Students in the Forest Grove School District will be released three hours early Friday, owing to forecasted snow, low temperatures, and wind expected Friday afternoon.
The early release will start an already long weekend—school’s out on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day— early for students and staff.
In addition to the early release, all district sponsored games, tournaments, and events were cancelled through Sunday evening, along with all all district approved professional development and youth athletic activities taking place at district facilities.
“We know this can cause scheduling difficulties for families,” FGSD Superintendent Dave Parker said in a notice. “We are communicating this change in order to give parents time to make arrangements for your students. Reflecting on past snow events, with resulting transportation issues, we want to be cautious while still having students receive important instructional time with teachers.”
Parker noted that the formula to find out when the new release time Friday was is simple: subtract three hours from a student’s regular release time. For example, if a student normally is released from school at 3:15 p.m., the new release time is 12:15 p.m.
Parker said the district would communicate any other changes made to schedules if the weather worsened.
The Portland office of the National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Watch that begins Friday afternoon and extends through late Saturday night.
“Heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations of 1 to 8 inches possible. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph,” the weather agency said.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
