By Shelly Willliams/editor-in-chief

For the first time in TCC history, the college closed its doors to bad weather for a record six days.

TCC’s Inclement Weather Team and physical plant managers stayed on their toes, examining the winter weather as it caused chaos in North Texas last week.

“When making decisions about closing a campus, we put the safety of our students, faculty and staff first,” said Elva LeBlanc, NW Campus’ president. She’s one of several who make up the district’s weather team.

Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley joined a conference call with the team every night Monday through Thursday, usually around 7 p.m., NE Campus president Larry Darlage said.

Chief Frank Buchanan would give the chancellor, vice chancellors and all campus presidents updates on road and campus conditions.

“Each of us then described the situation from our vantage points throughout the county,” he said. “We then reached consensus on what TCC should do the next day.”

The rolling blackouts that parts of North Texas experienced during the winter weather didn’t contribute to the districtwide closing, coordinator for public information services Cacy Barnard said.

Three campuses did experience some damage from the cold temperatures. NW, SE and TR campuses all had fire sprinkler heads rupture.

The only real damage occurred from soaked floors on SE Campus, district facilities operations director Gary Preather said. The sprinkler on TR Campus caused no damage because it burst in the garage parking lot while the sprinkler on NW Campus burst in a mechanical room, and the water was vacuumed up quickly.

The extent and total cost of damages are still being determined.