I would like to extend my appreciation to all of the people who have helped us remove snow and reopen our schools. Over the course of the last two weeks more than 115 volunteers showed up to help remove snow from our buildings. Seventy of those volunteers were Weiser school district employees, 13 were students, and 32 were community members. A special shout out to those students who came and braved the cold and who worked alongside their teachers. Principals led their teams on their respective roofs and led the effort that otherwise might have taken weeks or longer to complete. For little more than a cup of cocoa and a donut, these people worked very hard and with great attitudes to reduce the snow loads on our school buildings. I’ve calculated that our volunteers alone contributed over $38,000 in labor to the effort from Jan. 13 – 24.
Additionally, we received help from a group of Mennonites who came to town from all over the United States and Canada to help. They identified themselves as the Christian Disaster Relief. Their help was instrumental in finishing the roof clearance at WMS. In addition to the volunteers, Chris and Sharolyn Schofield converted their tree service company into a snow removal outfit and helped the district contract for the heavy equipment and 
crews who worked the more difficult, technical, and less safe areas needing attention. They could not have been more professional and collaborative in working with our district administrators. The cranes that worked to remove snow that could not just be shoveled off the roof lifted more than 300 ton of snow off several of our buildings.
I’d also like to send a special thank you to all of the people who donated goods and services to support our effort; the businesses and individuals who donated food and drink for our workers and/or discounted our purchases. Everyone’s generosity and help to reopen the schools was terrific.
We had a structural engineer visit our district twice and inspect our roofs for signs of stress and durability. The engineer was impressed with the snow removal effort for so many large buildings and offered several meaningful suggestions regarding the continued maintenance of our structures covered in snow.
So, while we are not yet done with winter, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank those who have helped our students and staff get back to school. I have never experienced this kind of extended severe weather and number of school closures in my thirty-nine years working in Idaho. Thanks to everyone for your patient suffering as we shoveled our way out from under this onslaught of snow and wait for the inevitable coming of spring.
Wil Overgaard, Superintendent
Weiser School District
