Riding the Snowstorm Out – HutchCC Explains Reasoning for Keeping College Open During Chilly Monday

By Lizzie Rush
Editor In Chief
IG: liz.rush

With a low temperature of minus-9 degrees, Hutchinson Community College made the decision to keep campus open on Monday. 

Many neighboring school districts made the decision to cancel classes due to the snow storm that hit the weekend before, making HutchCC one of the few to have remained open. 

According to the National Weather Service, Hutchinson had a reported minus-19 degree windchill around 8 a.m., right before students would start walking to class. 

According to an article written by the Cleveland Clinic, “You can get frostbite in 30 minutes or less when the wind chill is -15 F (-26 C) or lower.” The article also states, “Even if you’re wearing protective clothing like a hat, boots and gloves, you can still get frostbite through your clothing.”

President of HutchCC, Tricia Paramore explained the process the college uses in canceling classes.

“There is not a formal policy for canceling classes due to inclement weather, because each incidence of inclement weather is different. What is the forecast? When is the inclement weather slated to begin? When does it actually begin? Is it supposed to start in the middle of the day? Overnight? How long does it last?”

Paramore added that while there is no formal policy, she still consults with the President’s Council as well as many others about whether to go forward with canceling classes due to inclement weather. 

HutchCC students who live in the dorms are not permitted to park anywhere on campus until 1 p.m., according to the college’s housing handbook. 

Jacob Knoll, Garden City freshman, resides in the dorms and had the unlucky fate of having to walk to his morning class in subzero windchills.

Knoll said he thought the college should have canceled.

“It was a pain walking to class,” Knoll said. 

Film and media instructor, Joey Ralph, made the decision to cancel his classes for the day, as his own vehicle was trapped in the snow. 

“I was like, this is the wrong decision. Every other school around closed, you know, so like what are you doing? I feel like you would want to air on the side of caution,” Ralph said. 

Like Knoll, Ralph said that the school made the wrong decision to leave classes open, given the amount of students who commute to the school and for those who live in the dorm and have to walk to buildings like Smith Science Center or Stringer Fine Arts Center, which can be about a 10 minute walk. 

Mathematics instructor Terri McQueen would have loved a snow day, but said she understands why the college made the decision to remain open. 

McQueen typically has a strict policy about being on time to her classes, but she removed that policy for Monday as she understood it may take students longer to get to class due to the inclement weather, though she stated that her attendance wasn’t as low that day as she had expected it to be. 

“I think at the college level, everybody’s responsible enough to make their own decisions, and I think all the instructors are flexible enough to work with it,” McQueen said. “We have just so many days and we have so much information that we have to try to get in. So it’s tough to miss a day, especially not knowing if we are gonna have another snowstorm coming up that we’re gonna have to take days off for.” 

Ralph had a differing opinion from McQueen

“I understand that the (college) needs to operate a certain number of hours, but I don’t think that there’s anything that’s a higher priority than human life,” Ralph said.

“Unfortunately, it is not a perfect process and I acknowledge that. Who would have known that one of the most difficult decisions I would have to make as President would be whether to close the institution when it’s cold or snows?” Paramore said. 

Paramore said that the college is trying to prepare students for careers where they aren’t likely to get snow days due to inclement weather, such as nurses, welders, and other trades. 

“While this probably doesn’t apply to residence hall students, there may be students and staff who were glad to be in school to be in a warm location for the day,” Paramore said.

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