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?rs wondering how they will complete their schedules and convinced that other teams they compete against have the advantage of more practice times. 1 '
School Superintendent David Gangel said that trying to decide whether or not to cancel school is ‘the part of my job I dislike the most.” He said he mostly enjoys his job, but having to decide whether or not to close school frequently puts him in a “no win” situation. He knows that the decision will be criticised whatever he decides.
He said most days he tries to get out onto the roads himself in order to make the decision before the bus drivers leave home. That means that he tries to make the decision bv 6" a.m. leaving enough time to call the drivers, the radio stations and the county sheriff. *
Sometimes he calls on Assistant Superintendent Robert Chappell J and Richard Smith, the school system's i administrative assistant, to ( help by driving in different parts of the county.
I)r. Gangel said he also talks with people from VDOT and the sheriff’s department to find out where1 the slick places are.
Sometimes they initially decide to delay school two hours. That giyes them additional time to make the call, but they still want to make that decision by 7 or, 7:30 a.m. in order to get the word to parents before they leave for work.'
“From the perspective of the School Board and myself, we try to err on the side of safety, even if it makes us look bad,” Dr. Gangel said.
He said he is reluctant to ask the drivers to put oh chains because they should be removed for riding on dry pavement. If the chains are left on whien the bus is oh dry pavement, they break, he said. That would mean putting them on and taking them off several times during an average bus run.
Also the state does riot allow the school system to use chains on the inside wheels, and chains on only the outside wheels are sometimes worse than no chains.
The school system has also con. sidered trying to implement a policy of only picking up children along hard surfaced roads. That is a program used in Warren County on some days. Frequently it means that Warren County has school when Rappahannock schools are closed.
At last week’s School Board meeting Dr. Chappell said he is reluctant to adopt such a policy because of the numbers of students
See Weather, Page A-6
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