Some problems included school buses that wouldn’t start and cold classrooms.
RUMFORD – Classes started an hour late Wednesday morning at SAD 43 schools because someone unplugged the warming wires in most of the buses.
The delay was the only thing different at SAD 43 as temperatures plunged. Other area districts reported no appreciable problems associated with temperatures dropping to 15 below zero or colder.
Tom Sinclair, assistant director of building, grounds and transportation at SAD 43, said when drivers discovered that the wires had been unplugged, they went to work plugging them back in and using ether to start engines.
“Pranksters unplugged them so they wouldn’t start,” he said. “They most certainly would have started if they had been plugged in.”
Most of the district’s fleet is housed at Mountain Valley High School. Other buses are parked at each of the remaining four schools.
Despite cold temperatures, no damage was reported in any of the area’s four district and one vocational school, although none of the schools allowed children outside during recess periods.
At Region 9 School of Applied Technology, Director Deborah Guimont said one bus had difficulty starting despite being plugged in overnight.
Vocational classes in building trades and forestry were held inside, giving students a chance to catch up on classroom work. Occasionally, they were allowed outside for very short periods of time, she said.
While most elementary schools in the region held inside recess where children had a chance to play board games or read, at SAD 21, when recess is canceled, classes continue as usual.
Although buses all started Wednesday morning and youngsters got to school on time, he said drivers waited for students at their bus stops so they wouldn’t have to wait outside in the cold. He said some parents kept their children in their cars providing them with a warm place while waiting at bus stops.
In Canton, Ward said students returned to classes Tuesday after being transported to Dixfield Elementary School for several days because of the damage caused to Canton Elementary School during December’s flood. He said the school passed air quality tests and the state health inspector approved re-opening the school cafeteria. The school received thousands of dollars in damage during the flood.
SAD 44 business manager Bruce Powell reported minor problems with uneven heating in some of the district’s schools, but he said it was pretty routine stuff for a Maine winter. All the buses started and everyone got to class on time.
Recesses were held for young children inside their schools at SAD 44, said Diana Witt, secretary to Principal Rick Colpitts. The district has a policy restricting children to the inside whenever the temperature drops to zero, with or without accompanying wind, she said.
Although no policy exists at the Peru School Department, administrators use their judgment when deciding whether to keep children indoors.
“If we feel it is unsafe, we keep them inside,” said John Turner, Peru’s superintendent. Children in Peru have been inside for recess for most of the past two weeks.
Anne Chamberlin, principal of Rumford and Virginia elementary schools, said anytime the temperature drops to 10 degrees or less, factoring in the wind chill, students are kept inside. Students can be kept inside at other times, too, if administrators feel that is best for them. Schools have charts that show the temperature with wind chill factored in, she said.
Many of SAD 43’s schools have new windows that are keeping the frigid temperatures out.
At MVHS, secretary Peggy LaPointe said she has seen an increase in the number of community members who are taking advantage of the school to get their daily walks in.
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