6:58 p.m.: Two-hour delays: Some do, some don’t

By Stephen Dick

February 01, 2008 06:59 pm

— Some schools have them, and some don’t. They’re two-hour delays because of weather.
On Friday, after a Thursday night of freezing rain and snow, most schools in Madison County called for a two-hour delay, but Anderson Community Schools did not. Some people questioned this decision after some early-morning accidents, one seriously injuring a 16-year-old boy on his way to Anderson High School.
ACS Superintendent Mikella Lowe defended the decision.
“Everybody knows it’s Indiana and when we have snow, we expect everyone to drive more slowly,” Lowe said. “A delay or a school closing also comes with its own set of problems. The very safest thing for all of our kids is to do the normal thing.”
The county schools had no trouble postponing school for two hours, citing geographic reasons.
“I think we made the call before 5:30 this morning,” said Jim Willey, superintendent of Alexandria Community Schools. “If there’s any doubt, you want to delay. It’s better to err on the side of safety. It’s always safer when you get daylight out in the county.
“It wasn’t difficult today (to call a delay) with the snow and the layer of ice underneath. Even if the snowfall wasn’t as great as we anticipated, I think the ice played a factor.”
(Other staff members of The Herald Bulletin contributed to this article.)