Bells rang Wednesday at schools in the Shawano School District, but there were no students hurrying to class.
The Shawano School District, along with Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Menominee Tribal School, Sacred Heart Catholic School and Wolf River Lutheran High School, cancelled school for the day when wind chills were expected to reach dangerous subzero levels.
Other area school districts, including Bonduel, Gresham, Menominee Indian, Bowler and Clintonville, decided to delay the start of school by two hours Wednesday.
Shawano’s decision to close was influenced by information gleaned Monday, when school officials opted to delay the start of school by two hours due to the cold weather and dangerous wind chills.
“On Monday, I was talking with the bus garage supervisor,” Superintendent Gary Cumberland said. “He indicated there were a couple of buses that, when they were going into the wind, their fuel was starting to gel a little bit.”
Cumberland said he wanted to give the officials with Johnson Bus Company, which provides bus service to the school district, time to solve the fuel gelling issue.
The gelling wasn’t causing any buses to stall, but they needed to travel at slower speeds, and Cumberland was uncomfortable having kids stand out in subzero weather longer than necessary while waiting for buses.
When the problem wasn’t completely figured out Tuesday, Cumberland made the decision around 10 p.m. to cancel classes.
“My main concern was the safety of the students,” he said.
Cumberland also said he checked weather reports and saw that the 5 a.m. wind chill was predicted to be minus 28 degrees, six degrees lower than on Monday. Two hours later, the forecast was for minus 34 at 7 a.m.
“I was concerned that we were already colder than we were Monday morning,” Cumberland said. “I saw the temperature actually getting worse, not better, so it didn’t make sense for me to have a two-hour delay.”
Bonduel School District Superintendent Patrick Rau said the wind chill was only a minor factor in his decision to order a two-hour delay. He said the air temperature, which was below zero, was more of a factor.
“I looked back at last year’s winter low temps,” Rau said. “Last year, we had school on 17 days that had a lower (air) temperature than today. We always take it day by day and by situation.”
There have been no problems with bus performance this week, Rau said, and all students have made it to school safely.
Rau and Cumberland both said that there is no firm threshold for wind chill or temperatures to trigger school delays or cancellations. Wind chill advisories both days expected the wind temps to be below minus 25 degrees at the time buses would be picking up students.
A wind chill advisory is in effect until noon Thursday.
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