CHARLESTON, W.Va. — County school districts in West Virginia hope to open school for students Monday after a full week off from in-person instruction after last weekend’s snow and ice storm.
School bus drivers and maintenance crews at several school bus garages spent Friday removing thick layers of snow and ice from the top of their buses.
State Department of Education Director of Transportation Jimmy Lacy said crews are cleaning buses and checking out bus turnarounds to see if more plowing work is needed.
Lacy said in some cases you are dealing with an ice sandwich on top of the buses because last weekend’s storm started and ended with snow.
“It started out with snow which wouldn’t have been too bad but then it rained for about 12 or 14 hours later it snowed and then up north they got the snow and then sleet on top of that so you have an ice layer on top of that. That ice layer is in the middle of the snow,” Lacy said.
The school transportation crews hope to prevent large sheets of ice from breaking loose and flying into traffic when the buses resume their routes.
“You see a lot of tractor trailers after storms, you see it flying off of them and landing on top of cars–it can go through their windshield,” Lacy said.
The workers have been on ladders breaking up the ice from on top of the buses.
Some counties wanted to return to classes Friday but couldn’t because of the remaining snow and ice. Many are hoping for better results Monday. All 55 counties took traditional snow days or non-traditional remote education days this week.
During the 2024-25 school year, the state transportation team inspected 3,623 buses, Lacy said.
The state Department of Education reminds residents February is National Love the Bus Month, a month focusing on all aspects of school bus transportation.