Rising waters forced two Bismarck schools to send students home early.

By 2 p.m. Tuesday, the district asked parents to pick students up from Prairie Rose and Solheim elementary schools. The district was not running buses to Prairie Rose. The district also decided to pick up students on rural bus and private bus routes at 2 p.m.

Other schools, however, remained in session.

"We believe, with our size, to close in the middle of the day would be unproductive and unsafe," Superintendent Paul Johnson said.

A mid-day closure causes concerns about students being left at empty homes and parents having to leave work early to pick up children.

Looking back, if he could redo the decision to hold school Tuesday, he would make a different decision, he said.

"It (the process) was the same as always," he said. "I was out at 4 a.m., along with the transportation coordinator and facility director. The nicest part of the day, probably, was this morning."

He made the decision between 5:30 and 6 a.m. The snow was falling, but not too much, and temperatures were in the low 30s. He also talked with the Mandan superintendent, Wilfred Volesky, about three times. At the time, he thought maybe Bismarck was on the edge of the worst of the weather.

"I thought it was safe having school," he said. "Turned out, it was the lightest snow of the day."

Weather in Mandan appeared worse than in Bismarck, but that changed. In fact, Volesky thought they might have school Tuesday, but a quick change in the weather caused him to change his mind.

"We initially thought we'd have school," Volesky said. "At 5:30, it didn't look too bad. At about 6:30, it really turned bad."

Before the change in the weather, Volesky was driving around and thought it would be safe. Then the snow changed and he couldn't see.

"I felt I needed to make a different decision," he said.

The administration at the University of Mary also changed its mind Tuesday morning and canceled classes. Originally, classes were going to start late, at 10 a.m. By 9:30 a.m., the weather turned and a decision to close was made.

Some schools stayed in session, but closed early. Bismarck State College closed at 1 p.m. and United Tribes Technical College closed at 2 p.m., which also included Theodore Jamerson Elementary School.

Shiloh Christian School in Bismarck held classes in the morning, then closed at 12:30 p.m. Bismarck Catholic schools stayed in session, but parents were allowed to pick students up early.

Mandan schools will need to make up the canceled school day. It already used March 12 as a snow make-up day. The next snow make-up day is Easter Monday, April 13.

Bismarck School District also will have school Easter Monday to make up for a school closure earlier this winter. If it cancels school again, it will make up the day on May 22, which is the day after the last scheduled day of school. The district will not need to make up time at Prairie Rose or Solheim for letting students go early.

If schools have canceled school because of flooding and exhausted their make-up days, they can get a waiver through the governor's office.

The Bismarck School District is announcing its closures and cancellations on the district Web site, www.bismarckschools.org, and updating every 20 minutes.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)