Snow Brings Woes to the Longwood Community
Nicole Dales
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News
Students received an email around 5 p.m. on Sunday evening, stating that classes would go on as normal on Monday. The decision was later pulled, with a delayed opening announced around 8 p.m. Sunday night. Evening classes on Monday and another delayed opening on Tuesday were also announced. With more dicey weather in the forecast for the remainder of the week, the Longwood administration team is working hard to make the decision on campus activities.
Longwood Facilities Director Richard Bratcher, Provost Wayne McWee, Vice President of Student Affairs Tim Pierson and the Police Department worked together to make the decision of delaying and canceling classes.
Pierson explained the university pays for a weather site that gives hour-by-hour information that is much more detailed than what The Weather Channel shows. He said they use the data and drive around to look at sites to determine whether it is safe enough to hold classes. "We were all at the police station in the evening. We collaborated and we decided we would go with a delayed open based on the fact that both public safety and our facilities director believed that by 10 a.m. they would have enough chemical down and enough grit down to make the walkway safe," said McWee.
McWee explained the team consulted multiple times and will continue to discuss as more severe weather moves in. Pierson said there are concerns about classes in regards to keeping the number of context hours so they are accredited for those classes, so the academic side will push to hold classes.
McWee said the team was concerned about snow melting during the day and re-freezing overnight, causing patches of black ice on the road. McWee said they were concerned about student driving home at 9 p.m. at night, which prompted the cancellation of Monday's night classes. "The chemicals we put down during the day would have reached their effectiveness," explained McWee.
McWee received a number of emails from students, and had been in contact with Student Government Association (SGA) President Cameron Patterson. McWee said he considers all emails that come in and responds to all the ones he has received.
Longwood Facilities Director Richard Bratcher, Provost Wayne McWee, Vice President of Student Affairs Tim Pierson and the Police Department worked together to make the decision of delaying and canceling classes.
Pierson explained the university pays for a weather site that gives hour-by-hour information that is much more detailed than what The Weather Channel shows. He said they use the data and drive around to look at sites to determine whether it is safe enough to hold classes. "We were all at the police station in the evening. We collaborated and we decided we would go with a delayed open based on the fact that both public safety and our facilities director believed that by 10 a.m. they would have enough chemical down and enough grit down to make the walkway safe," said McWee.
McWee explained the team consulted multiple times and will continue to discuss as more severe weather moves in. Pierson said there are concerns about classes in regards to keeping the number of context hours so they are accredited for those classes, so the academic side will push to hold classes.
McWee said the team was concerned about snow melting during the day and re-freezing overnight, causing patches of black ice on the road. McWee said they were concerned about student driving home at 9 p.m. at night, which prompted the cancellation of Monday's night classes. "The chemicals we put down during the day would have reached their effectiveness," explained McWee.
McWee received a number of emails from students, and had been in contact with Student Government Association (SGA) President Cameron Patterson. McWee said he considers all emails that come in and responds to all the ones he has received.
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