School board changes policy on cold temps

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake School Board eliminated a specific temperature from the policy on when to close schools.

Board members agreed to remove any reference to specific temperatures from the current policy at their last meeting Dec. 2.

Previously, the school district used a minus-20-degree Fahrenheit temperature to cancel classes automatically for the day.

Cancellations are now determined by the transportation manager, superintendent and deputy superintendent based on conditions of the day in question.

"It's a team process for discussing conditions and making a decision on what's a head for the day," says Moses Lake School District superintendent Michelle Price.

"It seems like it is always a judgment call," said deputy superintendent Monte Redal.

School board president Lew Mason said he disagreed with the removal of the -20 rule from the policy.

"I like it in there as a guideline," Mason said.

The -20 Fahrenheit rule was instituted in 1996, after a week of below-zero temperatures caused major problems for the school district's transportation department.

Transportation manager John Eschenbacher said that during that time, buses were left running all night to prevent freezing.

But the -20 Fahrenheit rule was not based on the ability of buses to run. According to Price, students' ability to get to school safely has always been the top priority.

"Every parent needs to make a choice of what's best for their child," Price said. "Families need and emergency plan."

"At that time, we talked to a pediatrician who said -20 was getting dangerous for kids to be standing out waiting for the bus," said Eschenbacher.

Delayed buses were a problem again this year and Eschenbacher discussed recent problems and what could be done to prevent delays in the future.

"We knew this thing was coming," Eschenbacher said. "We knew two days beforehand and thought we were ready."

The major transportation problems stemmed from fuel gelling and buses that would not start.

Eschenbacher says bus air systems were treated with alcohol and additive was put into fuel during inspections in November. The additive was intended to make the fuel usable down to -40 Fahrenheit.

The additive failed to prevent buses from gelling.

Six buses stopped while en route because the fuel had begun freezing. An additional five buses would not start because block heaters did not function or they were not plugged in.

Eventually, drivers managed to get all but two buses running.