School Leaders Working To Keep Students Safe In Case Classes Resume

Dozens of school districts canceled classes on Wednesday because of the snow. The question now is will students go back on Thursday?

Students may have a snow day but the crews here in Owasso are making sure parking lots and roads are plowed and safe when students do return. Owasso Public School crews decided to take advantage of the clear skies this afternoon and get a jump on salting and plowing.

Director of Operations Brad Yokley says Owasso had plenty of crews and trucks to treat all their campuses. He says planning is a large part of school closings and they want to make sure safety is a priority.

"Well, this is important because the more we can remove today and have before they come back to school, we have a safer environment for them to come back into, so less slick spots so just more we can get done on the front side, the less chance we have of an accident later," said Yokley.

School officials also say there's a lot that goes into closing schools. The first thing they look at is the current weather and if there is snow or ice. The second factor is the road conditions, especially in neighborhoods. Officials say if those roads are too slick, busses cannot use them.  They also have to take into account the area. If there are too many bridges and hills that have yet to be treated if can greatly impact a school's decision. 

"Sometimes it's unavoidable if you have weather that's not cooperative, and some neighborhoods are hilly so its difficult to get a bus in so a lot of things to consider," said Chris Payne with Union Public Schools

Also, this afternoon Union announced that they will be canceling the opening night of their musical Matilda. They will be refunding those tickets.