Thursday marked one week since Northwest Arkanasas and the River Valley were blasted with snow and ice. While main roads and highways are mostly clear, some roads are still dealing with the effects of the winter weather.
The Huntsville School District canceled Friday classes because of some slippery road conditions near where many students live in Madison County. Students in the school district have been out of classes since the winter storm hit late last week.
Russell Hooper lives in Huntsville and said he believes the tough road conditions that still exist on some rural roadways are to blame for yet another snow day.
“Most of the students live in small towns on the back roads, dirt roads---harder for buses to get to them,” Hooper said. “I don’t know what all they can do. They could go up on some of the roads and salt them, even take road grades and scrape most of the ice off. But for steep hills and stuff like that, it’s probably going to be dangerous for them too.”
Joseph Judd, who also lives in Madison County, said he has seen the situation play out before near Huntsville when snow and ice keep motorists off of the rural roads and kids out of school.
“The reason why is the dirt roads. They are not thawed out yet,” Judd said. “They are still icy. Buses couldn’t get there anyway.”
Most area schools resumed classes Thursday after being off for about a week, including Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville. The snow and ice kept several schools closed, though, including Cave Springs, Eureka Springs, Huntsville, Jasper, Lincoln and West Fork, among others.
Madison County school officials said they will further monitor the road conditions Friday and into the weekend before making a decision whether to resume classes for Monday.