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Is today going to be a snow day?

The decision to shut down FLC is ‘a tough one’

A heavy snowstorm moves in, and college presidents and school superintendents have a decision to make: Will we hold classes today?

“It’s a tough one,” said Dene Kay Thomas, president of Fort Lewis College. “It’s my decision in consultation with the provost and the vice president of finances, but we rely heavily on Bob Smith, who’s head of our physical plant.”

The college, she said, looks at what Durango School District 9-R and other area school districts do, the weather forecast and how well the college’s snow removal equipment is dealing with the storm.

On Feb. 23, she had to make two decisions, she said.

“At 5:30 a.m., it was ‘Are we going to stay open or not?’” Thomas said. “We saw surrounding area schools were closing, but we were on top of it on campus and having no problem keeping parking lots and Rim Drive open. We actually went down and helped the city open Goeglein Gulch, so there was access from the town to campus.”

By 10:30 a.m., she had a second decision to make.

“As the day went on, the snow piled up heavier than what the forecast had been,” Thomas said. “Bob Smith called me worried about the parking lots, worried that they could not get cars out or keep Rim Drive open. So we closed at 11 a.m.”

Some people complained that they already had made a risky drive to campus, only to be told to get back on the icy roads to go home.

“I had lots of phone calls and emails,” Thomas said. “We did have employees who felt it was not safe and who didn’t come in. In hindsight, I think I made a bad decision, I wish I had closed that day.”

About 1,300 students live on campus, but the decision affected another 2,300 students and 600 faculty and staff who commute up the hill.

“In many ways, leaving it to people to decide whether or not to come in and consider their own personal safety is a better option,” she said. “I understand that many will not make it.”

Closing the school has ramifications, too, which Thomas also has to take into account.

“We are required to have a certain number of hours for classes,” she said. “We’re right at the limit, so we need to find ways to make up time, and none of them are good.”

The choices? Hold classes on several Saturdays, postpone graduation or shorten spring break.

“That would be popular,” she said with a laugh.

This is Thomas’ fifth winter at FLC.

“I’ve had it pretty easy, and I haven’t really faced this decision really until now,” she said.

abutler@durangoherald.com



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