Side Roads Big Part In Decision To Cancel Green Country Schools

Many school leaders said the roads are too dangerous for students and school buses; because of that several districts are canceling classes.

Tulsa is just one of many schools out Tuesday, and they teamed up with some other districts to make that decision.

Tulsa, Jenks and Union announced the decision early, around 4:00 Monday afternoon. Parents don't always have that much warning, but with what's left on the road and freezing temperatures, the choice was an obvious one.

The roads in the Jenks school district were a mess Monday and are set to only get worse once they refreeze.

Jenks, Tulsa and Union put a lot of emphasis on those side roads and their transportation directors test them out personally, said Union Assistant Superintendent, Charlie Bushyhead.

2/16/2015 Related Story: Green Country School Districts Canceling Classes For Tuesday

"He has certain streets that he knows in our district that, if he can't make it up the hill in a two wheel drive – he'll turn his four-wheel drive off - if he can't make it up the hill he knows we're gonna have a problem," he said.

The district said it takes into consideration the roads and if the buses can drive on them. If the buses are late, the students can end up standing outside for an excessive amount of time.

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"Why risk it? It may seem crazy, yes by 10:00 in the morning the roads may be clear and this is crazy. Why are they doing this? If we think our buses are running 30 minutes, late that means our kids are waiting at a bus stop for 40 minutes," said Bushyhead.

A majority of the time the larger districts make school closing decisions together.

“We have people who work in another district and have kids in our district and so there is some consistency there," said Bushyhead.

And, of course, it comes down to the safety of the students.

"All of us want to say we will tough it out and have school but at some point we have to look at each other and say why take the chance," Bushyhead said.

Another reason the decision to cancel Tuesday came a bit easier was because the larger districts haven't used any of their snow days yet and have a little wiggle room.