North Harford Zone

The winter of 2014 has been a tough one for Harford County; residents from Aberdeen to Norrisville have been the victims of heavy snowfall since December. Harford County Public Schools have already reached their maximum of snow days that they can accumulate for, and talk of school on Saturday and extending class time until 2:15 to 2:30 has come up around the board. No doubt that this is a tough call for HCPS, the board does have a lot of weight on their shoulders. They have to make sure that thousands of students can make it to school safely, and that’s a big decision to make every morning. The people on the board aren’t perfect, and having such a big district with so many different areas, sometimes the decisions that are made are not going to suit every school perfectly. However, in the eyes of most Harford County residents, safety is the number one issue. North Harford High School needs to have its own zone for weather based decisions. NHHS, being so far away from every other Harford County School, has different roads and travel patterns then the busy streets of Bel Air or Edgewood. On many occasions, some roads in Northern Harford County have not been treated in time to go to school where, on the same note, students attending southern Harford County schools miss class time because of our issues at North Harford. With plenty of teen drivers that commute to school every morning, with little experience driving in snow or icy conditions, there are days in the year where it is not safe to send students to school and in Northern Harford County, many roads traveled are back roads that do not get plowed or treated as well. Understandably, students like to have a day off every now and then, but at the same time nobody wants to spend their spring break, summer, and possibly even Saturdays in school, so if the roads permit then by all means students should be in class. If the kids cannot get to school safely then they should not be sent to school and the conditions that are considered safe are different all around the county.