{"id":29799,"date":"2024-01-11T22:13:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T05:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-schools-remain-open-during-snowstorm\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:04:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:04:01","slug":"farmington-schools-remain-open-during-snowstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-schools-remain-open-during-snowstorm\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington schools remain open during snowstorm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Drivers
Drivers were seen sliding at stoplights and around corners on Scott Avenue in Farmington after a snowstorm dumped about 3 inches of snow in the area. Crystal Shelton\/Special to Tri-City Record<\/span>Crystal Shelton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Aztec Municipal Schools closed and switched to remote learning before a storm dumped about 3 inches of snow in the Farmington area Thursday.<\/p>\n

The district announced on its website<\/a> about 5:30 a.m. that it would go on a two-hour delay. About 7:30 a.m., the district said it would switch to remote learning beginning at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

All other schools in the county remained open, largely because the storm hit northwestern Farmington after buses had begun their routes.<\/p>\n

Shana Reeves, assistant city manager, said the city did not have any closures. She said in an email that crews prepared for the storm Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn preparation for the predicted storm, we loaded and prepared seven large trucks and four small trucks. Our crews were out just before 5 a.m. this morning driving routes and checking streets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Reeves said that on Thursday morning the city had full crews out working the streets and they will continue throughout the day. She reported that the Red Apple Transit service was paused in the morning.<\/p>\n

Devin Neeley, San Juan County communications manager, said county operations were normal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll six of our plow trucks are working designated routes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Multiple traffic accidents were reported Thursday. Scanner traffic reported a crash at the intersection of Murray Drive and the Highway 371 (Bisti Highway) involving a semitrailer and an SUV. The driver of the SUV complained of back pain and was taken to San Juan Regional Medical Center for examination.<\/p>\n

Amanda Torres, Farmington schools transportation secretary, said the snow did not start falling until 6:15 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce our buses are out, we can\u2019t cancel school because we have some (students) on buses and some going out to bus stops,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

If significant snow had fallen an hour earlier, schools would have delayed the start of classes, Torres said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids are at school, and they\u2019re safe,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it does continue and they reevaluate the weather, if they call an early release, then a message would get sent out to parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with an unscheduled early release is that working parents might have difficulty getting to bus stops to pick up their children. Younger children, such as kindergartners, present a larger problem.<\/p>\n

\"A
A plow clears the parking lot and driveway at McCormick Elementary School during Thursday's snowstorm. Crystal Shelton\/Special to Tri-City Record<\/span>Crystal Shelton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Drivers
Drivers were seen sliding at stoplights and around corners on Scott Avenue in Farmington after a snowstorm Thursday. Crystal Shelton\/Special to Tri-City Record<\/span>Crystal Shelton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Most
Most drivers were taking their time along Main Street as road conditions deteriorated Thursday in Farmington. Crystal Shelton\/Special to Tri-City Record<\/span>Crystal Shelton<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dean Bekise of the Central Consolidated Kirtland transportation department, said the district works with New Mexico Department of Transportation to monitor road conditions. Initially, road conditions were expected to improve by 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said 10:00, and now they\u2019re saying until noon,\u201d he said Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Bekise said transportation department teams set a plan to check bus routes before noon. From there, the teams make a recommendation in their chain of command.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in close communication right now,\u201d he said Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Roger Tingley, Bloomfield schools transportation manager, said the snow continued to fall at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have time to call a delay or anything, the buses were already half-loaded by the time the snow started,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tingley said he was counting on snowplows to help get the students home safely.<\/p>\n

According to the New Mexico Department of Transportation website<\/a>, roads around San Juan County would be considered as \u201cdifficult driving\u201d with snowpacked and icy road conditions. The website did say snow plows were out sanding and salting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

schools switch to remote learning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80865,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29799\/revisions\/80865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29799"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}