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Saturday, January 25, 2014
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It’s not finished yet! More frigid weather coming By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
It’s way too soon to think spring, according to WQAD News 8 meteorologist James Zahara. Even though milder temperatures, reaching into the mid-to-upper 20s, are forecast for the weekend, another strong
shot of brutally cold air returns to the Quad City area for the first half of next week, Zahara said. That clipper is expected to bring single-digit temperatures for the daytime high, with nighttime lows below zero. More school and meeting cancellations could be in the near future, he said.
However as January ends, there is hope for better weather in February, Zahara said. “Fortunately, I do see in my crystal ball (my long range computer models) that the month of February numbers are expected to start off milder,” he said. However, people shouldn’t get too complacent with the milder
temperatures because a f t e r the first six days or so of February, it looks like more intense cold will follow. The good news is the intense cold isn’t expected to last through the rest of the month, as numbers
for high temperatures are leaning above normal for the rest of February, he said. “Fingers and toes crossed,” he added. Not only has this been a long, drawn-out cold winter season, it’s also been a fairly active one, Zahara said. That active pattern probably won’t be changing either in February.
Looking at this winter’s snowfall amount, Zahara said the Quad Cities area has already reached the normal amount of snowfall for the entire season, 30 inches, and winter isn’t finished yet. “Back in November, I was looking at this winter season to be above normal in snowfall, and
See Weather Page 4
Calendar changes
Closing the gap Behind the scenes at DePue Schools
PHS makes up for ‘cold’ days By Donna Barker
By Goldie Currie
dbarker@bcrnews.com
gcurrie@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Princeton High School is adjusting its calendar to make up for a couple weatherrelated cancellation days, with more adjustments to follow. At Wednesday’s meeting of the PHS Board, Principal Andy Berlinski said there have been two “cold” days earlier this month, on Jan. 6 and 7. To make up for those non-attendance days, students were in attendance Jan. 17, which had previously been designated as a Teacher Institute Day, and students will also be in attendance on March 3, which had previously been set as a non-attendance day for Casimir Pulaski Day. These two additional days will allow flexibility at the end of the school year, so students and staff will not have to split a test review day and a finals day over the Memorial Day weekend, Berlinski said. The Teacher Institute Day will be made up at the end of the school year, he added. As recommended by Superintendent Kirk Haring, the last scheduled day of attendance for PHS students for this school year was set for May 28, unless there is another snow day. Graduation was set for 10 a.m. May 24 on Bryant Field.
DEPUE— “Good things are happening at DePue Schools.” It’s the motto Principal David Higgs uses before presenting his monthly report to the school board. And as test scores for the MAP assessment roll in and are being computed, Higgs is charting the data, comparing it to national norms and proving good things are happening at DePue. He is happy to announce, students in all grades are closing the gap on academic achievements.
What is the MAP Test? MAP stands for Measure of Academic Progress. The assessment measures each student — kindergarten through 11th grade — on their own academic achievements. The MAP test helps determine what a student already knows and what they’re ready to learn. MAP uses a RIT scale (Raush Unit), which helps teachers determine each students’ achievement and growth. By individualizing each student, teachers are able to optimize learning and ensure every student is making progress.
See MAP Page 2
BCR photo/Becky Kramer
It’s cold! Greg McMeen, an employee at Beck’s West in Princeton, fuels up a vehicle at the full-service island with below-zero temperatures and a brutal wind chill factor. McMeen, who has worked at Beck’s for a few years, said this is definitely the coldest winter he’s experienced at the pumps.
See PHS Page 3
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