CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County school official said classes will proceed as scheduled Thursday despite a blast of arctic air that will chill morning temperatures to near zero.
Expected to bring the coldest temperatures since last year’s polar vortex, the weather front will move across the Northeast tonight and, with the aid of wind chills, plunge temperatures in the Kanawha Valley into the negatives.
“We’re going to see temperatures of minus 1 to 3 degrees across the entire state,” said Andrew Beavers, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Charleston. He added that a northwest wind could make it feel even colder.
“With the wind chill, it’ll be closer to minus 10,” he said.
Beavers advised parents to make sure their children are dressed in warm clothes if they will be waiting for a bus Thursday morning.
In the past, near zero temperatures may have delayed the start of school until things warmed up, but a new agreement among Kanawha County school officials has all but nixed that option.
While an official ruling hasn’t been made, Kanawha County school officials said last month they would not delay school this year in an effort to save money.
While that decision was met with criticism from parents and teachers, Superintendent Ron Duerring said the county would just cancel school if weather was bad enough.
Duerring said the decision to end two-hour delays only pertains to snow days and that cold temperature isn’t something the school system is likely to call off school for.
While Duerring indicated he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of delaying school on cold mornings, he said it probably isn’t a valid reason to make such a call.
“What sense does it make to do that, especially if it doesn’t warm up…
