The snow didn’t hit Renton as hard as expected Wednesday morning, but there are still threats of snow and cold through the weekend.

Renton schools opened 90 minutes late Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and parents and students are advised to check the media Thursday morning for the latest information on school closures or late starts.

The National Weather Service was forecasting accumulations of up to four inches of snow into this evening in the Renton area and other cities in the Seattle-Tacoma area. By early evening, Renton had only received some intermittent rain showers and the temperature edged up to about 40 degrees.

Cold temperatures are expected to return through the weekend.

City of Renton maintenance crews with sanding trucks and plows are working two 12-hour shifts to keep neighborhood streets clear wherever possible. The crews turn their attention to main streets and bus routes to ensure the morning commute goes as smoothly as possible in the wintry weather.

The City of Renton watched the conditions closely – along with the weather forecast. Depending on what happens, the city could activate its Emergency Operations Center, according to city spokeswoman, Preeti Shridhar.

Based on the severity of the storm and its impact, the city would consider whether to open an emergency shelter in a public building as it did about two years ago at the Highlands Community Center, according to Shridhar.

There are no regional emergency shelters available in Renton. However, the organizers of the ARISE homeless shelter for men in Renton are looking at ways to help men at risk due to the cold weather that they don’t already serve. The shelter is now at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in downtown Renton.

A crescendo of snow potentially presented a challenge for the Renton School District – whether to send students home early for the day if it must close schools.

Schools won’t send elementary-aged students home early who ride the bus unless staff have verified an authorized person, such as a parent or guardian, is available to care for them.

Schools ask that a parent or guardian pick up walking students at the school. A school won’t release an elementary student to someone who comes to the school who is not on a student’s emergency card.

School staff will remain at the school with students until all students are picked up by an authorized person, according to Randy Matheson, a Renton School District spokesman.

Those precautions are why it’s important that parents or guardians keep the emergency card up-to-date, according to Matheson.

Typically, high schools have a system set up to notify parents of school closures or early dismissals, according to Matheson. High school students are simply released to leave school.

The middle schools are a “hybrid” of the elementary school and high school policies, according to Matheson. Parents are contacted by the school or by students using their cell phones. Parents can request that a student remain at the school if it closes early, according to Matheson. If not, the students go home by bus or on foot.

Sending students home in the middle of the day “isn’t a good idea,” Matheson said. However, the school could get hit with a power outage, for example, forcing a school to close.

For sure, the school district’s transportation director, Ron Schepers, will be out at about 4 a.m. this morning, driving some of the steep streets to check on conditions. Depending on what he finds, he’ll make a recommendation to Superintendent Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel about whether to start school late or to not open at all.

The recommendation is usually made sometime after 5 a.m., then made available to media and online at the Renton School District Website, www.renton.wednet.edu/.

Renton schools started 90 minutes late to take advantage of the late-start planning that has been done to accommodate the Fridays when schools start late to give staff time for cooperative planning, according to Matheson.

However, the 90-minute start caused some confusion in the media, which is used to reporting late starts of one hour or two hours, according to Matheson. The result was that some students were left waiting outside in the cold.