour delay the night before, we would not call for it in the morning,” she said. “This is to be courteous to them for daycare (scheduling).”

The other variable is the availability of bus drivers. “We have over half of our bus drivers with alternative jobs and we run the risk of not having enough drivers if they don’t have the time the night before to make arrangements with their employer.”

The district has 12 drivers for nine routes.

“We told parents (in the December letter), if we make the decision in the morning it would be a closing,” she said.

“The roads were no better at 8 a.m. than at 5 a.m.,” Jankowski said. “I have no doubt we made the right decision. I’ve been doing this for 25, 26, 27 years. The forecast caught me by surprise. I had no clue it was even going to rain. “I drove my minivan out to the county garage and almost went in the ditch. I thought, ‘there is no reason to send a bus out in this stuff.’”

He continued, “How many of you got a complaint that their kid didn’t get an education that day? What was the complaint? It’s just a question.”

Marsnik didn’t challenge the fact that the roads were bad early in the morning. “I went out to check the roads at about 9:30,” he said. “At that time the roads we sanded and actually in good shape. I talked to many people who came from all directions into Ely on that day and the said the same thing. We didn’t know the roads were going to be icy in the morning. That’s all the more reason we shouldn’t be making that late start decision at night.”

School policy

or procedure

The question is whether the late-start option is a School Board policy or a procedure. The procedure was the topic of a special meeting in November. Leitgeb said it was decided that the late-start option was not a policy, “rather a process to follow what was recommended.”

Board member Rochelle Sjoberg said the process of the School Board in deciding to go with a late-start option has caused confusion in the community. “Part of putting this on the agenda is so we can get community input,” she said. “You are never going to please them all and I’m not going to sit here and try to. Is it a policy or isn’t it?”

Sjoberg then asked Leitgeb if she received any feedback from parents concerning the letter that was sent in mid-December.

“Nobody called with any feedback whatsoever,” Leitgeb said.

The letter sent to all parents or guardians on Dec. 11, 2014, stated in part:

“Our district Board approved a late-start procedure for extreme cold weather days. Please review the following information:There will be a 10 a.m. start time instead of 8 a.m. on days Superintendent Leitgeb and Jeff Jankowski, Operations Director, determine roads and/or temperatures will be greatly improved by 10 a.m.; Late start determinations will be made by 8 p.m. the previous night and communicated to parents at that time; and Late starts will count as a regular student contact day. In order to facilitate communications to families, please log on to parent portal and check your email address to make sure it is current. For parents who do not have an email address, please let the principal’s office know by December 16. If you have any questions regarding this procedure, please call the school office at 365-6166. “

Sjoberg said in her review of what other area schools did that day, 21 schools opted for the late start.

School activities

“There was also a lot of other frustration that this stops the basketball and hockey games and it’s Winter Frolic and there were a lot of other activities and come to find out that the ski team went and traveled for their sport or activity,” Sjoberg said. “I think this thing has snowballed into more than just whether there’s a late start or school is closed.”

“We made a conscious decision that day that the roads were not safe enough for our students to get on a bus and come here to school,” she said. “I do not agree with the fact that we then put them on a bus and send them out of town. That was absolutely not okay.”

The Nordic ski team left Ely at about 6:30 a.m., according to Marsnik, on a chartered bus, not a School District bus, to attend a meet in Duluth.

“We had a chartered bus with a professional driver, and the bus was already here,” Leitgeb said. “I trust the coach completely. If the roads were bad they would have turned around and came back. There was a two-hour delay (for the start of the ski meet) and they also had more time to get there.”

“I also had some questions about why those students were allowed to go,” Marsnik said. “It was called to my attention that at Cherry, school was called off for the entire day and yet they played basketball that night.”

Board member Amy Richter noted that as a result of the first late-start earlier this month, “about the same number of parents took to social media to complain that it was a two-hour late start and the same people were complaining that school had been cancelled,” she said.

‘How do you know when (road) conditions will improve?” asked board member Paul Pengal. “You can call it a perfect storm here of testing this policy. We have to agree that we didn’t know when it was going to warm up.”

Marsnik proposed forming a committee to study the issue and formulate a policy. He will make the recommendation at the School Board’s regular business meeting on Feb. 9. “We’re going to have to sit down and address our policies,” he said.

“At the end of the day, no child was injured,” Leitgeb said. “That is always our goal.”