UPDATE 11:30 AM RIDDER RESPONDS -SPS Parents and Residents sound off
Springfield – After watching over ninety local school districts across the Ozarks throw in the towel against Mother Nature, some Springfield Public Schools parents and students were upset over the district’s decision. PN Media first outlined the procedure for cancellation of classes in our December 22 issue available here. Springfield Public Schools urged parents to review their own video of the policy through their Facebook and Twitter pages late Sunday. That’s when local residents started to sound off.
Update: PN Media caught up with Dr. Norm Ridder, Superintendent of Springfield Public Schools at the Tournament of Champions Press Conference Tuesday morning to get his response to local residents’ concerns.
Dr. Ridder said, “We put out our four buses, and hit all the major tough roads with no problems.” In addition he commented that “parents can always not send students to school.” A recent post in the FAQ section of the Springfield Public School’s website states “Children who are kept out of school will be counted absent. The district does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences. The only time a student is not counted absent is if they are out of school due to a school-sponsored activity.”
“With a multi-million dollar budget I’m going to have a hard time closing schools.” Finally when we asked about parent concern of double digit negative temperatures forecasted for later this week, he commented, ‘There is no policy preventing school because of the extreme cold, in Minnesota it’s -50 degrees and children are warmer at schools than in homes.”
From the District’s Facebook -
“The roads are not good- we can tell that now. And 6 degrees for a low tonight? You should be able to decide there should be NO SCHOOL tonight…”
“This information is helpful; however, for parents who have to have to work no matter what the weather is like, it would be very helpful to know before 4:45 a.m. that day because it is really hard to find a babysitter on that short of a notice.”
“That is a great policy if everyone rode a bus or had a ride to school.. what about the children that are forced to walk in this weather??? Is it going to take a child being hurt or even worse before common sense is used not a “policy”!!”
The outcry from the public did not stop there. PN Media continued to monitor the districts decison and broke the news, along with SPS, around 4:30 a.m. that school would be in session. This set a second round of upset parents talking on the districts Facebook.
“Not a good idea to send kids out in negative digits walking to school and waiting for the buses.”
“In MO, negative windchills and snow covered streets are uncharacteristic weather conditions and warrant careful evaluation.
Snow days create a hardship for working parents. However, we must consider that, in a district of 50 schools, the road conditions in our own neighborhoods may not be characteristic of the enitre city, nor may others have the same driving skill or even quality of vehicle that you or I possess.”
“It should ALWAYS be about student safety, first and foremost.”
One father even went as far to say he was keeping his children home – “my children will not be in school, as I have to drive them or they have to walk and I am stillnot comfortable driving as OUR roads have not been cleared yet and I refuse to make them walk……..”
After the parents had their chance to speak out, students quickly decided to join the bandwagon. A Facebook page called “Norm Ridder! This ISN’T Colorado” was launched. In less than 24 hours the group has just under 400 members. Some comments by SPS students include -
“I almost died this morning going to school, THANKS NORM!”
“Well I’m not coming in today, car went sideways in just 5 min of leaving my house, have fun at school everyone”
“seriously its one thing if theres a little snow but we got a lot more then a little right now. last year i almost totaled my car trying to drive to school in ridder approved conditions, y cant he cancel it and at night so we dont have to wake up if theres the off chance he actually cancels”
“it is one thing for him to assume that everything is ok, but it is not ok for him to expect for the parents to endanger themselves and their childrens safety just to meet his stupid standards. He needs to realise that peoples lives are more important.”
Finally PN Media has worked to bring you some opinions of Kickapoo High School students.
Sophomore Cameron Wolf
“Took me 30 minutes longer than usual” said sophomore Cameron Wolf
Junior Jordan Henslee
“First of all, I had to get up earlier than normal so I could shovel off the snow on my car. And then I almost couldn’t get out of my driveway because there was so much snow. The smaller roads were terrible. I was slidding all over the place and I was going 15mph. Based on the neighborhood roads that everyone has to use in order to get to bigger roads like Campbell, I dont think we should’ve had school.” said junior Jordan Henslee
PN Media is committed to bringing all sides of the issue to its readers. While the Springfield Public School District could not be reached for comment at press time we will continue to attempt to obtain comment. We strongly encourage readers to voice their thoughts in a comment on this story. Please note the comments of the readers of PN Media, and khsprairienews.com do not necessarily reflect that of PN Media, it’s editorial board, or it’s staff.
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Comments
Oh My God!!
I seriously almost wrecked like 3 times this morning.
I didn’t even set my alarm because I was thinking there’s no way we’d go to school today.
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Learn how to drive!!!
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Spencer Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Or get a jeep liberty!
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tyler Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
but watch out for Buses!!!
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KarmaSucks Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
HAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHA
HA
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My car did a complete circle and I ran into a curb driving on the roads! Yes, the main roads were clear, but everyone needs to take small roads and they are not safe to drive. When every other school gets cancelled, there is a reason. Everyone has been dissapointed in the driving conditions, yes school is important but we will make the days up. I think that making us go on days like these is ridiculous. I want Mr. Ridder to know that this is crazy! Call off school.
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I know how to drive; however it becomes slightly difficult to drive on slick roads.
I honestly have no control over the situation when I’m going 5 mph and I start to slide off the road. In no way is that my fault.
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Maybe you shouldn’t pick the most ignorant posts from that group. They not only make the children who wrote them sound absolutely asinine, but at also reflects poorly on your site.
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Also Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Speaking of sounding stupid: in your insult about students sounding “asinine” you made a mistake. If you’re going to insult the student body (and our publication), at least make sure you’re not doing the same thing you’re insulting.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Come on people we just had a two week long vacation and so we had to drive in the snow for a couple miles. Dont we want to reserve as much snow days as possiple for an incident such as the previous ice storms cause i really dont feel like taking away any of the summer days im looking forward to….Do you?
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
yea. sledding rocks, as does hot chocolate and sleeping in. we dont get snow often so if you want to complain go somewhere else
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King Cotton Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 9:49 am
I’m a senior so I want as many snow days as possible. And I would take a snow day over an average day of summer anytime.
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To our Anonymous commenter: The comments taken were not just from students. They were also from community members and parents. We would more than welcome your future comments but ask that you provide a user name.
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My tire was flat in the morning due to the weather conditions, almost froze my fingers off replacing it, and then had to go to school. Slid countless times so I just went back home.
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I have to agree with what is being said overall. While some may be slightly over-reacting they are not without just cause. I think it is ridiculous that students were forced to walk to school when parents either couldn’t or didn’t feel comfortable driving students. Also I can not believe with all the funding we pump into Springfield Public Schools some buildings could not even manage to have walkways cleared.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Although I do NOT believe that school should have been canceled yesterday, I am very concerned about the snow covered walkways in front of the school. Shoveling snow is necessary to prevent falls and therefore lawsuits. I am amazed that two days into this winter mess and the sidewalks leading up to the doors of the school are not shoveled, and there are no mats to wipe shoes. This school is asking for someone to get seriously hurt by slipping and falling on school property.
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lovemy4kids Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 11:47 am
I agree, with the amount of money we put into the Springfield School districts, walkways, roads, and parking lots should have been cleared. The road that we absolutely have to drive on to get into the parking lot of Disney Elementary was NOT cleared …They didnt even touch it!! Come on people, Common sense!!!
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I understand the funding behind making students go to school, I really do. However, if the school district is insistent upon it, then they should at least make sure the main bus routes (beyond the large streets such as Campbell and Walnut Lawn) are clear enough for students and parents to drive on. They should also make certain that students aren’t going to slide in the school’s parking lot…meaning that they should definitely at least be clearing the parking lots. Kickapoo’s was totally covered today when I got to school at 7:00 a.m., somehow, I don’t think the sun was going to melt enough off for safe enough conditions in 30 minuets. (Which is when most students arrive.)
However, to give credit on one note, the argument that it is too cold OUTSIDE is slightly irrelevant, since we’re inside except to walk to and from school…assuming that students can make it inside without falling.
Moral to the story: the district should be canceling if they refuse to clear necessary traveling roads.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
yea. riding the bus was ridiculous in the fact that we were sliding and the tires were spinning. yea the main roads were clear but the roads we spend 90% of our driving time on were a mess and still are and im sure tomorrows snow wont help at all. just pitch in the towel tomorrow night norm, if we get any snow we wont have the denver highway patrol here to clean up the mess left behind
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
The problem with being outside in the cold is the elementary and middle school kids who have to wait for buses. It’s really bad for your lungs to be out in negative temperatures for more than a few minutes, and yes, the temperature this morning was in the negatives until about 7:30, and it will only get colder as the week goes on.
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KHS Student Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
That is very true, I won’t argue with you on that point. Tomorrow it will be entirely too cold to be out for long, however yesterday, it was tolerable.
I would like to throw this out there: only about 30% of the students ride the bus. Dr. Ridder is basing is information on whether or not the buses can go on main roads, but that still eliminates roughly 70% of the student population. (According to KY3 and the numbers they gave.)
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I was sliding so bad this morning I almost hit another vehicle.
And the rest of this week the temperatures are going to be even worse!
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They say they have a system for calling off school, but really it’s impossible to predict what they’re going to do. One day I drive all the way to school only to find out its cancelled, and then days like yesterday when I’m sure we won’t have school we do. They have called off school many times for less snow than this.
In some cases in the past, I know they’ve cancelled school because even though the main roads were cleared the neighborhoods were still too bad. But not this time.
Norm is a loose cannon, there’s no telling what he might do.
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Also, even if the bus drivers, parents, and teachers have experience on snow covered roads, there are a lot of 16 year-old drivers that don’t. Do they take that into consideration?
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my neighborhood is uphill both ways. if they had gone down my street to check roads, they would have canceled school. but they still would’nt have canceled it because they would have died and never been heard from again. imagine a world of icy terror where no kids sled, and kids go to school. this is a reality for the inocent children of springfield. i can almost hear the terrifying screams of the students braving the deathly journey to school. so here is to the students, the heroes who have no choice or say in the matter. i salute you. for those who make us embark into tragic circumstances. . . curses
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There is no way we should have had school yesterday. I woke up at 5 to start my car, and it took an hour for it to warm up. To get out of my driveway, I have to tie a winch to a tree, and I have a 4 wheel drive Jeep with snow tires. Finally after half an hour I was finally out of my driveway and on the street, where I drove along at a cautious 50 mph. Going down a hill later, I slid 500 feet and almost hit an old lady before hitting a snowdrift. My car was stuck under 5 feet of snow, and I almost died before a St. Bernard found me and dug me out. Because I care about my education, I still tried to go to school, and started walking. In the 15 degree weather frostbite started to settle in. I walked 2 miles until my strength gave out, and I had no choice but to get a ride from a rather shady looking truck driver. Afterwards I had 3 toes amputated because of frostbite. This is ALL Norm Ritter’s fault.
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This tragedy is even worse than when they sent the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. Choosing to have school was basically sending students on a death march. SPS is commiting crimes against humanity. Don’t waste your time trying to save Darfur, save the students enrolled in Springfield Public Schools.
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Ok, the last two where over reacting, but it is true that school has been canceled for several days for less snow than this. Norm needs to deal with the fact that this is NOT Colorado and that students, parents, and bus drivers may not have (and probaly don’t) the experience to drive in the snow on uncleared sideroads with 4-5in of snow.
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Hey guys just wait until Wednesday and we’ll be out of school for the next two days. No use to complain when you’ve just had a two week break.
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This is really funny because im from alaska and this is the last thing you guys should use as an excuse. ya i dont wanna be at school and some people arent use to the weather, but maybe its about time for those certain people to experience it and live with it. its pathetic. especially you adults, grow up. 2 inches?! listen to that crap..2 feet is still duable. Lets just make sure our snow plowers do their job and things should work out just fine for the winter.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
dude who cares where your from, shut up. we arent used to this. you freaking idiot.
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Amy Norval Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
You are talking about putting a bunch of people who have never experienced this kind of weather and putting them all on the road for the typical morning commute. You know they teach penguins how to swim by just pushing them off the edge into the water. Last I checked, we weren’t penguins. I don’t know what kind of traffic you experienced in Alaska, but the traffic here during the morning commute can be a bit heavy and inexperienced drivers on slick roads pose a problem. This isn’t Alaska.
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khs student Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Actually I think that’s pretty sweet that you’re from Alaska, but I still don’t think we should have had school.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Once again, this is not Colorado, Minnesota, or Alaska.
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anonymous Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Uummm I know people like you… they always complain about the heat in the summer! hhmmm I wonder why, CAUSE YOUR NOT USE TO IT!!! humans are adaptable, but not THAT adaptable. Why don’t you just move your butt to Malaysian and see how well you do there!! I’d like to see you there during monsoon season!!!
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Okay, some people are being ridiculously funny and melodramatic. But I do agree that we shouldn’t have had school. It was very cold with slick roads and walk ways. I nearly cried when my dad told me I had to drive, I fish tailed while turning at about 5 mph next to a lexus (I think) but was able to recover quickly and without accident. The thing is, I hardly have any experiance driving, what if I had freaked out and caused the accident that I was lucky enough to aviod? Who ever owned that car would have been pissed, traffic would have been back up, and someone could have gotten hurt. I also noticed many students walking to school. It was too could to be doing that, I agree this isn’t Colorado, we aren’t hardy mountain folk that wear shorts in this weather. I had a hard enough time holding on to my freezing steering wheel, I couldn’t imagine having to walk through all that. I also agree that Norm Ridder is a loose cannon, we have be called out of school for less snow, but I am pretty sure that there was more ice. I find it disturbing that it seems that Ridder is more concerned about the money for SPS than the safety of its students and parents.
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i drove to school just fine.
you guys need to just get over yourselves and learn to be like me.
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Anonymous Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Yeah, great, you were one of few it seems.
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it’s not that shocking that Dr. Ridder didn’t cancel school. He IS after the money as we all know and that’s not surprising. He doesn’t care if it’s negative 100 degrees and 10 feet of snow (figures are unreal I know) he still wouldn’t cancel school because he cares more about his “Multi-million dollar budget”. I for one believe someone’s going to get hurt and they’re going to probably sue and either Ridder, One of the Springfield schools, or SPS as a whole will take the fall. So Good luck with the lawsuit, Ridder
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senior student Reply:
January 5th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
In addition, this isn’t Minnesota, Dr. Ridder. I think you (Dr. Ridder) need to stop focusing on other states and start focusing on ours.
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norm ridder needs to drive back to colorado in his car and drive down a mountian side because thats what some of the side roads were like
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I wanted school off so I could do homework… yeah I’ll admit it. But seriously, this weather isn’t common here. I was standing outside longer than usual for my bus and I had to go back home before my bus came to put snow boots on. It was like a slip and slide out there. Then my feet were freezing cold for about an hour after school started. I think there should have been a call off. Sorry it’s cold, wet, and slippery.
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What I find funny is Norm Ridder’s comment on negative double digit temperatures which says, and I quote, “There is no policy preventing school because of the extreme cold, in Minnesota it’s -50 degrees and children are warmer at schools than in homes.” I find this funny because negative temperatures are said to be more dangerous than actual snow or ice and he is sticking us in large buildings that we will eventually have to leave and become exposed to the cool temperatures. He also did an interview posted on Ozarksfirst.com where one of the questions asked was, “Do you have a criteria thats set, or do you use a gut feeling.” Dr. Ridder replied, “Yes. Actually, we do depend heavily on the weather forecasts. If the weather forecast is so-so and we step outside and there’s pretty good ice, we make the decision. We usually send out buses around 3:30 in the morning, and go to the tough areas in the neighborhoods and that’s a real test right there and then they’ll come back and tell us and we’ll make the decision.” With this answer he never answered the question of does he make a gut decision or stick to the policy. What I am trying to get at is maybe just maybe he is putting to much personal opinion in his decision that could very well put children in danger. So don’t look forward to any snow days, not that there might not be any, but he will not waiver on his position and when we question this man and the questions get tough then he will just fall back on the policy and start blurting out different rules and guide lines for he will not waver and when he is finished he will go on his merry way and never look back. Well that is all that I have got to say, have a nice next semester.
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I enjoy the fact that everyone on these roads and driving in these conditions has a 4 wheel drive tank.
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the car I was in did not slide in my car, I was in an SUV and was driving extremely slow, however, I saw numerous cars around me skidding. From what I can remember at least 3 cars almost hit us. If this would have happened traffic would have been backed up and many students would have been late to school. Also, when we have snow days attendance rates drop a lot, ruining our school average. It would have looked better to just call of school. Sure, we would have lost some money, but there are many other factors that are much more important.
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Listen, we don’t care about the kids in Minnsota. They are used to the weather. There it is common for tempture to be in the double negatives. But here in Missouri it is not common for us to even be in the negatives. This is some of the coldest weather that we have had in a long time. I think Norm Ridder should be prepared for some severe complaints and a lot of anger parents that are just watching out for the safty of there kids but they are also concerned for there childrens attendance and eduacation. LET OUT OF SCHOOL! It will save you a lot of trouble Norm!
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U Suck Norm!!!
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yeah he said they took the buses on major roads, well all the buses ive road go through the neighborhoods where the streets are icy and you cant hardly drive.
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You are talking about putting a bunch of people who have never experienced this kind of weather and putting them all on the road for the typical morning commute. You know they teach penguins how to swim by just pushing them off the edge into the water. Last I checked, we weren’t penguins. I don’t know what kind of traffic you experienced in Alaska, but the traffic here during the morning commute can be a bit heavy and inexperienced drivers on slick roads pose a problem. This isn’t Alaska.
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While I agree with most of the previously posted comments, I have to say that all our complaining about wanting to get out of school simply to get out of school does not reflect well upon us. The weather conditions are dangerous. I live next to Wilson’s Creek School and most of the kids in that neighborhood have to walk to school. While they did just put a sidewalk leading to the school the sidewalk is for the most part covered in snow. Most of the kids are walking on the icy road. There is a section of the sidewalk that drops off back onto the road and kids are forced to walk in the street. I only pray that someone who isn’t quite ready to drive on these slick roads does not hit one of these young walkers.
Please see reason Mr. Ridder.
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While I agree with most of the previously posted comments, I have to say that all our complaining about wanting to get out of school simply to get out of school does not reflect well upon us. The weather conditions are dangerous. I live next to Wilson’s Creek School and most of the kids in that neighborhood have to walk to school. While they did just put a sidewalk leading to the school the sidewalk is for the most part covered in snow. Most of the kids are walking on the icy road. There is a section of the sidewalk that drops off back onto the road and kids are forced to walk in the street. I only pray that someone who isn’t quite ready to drive on these slick roads does not hit one of these young walkers.
Please see reason Mr. Ridder.
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Yeah school is important, but when students are sliding off the roads only trying to get to school is becomes really dangerous. Someone going to get into a serious accident before Ridder realizes that the conditions are to dangerous to drive in. Plus a lot of students as well as myself drive to school and my parents and I for that matter don’t think its safe whatso ever for me to drive to and from school; and I don’t think I’m just going to stay home and miss a full day of school. So i think it should be cancelled. But thats just my opinion. I get that we arent going to school and not learning. But, we can always make it up in June. I think that if we are given the option of making up school in June then we should take it. Not just because we all want to sleep in and lay around all day but mainly for safety of all the students. Its just not safe at all to be driving, and no matter how much salt you put down and how much you plow the roads the cold is almost unbarrable. So school SHOULD be cancelled.
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its going to take a kid getting seriously hurt or killed for this shananguins to stop
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I have to walk to school! I left 10 minutes early and was still late-twice!!! So now not only do I have ISS but I’m sick as well!!! the side walk was covered in ice and I fell down quite a bit. In fact most of my friends didn’t even come to school! There are a lot of teenage drivers who are still shaky driving on normal roads let alone ones covered in ice!!! I don’t care if you covered the world in salt, coming from one who has to walk to school the cold is ridiculous and if I knew Norm I would probably slap him!!!!
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