As the Paton-Churdan School District heads into its winter break, they’ve faced a couple of difficult challenges already this winter season.

P-C Principal Annie Smith tells Raccoon Valley Radio they canceled school one day before Thanksgiving break, due to covid, Influenza A and RSV in the student population, as well as being short staffed due to illness or having children in the district who were sick. She believes they made the right choice in canceling school then.

“So we just knew that was the right decision to be able to do a good, deep cleaning, not have that spread amongst each other. Then we can come back and be healthy again.”   

Another issue for school districts is snow and ice during the winter months. Smith says the administration typically monitors the current road conditions, incoming weather, as well as overall safety, especially with younger student drivers in the district. Smith points out it’s a guessing game of when to make the official call to either delay or let school out early, or just close it entirely.

“Sometimes we hit the nail on the head and there are other times where we factor in all those things, and we miss the mark. Whether we close and then nothing happens, and then it seems like that was a silly decision. But you know what at the end of the day, as long as our kids get to and from school safely, then we know we’ve made the right decision, whatever that looks like.”    

Paton-Churdan is on winter break from December 21st-January 3rd.