Students in Christian County Public Schools and those in the city’s three private schools — Heritage Christian Academy, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School and University Heights Academy — will remain out of their classrooms until next week.
All of the schools made the decision to keep students home for the remainder of this week because many streets and roads are still packed with ice and snow following the massive winter storm that swept across much of the United States over the weekend. Now dangerously cold temperatures have gripped the region.
“Unfortunately the extended cold temperatures have not allowed snow covered roads and campuses to adequately clear,” a CCPS spokeswoman said in a press release.
All of the missed days this week in the public schools — and most in the private schools — are considered non-traditional instruction days, NTI. Schools give students assignments to do a home on NTI days so they don’t have to make up so-called snow days that would be tagged onto the end of the school year.
“We understand that winter weather, power outages or other unforeseen circumstances may make this difficult,” the release states. “Schools and staff will be flexible and accommodate situations that interfere with a student’s ability to participate. Families with questions may reach out through ParentSquare, Google Classroom, or email.”
Students are also missing ballgames, practices and extracurricular activities while the schools are closed.
More critically, many students have also missed school meals that account for much of their nutrition. To address that need, the public school system will make grab-and-go food bundles available for families of the students to pick up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday at Christian County Middle School, 215 Glass Ave. (Enter on the PAC side of the school and drive around to the back to the bus drop-off/cafeteria entrance.)
“Parents and guardians should park and enter through the main entrance and will be required to sign for each student they are picking up food for,” the release states. “Students do not need to be present to receive food bundles.”
State and county officials commented on road conditions in announcements Wednesday afternoon, which followed numerous complaints and questions local residents posted to social media.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced that snow removal crews from neighboring counties are responding to assist in Christian and Muhlenberg counties.
In a press release, state officials said crews in Christian and Muhlenberg reported up to 3 inches of ice on roads. Christian, Todd, Trigg, Muhlenberg and Calloway counties were under an ice storm warning for several hours Sunday.
“Unlike neighboring counties that received measurable snowfall before the ice event, much of the precipitation in the Christian and Muhlenberg areas froze directly on the pavement,” the release states. “This has made it more difficult to treat roadways, as traditional salt applications are less effective when applied directly to the ice.”
Crews are “applying a combination of road salt and salt brine to break the ice’s bond with the pavement and improve traction,” the release states.
Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam wrote in a social media post that the county has spread more than 500 tons of salt but because of “extremely frigid temperatures, salt has not been as effective as we had hoped.”
“Additionally, the continued efforts of the state and the City of Hopkinsville are also seeing slow progress,” he wrote. “One contributing factor is the significant amount of ice received in the southern tier of our county compared to counties to the north and west.”
An update on the snow and ice removal work will be given at Christian Fiscal Court’s meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday. Gilliam said officials with District 2 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be present.
This story was updated after CCPS changed the location for grab-and-go food bundles on Friday. It is now Christian County Middle School.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
