As most people here know, this year, we have a new superintendent, Jeffery Hughes.  However, I believe that most of the younger students in the district probably do not know all of the responsibilities of the Superintendent. But, what many students do know is that one of the Superintendent’s jobs is handling inclement weather: early dismissals, two hour delays, and canceling school.

I know that the younger students know that the superintendent takes responsibility in that department, because when I was in elementary school, I thought the superintendent’s main job was to handle the snow days.

This year, Hughes’s first year as superintendent, I think Hughes has handled inclement weather very well. With our district being as large and rural as it is, including: seven boroughs, two villages, and extends approximately 105 square miles, many of which are hills and sharp turns. It’s important to consider all of those elements, and I think that Hughes has done a great job doing that.

“Since our district is a rural one with many back roads, it is important to consider all areas of the district when making the decisions that affect the entire student body’s safety when coming to and from school,” Spanish teacher Karen Snyder said.

An early dismissal has been issued twice this year and there are two main factors in both of those situations that I like. One factor that I like is that Hughes got the students on the road before the bad weather started.

Senior Jonathan “Tanner” Kirkpatrick agreed with me: “Mr. Hughes got us out before the bad weather really became a problem” he said.

Senior Kyle Gladstone also had some thoughts very similar to that. He said that he feels safer as a pupil of this school knowing that the Superintendent will not have students on the road when there is bad weather.

That’s also another thing that I have liked so far. Not only in early dismissals, but just in general, Hughes has not had students on the road if the road conditions were bad or questionable.

Another interesting thing that I appreciate is that Hughes changed the schedule in an effort to have all of the lunches and to have as many classes as possible.

English teacher Sarah Buttiens said in her eleven years of teaching here, she doesn’t recall the Superintendent changing the schedule so that students could get to as many classes as possible when being dismissed early.

However, Snyder said she does recall the schedule being changed to accommodate an early dismissal.

“I think Mr.Hughes has made intelligent decisions thus far this year when deciding on snow day dismissals and late starts,” Snyder said.

Also, when two hour delays were issued or school has been cancelled, there were reasonable conditions in my opinion. Also, I believe the calls for delays and closures have been timely and allow for families to make decisions regarding these changes to the day.