This story was updated at 11 a.m. Feb. 14 with new information on the Special District 4 swim meet at Albany and PHS basketball games at North Marion. ... This story was updated at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 14 with information on a rescheduled School Board meeting.
The Philomath School District’s superintendent made the decision late Thursday afternoon to go ahead and call classes off again Friday in the aftermath of a winter storm that rolled through the region. With no school Monday for Presidents Day, that means local students are getting in a five-day weekend.
Susan Halliday, superintendent of schools, said canceling classes stood to reason.
“With our early release schedule, a two-hour delay makes no sense for us on any Friday,” Halliday said through an email to parents, explaining that a two-hour late start appears to be typical at other schools in the vicinity.
Indeed, the Corvallis School District later confirmed that it would start two hours late Friday. Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College will open their respective campuses two hours late as well.
Staying in line with the rest of the district, Kings Valley Charter School also will not hold classes Friday. Roots Primary School, an independent school that operates at The Refuge in Philomath, will also be closed.
A Philomath School Board meeting that had been scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until 7 p.m. Tuesday in the PHS Community Conference Room.
PHS athletic schedules change
The aftermath of the wintry weather, school closures and travel safety concerns have disrupted several sporting events Thursday through Saturday. Most notably, a pair of two-day district championship meets that had been scheduled for Friday and Saturday have now been rescheduled as single-day events on Saturday.
The Class 4A Special District 4 swim meet at Albany Community Pool, which is on the campus of South Albany High School, will begin at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The schedule of events, will be timed finals only, estimates the meet will run until just past 10 p.m.
The 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 1 girls wrestling meet at Scappoose also went to a single-day event. The action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
Although the Oregon School Activities Association made changes to the state cheerleading championships schedule, the revisions do not affect Philomath. The local cheer squad is still scheduled to take the floor in Class 4A’s traditional category at 9 a.m. Saturday at Oregon City High School.
Philomath High’s boys and girls basketball teams will not play Friday at North Marion as originally scheduled. The two schools opted to push back those games to Saturday with the same tipoff times — 5:30 p.m. for the boys and 7 p.m. for the girls. Only the varsity teams will play.