Habersham County schools will be closed to students on Friday, Feb. 20. All staff are to report to work by 10am. The decision to call off classes came later than expected on Thursday as school officials pored over weather forecasts and worked to determine the condition of buses that have sat idle for the past six days.
Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper says several things factored into his decision to call off school for the third straight day (the first two days of the week students were out on a scheduled winter break). “First, we found ice on secondary roads in the mountains. Second, we’re looking at single digit temperatures tonight and tomorrow morning and single digits do cause us concern. Third, we had numerous buses that would not crank this morning so we anticipate that same issue tomorrow. (In addition) There are still power outages. There are still folks without power. And, then, the winter weather is going to move in tomorrow.”
Yesterday Cooper said he would announce his decision by 5:30pm whether to cancel school for students. That decision came slightly later than expected. Cooper explains it was delayed due to weather forecasting. White County – which called off school earlier in the day Thursday – is under a winter weather advisory. Habersham County was not (it has since been added to the advisory map and a full advisory is expected later this evening). The reason for the discrepancy is that White County is monitored by the National Weather Service station in Peachtree City, Habersham County is monitored by the NWS station in Greenville.
The National Weather Service is calling for sunny skies tomorrow with a 50% chance of snow and sleet. The timing of that wintry mix remains in question. Some forecasts have it arriving by late afternoon, others, not until midnight.
Cooper says if snow and sleet do begin to fall early, “We can send staff home.” He says it’s much easier to do that than to bus students home and call parents for early pick-up in bad weather.
While many parents have had to arrange for unplanned childcare this week due to schools being closed, Cooper says he has not received the first complaint. For that, he is grateful. “This is my third year in Habersham County and I yet to have a parent complain about a weather decision in Habersham. That’s remarkable that we receive that kind of support on weather decisions. I really believe the parents know we’re very safety minded and truly base our decisions on the best interest of our students. We put a lot of work into these decisions. I want to say thank you to our parents for their tremendous support.”
Habersham County students will not have to make up these snow days. Because the county has been under a state of emergency the school system and its 7,000 students will receive four grace days from the State. Tomorrow will be the third.
