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A Waste Management truck picks up trash early Jan. 11. The storm didn't stop some essential services.

Cold calls
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: January 18, 2018

Winter blast closes schools, causes wrecks

Vehicles got damaged, students got a couple of extra days off and the Valley Center area got a dusting of snow, ice and freezing temperatures.

Winter visited north Sedgwick County during the past week as a couple of winter storms slowed traffic and prompted Valley Center school officials to shut down Jan. 11 and again on Jan. 16.

"I am regularly asked if the number of snow days left in the calendar influences my decision on whether to make the call or not, but when you focus on the safety of students, you make that decision based solely on them, not on the number of snow days established in the calendar," Superintendent Cory Gibson said.

Gibson said ice mixed with snow on Jan. 11 created dangerous road conditions.

Gibson began monitoring the weather about 4 a.m. At 5:45 a.m., Gibson decided to close schools. The freezing rain started around that time.

Districts around Valley Center, including Wichita, remained open.

Weather predictions were less than 100 percent accurate.

"Ice came down the same time buses started rolling out," Gibson said. "We don't want buses or inexperienced drivers on the road in those conditions."

School resumed on Jan. 12.

Extremely low temperatures, combined with a dusting of snow and lingering patches of ice, also created a dangerous situation for early morning commuters on Jan. 16.

Gibson said the decision to call off school was made about 5 p.m. the previous day, when wind chill temperatures were predicted to be dangerously low.

With the two extra days off, Valley Center students had just one day of school between Jan. 11 and 16. Jan. 15 was a holiday.

Gibson said the school year includes a five-day cushion.

There had been no snow days for the previous three school years.

Though there were no serious injuries, there were a few vehicle wrecks during the icy conditions, especially early Jan. 11.

Valley Center police responded to accidents at 69th and Meridian, where a truck driver lost control and struck a vehicle in the oncoming lanes, and at Goff and Meridian, where a vehicle slid on ice and hit a mailbox.

Valley Center city crews pre-treated major roads with a salt brine before the Jan. 11 storm.

In the county, sheriff's deputies responded to slideoffs in the 8300 block of North Ridge and the 3100 block of East 61st North.

Two non-injury wrecks were reported on I-135 in Park City as well.

Early Jan. 15, a three-vehicle wreck occurred on I-135 near the 61st Street interchange.

The Kansas Highway Patrol worked a pair of accidents on K-254 near Kechi Jan. 15. One vehicle struck a pole and another a guardrail. No injuries were reported.





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