Frigid forecasts put cities, schools on alert

If the weather outside isn’t frightful yet, stay tuned.
As area forecasts predicted temperatures in the 20s and precipitation incoming, the City of Gladewater spooled up it’s cold weather prep this week while local districts, freshly back in class, touched based with staff and parents ahead of potential bad weather days.
As of press time Tuesday, snow was in the forecast for the latter half of the week.
Precipitation or not, Gladewater City Manager Charlie Smith says his Public Works crews and first responders will be ready for the complications a dip below freezing brings. The water and wastewater treatment plants were already winterized for the season, but other areas can’t be prepped as effectively.
“We’re just going to make sure that everything is winter-proof to the best of our ability,” Smith said Monday. “Do I think we’re going to have leaks? Yep, I sure do. Hopefully they won’t be too bad.”
It’s not just freezing temperatures that break pipes, he confirmed. Winter, Summer, Spring or Fall, the ground shifting around water infrastructure is just as likely to cause problems with the community’s aging system. Precipitation – or, on the other, overly-dry conditions – exacerbate the issues.
“Any movement in some of those old pipes can be disastrous to us. We’re going to have leaks whether it freezes or not.”
If the weather brings snow (an inch or more by some counts) Public Works Director Brian Smith and his team are ready to roll – carefully.
“He’s got the sand ready for us to start sanding some of the bridges here in town and intersections,” Charlie Smith said. “It sounds like we’re going to have about three days of it,” and he hopes local drivers will be cautious: “If the weather and the street surfaces get to be really bad, they need to really limit their travel during those frozen weather times.
“With our fire and police department, if they make a call, depending on the road conditions it may take us a little longer to get there.”
With the frigid weather approaching, in a Monday announcement Union Grove ISD reminded parents to double-check they’re correctly set-up with the school’s Skyward system for district updates. Questions should be directed to either 903-845-3481 (elementary school) or 903-845-5506 (junior high / high school).
GISD and WOISD were also issuing proactive advisories and monitoring local forecasts.
“Of course, we’re hoping that it doesn’t happen, but we are prepared,” Gladewater ISD Supt. Rae Ann Patty said. “We have our emergency procedures in place in case we need to close school. We’ll be notifying our parents on the news, on robo-calling, Blackboard, texts.
“The latest we want to notify parents is 6 a.m. in the morning so they don’t get out on the roads, the buses don’t get out on the roads, our employees stay home and everyone stays safe.”
It’s a similar story down the road in White Oak. Supt. Jack Parker spent Monday morning focusing on transportation, the afternoon on maintenance.
“It is what it is. It’s the weather… I’ve been in touch with superintendents in the area as well. We’re going to wait ’til Wednesday afternoon to get a better picture of what Thursday and Friday are looking like,” he said. In addition to TV, social media and the web, “We put it out on ParentSquare – that hits all our staff and parents in one fell swoop.
“We definitely want to make sure if we do get people and buses out that the roads are safe, and we’re not putting any of our staff and kids into any kind of danger. We’ll make the best decisions we can.”