Due to the combination of freezing rain, snow, and ice that is predicted during the morning commute, numerous school districts in and around Portland have canceled classes for the second consecutive day on Friday.
While Portland Public Schools announced that it will close on Friday, the district stated it would assess the weather during the day before deciding whether to hold high school events on Friday night.
Beaverton, Tigard-Tualatin, Hillsboro, Sherwood, Banks, Gaston, and Forest Grove schools in Washington County informed families Thursday afternoon that there would be no classes the next day. The Molalla River and North Clackamas school districts in Clackamas County also announced that Friday would be a no-school day.
Other districts were still considering their options, which can include keeping to a regular schedule, deploying buses on snow routes, starting later, or dismissing earlier.
By late morning, the wintry mix should change to rain, but it may take several more hours before the temperature rises sufficiently for the roads to clear, according to forecasters.
Due to a teacher professional development day on Friday, the Reynolds School District informed parents that it would be closed as scheduled. The nearby Centennial School District would also be closed.
School districts consider previous precedent when determining whether to close, such as the February 2023 ice storm when schools remained open until the customary midafternoon departure time, leaving some children delayed on busses for hours, well into the night.
Because it can lead to inexperienced teen drivers on icy roads, students slipping and falling on iced-over pavement on their way home, and parents rushing to pick up younger children who would otherwise be in aftercare programs, freezing rain is an especially dangerous forecast for school districts to deal with.
However, there are risks associated with calling off school too soon. Some parents become irate over a delayed workplace, and youngsters lose crucial time in school and other activities if the weather isn’t as bad as anticipated.
Although many districts adjust their calendars to allow for the likelihood of one or two snow days year, Oregon already has one of the shortest school years in the country. In March, when the chance of snow significantly diminishes, decisions are usually made over where to add more make-up days to the calendar.
Julia Silverman writes for The Oregonian/OregonLive about K–12 education. You can email her at [email protected].
