NKSD quarrels with icy weather conditions, closures

Published 10:00 am Saturday, December 2, 2006

Last week’s freezing flurry of winter weather combined with school closures for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend gave North Kitsap kids the chance to live snow-day dreams.

Students had five of the past seven school days free to roam the winter wonderland.

However, the Sandman didn’t bring peaches and cream to all during the three days of weather-related school closure this week. Parents across the North End have had to find ways to keep their kids safely at home Nov. 27, 29 and 30, while the district transportation department wrestled with making decisions for students’ well-being on North Kitsap’s roads and teachers and coaches struggled with work needing to be done during cancellations.

After cancelling school Monday due to hazardous roads and the threat of an upcoming afternoon storm, North Kitsap School District director of transportation Ron Lee took to the streets in the early hours of the morning to make Tuesday’s decision along with NKSD Supt. Gene Medina.

“At that point in the morning, things looked pretty darn good other than the neighborhoods, and I knew that those would be sloppy,” Lee said of Tuesday morning’s assessment which led to the decision to open schools on a two-hour delayed schedule.

Medina and Lee praised Kitsap County public works crews for clearing the roads for North Kitsap residents Nov. 28, but it was still a difficult day for bus drivers. Only one NKSD bus was involved in a collision while many others got stuck in the icy conditions.

“It wasn’t the worst I’ve driven in, but it had the worst spots,” said Route 89 driver Ron Pomerenk, who drives the south end of Poulsbo’s city limits picking up Poulsbo Junior High and North Kitsap High school students.

“Ninety-five percent of the route was clear, but it was that other 5 percent that we had problems with,” he said.

Nearing the end of his route Tuesday, Pomerenk and his bus with more than 40 students encountered a potentially deadly situation on the steep incline of Forest Rock Lane behind Central Market.

“It was just a fine, normal bus ride until the hill,” PJH ninth-grade rider Jaecyn Avery said. “Right when you come up the hill, you get to the sharpest point where it turns left, (the bus) stopped right on that corner. The front tires were spinning out, (Pomerenk) tried to shift to another gear to power through, but he couldn’t. Then he kind of put on the brakes, and we started sliding backwards.”

Drifting backwards, sideways and dangerously near the edge of the hill, Pomerenk attempted to steer the bus to safety with a little help from above.

“I was praying hard, and that prayer was answered,” he said. “I want to thank the driver trainers for teaching us situations that you don’t think you are ever going to use.”

After students were evacuated from the bus, NKSD mechanics quickly arrived to safely guide the bus down the hill. Pomerenk and students then boarded the rescued bus and made it safely to their destination.

Less than an hour later, the Forest Rock Lane hill was closed to traffic.

On Wednesday, Medina and Lee closed school to students as remaining ice and compact snow rendered the majority of North End roads unsafe for bus travel. Thursday, though temperatures had risen, some spots in the district were still too slick to take chances, Medina said.

“I look at a lot of different information in addition to going out and driving the roads. Even the day forecast can make a difference,” Lee said. “It varies time to time depending on how the microclimates (of North Kitsap) exist.”

The weather conditions which caused the school cancellations of the past week could cause NK students’ varying emotions next June when school will end three days later than originally planned.

“We have, in our contract with our teachers, that if school closes due to a day of snow, we add that day to the end of the year,” Medina said.

In the 2006-2007 NKSD master calendar, school was scheduled to end June 19, now that date will be pushed back to June 22 — depending on anymore cancellations this school year.

The class of 2008 graduation will not be affected, but seniors’ dismissal from school — which is five days earlier than the remaining student body — will also be later.