Icy roads prompted school closures

Rising temperatures, and a change from snow to rain Wednesday afternoon, led school officials in Coeur d'Alene to feel confident that weather conditions would not lead to a Thursday school closure.

But things looked much different in the early morning hours Thursday when Superintendent Hazel Bauman checked in with Coeur d'Alene's transportation director, and with school leaders in Post Falls and the Lakeland district. All three school districts shut down for the day.

"It was that standing water on top of the ice that was causing problems," said Coeur d'Alene's new public information officer and spokeswoman Laura Rumpler. "Some roads were impassable, and we were concerned about the buses, but also for children walking to school."

Most school closing decisions are made in the morning, sometime between 3 and 5 a.m.

The safety of students and staff is the primary concern when determining whether to open schools during inclement weather, Rumpler said.

"Once in a great while the school district will make the decision the afternoon or night before, if we've been alerted by the weather service or law enforcement of an epic storm that shows no sign of waning by the next day, but it is a rare occurrence," Rumpler said.

School officials in Coeur d'Alene are optimistic that classes will be in session today, provided city and county plows are able to clean up the district's back roads and side roads.