Schools closed Thursday due to winter storm

Area schools closed Thursday due to the predicted winter weather that had been forecast by meteorologists for the past several days. Cloquet Schools superintendent Michael Cary told the Pine Knot News that, while the weather was unremarkable Wednesday afternoon, the forecast for Thursday meant students would be traveling home in the worst of the storm, which was predicted to hit hard between noon and 2 p.m. Thursday.

“That’s too late for us to do an early release, so it would mean kids would be traveling home from school at the worst time. After conferring with other Carlton County superintendents, we decided it’s not worth risking the safety of the kids,” Cary said.

The decision to close the schools Thursday was likely made easier by recent legislation at the state capital that allows school to miss up to 14 days due to inclement weather this year. The one-time law is designed to ease the burden on districts statewide that had an extraordinary number of missed teaching days this year. Normally, the days must be made up at a later date.

Cary said the school district is aware of the recently passed legislation, but he said the Cloquet district plans to examine all the financial implications before they make any decision on whether to make up any missed days.