Three districts close due to flooding

Three Garland County school districts closed Friday due to flooded roadways in the area.

Cutter Morning Star and Mountain Pine school districts announced Friday morning that schools would be closed, and Jessieville canceled classes for both Thursday and Friday.

"I take a safety first approach when determining when to close," Ralph Carter, Jessieville superintendent, said. "I did not want to have bus drivers on route roads that are flooded and I did not want student drivers on the roads that are slick and unstable."

Carter said the district also had several staff members battling rising water around their homes with one displaced and staying at a hotel at the time.

School officials with Mountain Pine said in a statement Friday on social media "due to extreme flooding, the Mountain Pine School District will be closed."

According to Cutter Superintendent Nancy Anderson, the district used the same process in determining whether to close as it would for a winter weather event.

"We drove routes this morning and we had areas that were impassable in our buses," she said Friday. "Looking at the forecast we knew it would only get worse throughout the day."

Both Jessieville and Cutter implemented alternative methods of instruction days this week, and both districts have seen positive results from their AMI plans.

"The AMI days have worked well for us so far with only a few adjustments made to date," Carter said. "Teachers are sending home relevant work and students are completing it and returning the work in a timely manner."

Since Jan. 16, Jessieville has used three of five approved AMI days.

In January, Carter told The Sentinel-Record that the administrative team added a caveat to the plan that AMI days would not be used if the district closed for more than two consecutive days, to avoid losing the fidelity of continuing education out of the classroom.

Anderson said the administration at Cutter has been "very pleased with the AMI plan and implementation."

"There were not any changes made from the first AMI day to this one," she said. "We are thankful school districts have this flexibility."

Much of the AMI plan, she said, focuses on reading and math making Friday's rainy weather a good time for students to spend time on these skills.

"What a great way to spend a rainy day curled up with a great book," she said.

Bobby Applegate, superintendent for Mountain Pine could not be reached Friday. However, he previously stated in a Jan. 23 article that the district plans to apply for AMI days for the 2018-2019 school year after communicating with other school districts to develop the best plan for his students.