WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – An incoming winter storm is anticipated to bring more than a foot of snow to some parts of Kansas and threats of treacherous travel conditions with a bed of ice under the snow.
The threat of severe weather already has prompted several venues and churches to cancel services and events for this weekend. You can see a full list of weather-related closures and delays here: https://www.kwch.com/weather/closings/.
Any time a big winter storm is in the forecast, many start wondering about school closures. On Friday, 12 News spoke with Wichita Public Schools about its plans if roads are slick and/or windchills are dangerously low on Monday morning.
Many Wichita students are hoping to find out soon if their winter breaks are going to last a little longer, but they’re going to have to wait.
The state’s largest school district said based on the forecast, it’ll likely be later this weekend before it’s able to make the call. Wichita Public Schools will be looking at a number of factors when making its decision on whether or not to have school on Monday. Those factors include road conditions, outside temperature, and building concerns.
After one of last year’s most significant winter storms, many complained about Wichita not canceling classes. Administrators say they continue to update their criteria for closures and issue a reminder that no two school districts are the same.
“Every community’s different because ours, we’re located primarily in the city of Wichita,” said USD 259 Division Director of Operations Fabian Armendariz. “The city does typically a good job of cleaning out the streets, so oftentimes there might be some discrepancies because a lot of families expect whatever our neighbors do, for us to operate the same way and sometimes we just can’t, just because conditions in Wichita are slightly different than they are in our suburbs.”
The potential for weather-necessitated closures also comes with possible power outages. In preparation for what could be worst-case scenarios concerning ice and snowfall amounts, Evergy sent out a mass text message to its customers alerting that, “Crews are preparing for possible outages caused by snow/ice this weekend. Be safe and prepared.”
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