Snowed in, stuck in class
Siarra Hernandez
Issue date: 1/28/10 Section: Front Page
With the surrounding school districts and colleges in nearby areas closed, some students were left wondering why GCCC didn't get a snow day.
GCCC's president, Dr. Carol Ballantyne, says that the local school district has specific reasons for being closed.
"The school district runs buses, we don't run buses. The school district has students standing outside waiting for buses, we don't have any of that," Ballantyne said. "Our people are mostly adults who either drive in or live here on campus so if they're going to drive to the bank, then they're going to drive to the college. That's different than the high school."
Blake Christmann, Garden City, lives off campus and helped push a friend's car out of the snow after it got stuck on the road going over to the dorms. He had hoped that classes would be canceled today.
"I was hoping, but I guess that's what happens when you go to college. You don't get the luxury of all the high school stuff," Christmann said. "We only had six students in history [class]. It was pretty bad. I thought there would be more. They said more students that were not living on campus showed up than the ones that actually did live on campus."
Some employees knew that classes wouldn't be canceled.
Kate Covington, Director of Residential Life, said, "I've been here 20 years and I can count probably on one hand how many times classes have been called off. I knew when it quit snowing that we'd have class."
During inclement weather, college Physical Plant Director, Larry Johnson, drives the roads on and around campus twice a day, once at 4 a.m. and once at 4 p.m. He also evaluates how much the city crews are getting taken care of. He then reports to Dean of Administrative Services Dee Wigner and they develop a recommendation which they relay to Ballantyne, who makes the final decision.
"When we do close it's mostly because we can't keep the sidewalks and the parking lots clear. We have a construction company that comes in early in the morning and scoops but if we can't keep it clear enough for people to be safe then we close," said Ballantyne. "If it was really cold and windy and the wind chill factor was way down then even moving around on campus isn't smart so we would probably close down."
GCCC's president, Dr. Carol Ballantyne, says that the local school district has specific reasons for being closed.
"The school district runs buses, we don't run buses. The school district has students standing outside waiting for buses, we don't have any of that," Ballantyne said. "Our people are mostly adults who either drive in or live here on campus so if they're going to drive to the bank, then they're going to drive to the college. That's different than the high school."
Blake Christmann, Garden City, lives off campus and helped push a friend's car out of the snow after it got stuck on the road going over to the dorms. He had hoped that classes would be canceled today.
"I was hoping, but I guess that's what happens when you go to college. You don't get the luxury of all the high school stuff," Christmann said. "We only had six students in history [class]. It was pretty bad. I thought there would be more. They said more students that were not living on campus showed up than the ones that actually did live on campus."
Some employees knew that classes wouldn't be canceled.
Kate Covington, Director of Residential Life, said, "I've been here 20 years and I can count probably on one hand how many times classes have been called off. I knew when it quit snowing that we'd have class."
During inclement weather, college Physical Plant Director, Larry Johnson, drives the roads on and around campus twice a day, once at 4 a.m. and once at 4 p.m. He also evaluates how much the city crews are getting taken care of. He then reports to Dean of Administrative Services Dee Wigner and they develop a recommendation which they relay to Ballantyne, who makes the final decision.
"When we do close it's mostly because we can't keep the sidewalks and the parking lots clear. We have a construction company that comes in early in the morning and scoops but if we can't keep it clear enough for people to be safe then we close," said Ballantyne. "If it was really cold and windy and the wind chill factor was way down then even moving around on campus isn't smart so we would probably close down."
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