ECISD releases statment on winter weather closure

ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - ECISD released the following statement on this mornings decision to close after students had arrived at school.

“ This morning, ECISD leaders worked through the school district’s hazardous weather procedures, and began the day with the intention of having school start on time.

Any time hazardous weather is in the forecast, members of our Transportation Department drive roads all around Odessa and Ector County to check road conditions, then connect with the National Weather Service to gain any possible insight about the approaching storm.

This morning, when our team was out between 4:00-5:00 a.m., the roads were dry and we felt the rain would remain relatively light throughout the morning. It is always ECISD’s intention to make a delay or closure decision by 5:00 a.m. and this morning, that decision was to move forward with the school day.

The weather and the road conditions got progressively worse later in the morning and district leaders realized the safest thing to do was to close schools and offices and have everyone stay at home. Unfortunately, by that time a number of our employees were already at work, and many parents were on their way to school or had already dropped their children off.

This is not a situation we ever want to put our families in, we regret that it happened this way, and we apologize for the confusion it created. We work very hard to make informed decisions with safety serving as the priority. There is more freezing weather in the forecast for this week and we will be in touch with the National Weather Service throughout that time. We will send announcements to our staff, families and community as quickly as decisions are made. We thank everyone for their patience this week as we work together to navigate this winter storm.”