By Brendan Hoover
Managing Editor

While section line roads and highways were relatively passable Monday, icy rural roadways prompted Mustang Public Schools administrators to cancel classes Tuesday for the fourth consecutive school day.

The decision came late Monday afternoon after a team of administrators travelled roads throughout the 69-square mile district, Superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot said.

“Our road conditions have not improved as far as busses are concerned. They are not improved to the point that we feel like it would be safe,” Lightfoot said.

A fierce winter storm barreled through central Oklahoma last week, dumping more than an inch of freezing rain and sleet on city streets Thursday before covering the area with five inches of snow on Friday.

So far, the storm has been blamed for seven deaths and about 180,000 power outages statewide, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management reported.

Each day, before the decision was made to close Mustang schools, the administration team – Lightfoot, Transportation Director Terry Tipton, Bonds and Construction Director Jeff Woodard, Maintenance Supervisor Bill Dady and Operations Director Ron Martin – drove off in every direction between 3:30 and 4 a.m. to assess the situation. The team also watched weather reports and kept in close contact with each other and other metro school districts, Lightfoot said.

After the decision was made, automated telephone calls went out patrons, district staff was notified and local television stations were alerted. The entire notification process takes about 30 minutes, Lightfoot said.

   “I’d hate to say we’re getting good at it, but we’ve certainly had some experience with it,” she said. “We don’t make the decisions lightly. I know what kind of predicament it put parents in, especially when you turn out school and parents have to have daycare. Some parents don’t have the option, and some older students are left unattended. It’s just better for them to be in school.”

Mustang schools remained in session after bitterly cold arctic temperatures hit Oklahoma in January. School was out for the winter break when a blizzard pummeled the state on Christmas Eve.

Once school is back in session, a committee of teachers, administrators and parents will convene to determine how best to make up the missed days, Lightfoot said.

One snow day was built into the school year calendar on Friday, May 7. The remaining days could be added to the end of the school year, May 26-28, or new legislation this year allows school districts to add hours onto the school day to make up the missed time, Lightfoot said.

“It kind of depends on what would be best for parents and the students,” she said.

Damage to district buildings caused by the storm amounted to “not anymore than usual,” Lightfoot said.

Although students are in the classroom during snow days, school staffers are on site to make sure damage is kept to a minimum, she said.

Custodial and maintenance staff report to work to ensure that things like frozen pipes and roof leaks are detected and fixed quickly. Food service refrigerators and freezers have security alarms that notify administrators of power outages so product will not spoil, Lightfoot said.

“Every building is checked every day and usually by more than one person,” she said.