The students of Region 16 were expecting a snow day on Friday, February 8th, 2013, due to the weather, but when they heard that school was canceled for both Monday, February 11th and Tuesday, February 12th, they were quite shocked.

Although Blizzard Charlotte/ Winter Storm Nemo hit on Friday and left on Saturday morning, the storm left behind, on average, 30 inches of snow in most areas. Because of the extreme amount of snow, plows could only push the snow so far into the sides of the roads. Roads are now narrow and have multiple blind spots due to six-foot high snow banks. With the amount of snow that has fallen, some roads, driveways, and parking lots have yet to have been cleared of the mess, making it dangerous to send students to school on Monday.

According to Tim James, superintendent of Region 16, the crews are having a very difficult time clearing roads due to the incessant amount of snow and will need at least two more days of operation before the roads are opened up for safe, two-way travel.

About 2400 hundred students were expected to take school bus transportation on Monday and James feared that students just would not be safe.

“We (first selectmen Gerry Smith, Mayor Bob Chatfield, Tim James) are concerned with having over 2400 students wait for buses in the roadway, ” said James, “and the ability for bus drivers to have good visibility as they drive and make turns.”

With staff from all over the state of Connecticut, getting to and from work with the current road conditions would have been dangerous. And with driveways and streets still unplowed, some, like Deborah Flaherty, wouldn’t have been able to leave for school in the morning.

Flaherty, a Prospect resident who teaches at Woodland, has spent the last two days attempting to shovel her way out of the house since plows have had trouble clearing her ascending driveway. After spending her long weekend shoveling, she added that she is ready for the days off to finally relax.

However, unlike Flaherty, some of the students at Woodland are facing the symptoms of cabin fever especially the seniors anticipating graduation. With the five snow days that the Region now has, the last day of school is scheduled for June 20th, 2013, rather than the original date of June 12th, 2013.

“I hate the snow days because last year it was close to one hundred degrees and it is so humid in the school, ” said senior Keri DeBiase, “and it made the graduation ceremony difficult because everyone was so hot, it was not even enjoyable.”

Unfortunately, for those waiting to just graduate, Mother Nature does not seem to be sympathetic. And for those who like to take advantage of the days off in the cold winter, the school week of February 11th will only be two days long. James added that he does not believe that the upcoming February break will be affected by the snow days this week,  however the situation for April break may be different.

“The Board of Education will have to meet to discuss if the April vacation will be affected,” said James.

Eventually, the students and staff of Region 16 will be sent back to school whether they like it or not.