With blizzard-like conditions in the forecast, there will be no school in the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks public schools, administrators said Thursday evening.
East Grand Forks Sacred Heart also will not have school today, and other parochial schools generally follow the public school system's lead.
"Forecasters are using the blizzard word, and we already have a lot of snow," Mark Sanford, superintendent of the Grand Forks School District, said Thursday evening. "There is always concern about having the streets opened, having the parking lots opened. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision."
Several area schools canceled all classes Thursday because of the snowstorm moving into the region, but East Grand Forks and Grand Forks public schools remained open with a two hour delay.
Sanford said the decision to hold classes was made after talking with officials from the city's street department, the National Weather Service, North Dakota Highway Patrol, Grand Forks Air Force Base and East Grand Forks Public Schools. That's the district's usual process before canceling school, he said.
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Thursday morning, Sanford said Perry Marto, district director of buildings and grounds, who heads up the cancellation process, also drove U.S. Highway 2 before recommending the delay at 5:30 a.m. The road was being cleared, he said.
"A delay is usually used when you've got something like snow that can't be moved in time for school, and that was the case this morning," Sanford said. "The issue really wasn't that the weather was cold and it wasn't that you couldn't see. It was about access. It was about moving snow."
The number of students who stayed home from Grand Forks Public Schools ranged from about 5 percent to 20 percent, according to Sanford. At Phoenix Elementary, 37 out of 230 students stayed home, staff there said.
"Families always have the ultimate decision to make," Sanford said. "We don't count children absent when we have a day like this."
Classes at Grand Forks Air Force Base schools were ultimately canceled Thursday after an initial delay. The Highway Patrol reported at about 9:30 a.m. that a travel warning may be issued for Highway 2, Sanford said.
"The decision was made to close schools on the base because of the highway notice," he said "Essentially what (Grand Forks Public Schools) were dealing with was the city."
UND open
As of Thursday evening, UND still was slated to hold classes today, according to spokesman Peter Johnson. But officials will watch the situation closely today and make a decision whether to cancel the rest of the day.
