Habersham Schools will be closed to students this Thursday, Oct. 15, and Friday, Oct. 16. School officials made the decision to close due to poor road conditions and lingering water outages caused by this past weekend’s storms.
Students were to return to class Thursday following fall break. Classes are now scheduled to resume Monday, Oct. 19.
Staff will report to school for the remainder of this week as scheduled.
In making the announcement, Habersham County School Superintendent Matthew Cooper issued the following statement:
“Our transportation department has been out all day checking on road conditions. Our transportation director has indicated to me that based on what he has found he does not feel safe running buses this week. Extending fall break for students through the rest of the week will allow our transportation department to continue assessing road issues, to adjust routes and create detours, and to communicate with families and drivers about trouble spots and changes.
Our county road department is doing excellent work in repairing our roads and they are making significant progress. They have even brought in extra help. Keeping our buses and student drivers off the roads will allow the county to keep making progress. I applaud our county road department for the progress they have already made under very difficult conditions.
I spoke with 911/EMA Director Lynn Smith about the current situation. She indicated that she fully supports the decision to keep buses off county roads for the rest of the week. Lynn and her team do a fantastic job of keeping our students safe.
In addition to unsafe road conditions, our schools are also experiencing water issues. One school was without water today and two others so far are on a boil water advisory for tomorrow. Not having schools open for students will also help with the current water challenges.
Transportation Director Tim Dockery indicated Habersham County has just experienced the worst flooding he has seen in his lifetime.
The flooding has been devastating to our roadways. Our support and prayers are with those who continue to experience problems related to the flooding.
We expect to be back in school on Monday, although bus service may still be limited in some areas.
All Habersham County schools are closed to students on Thursday and Friday. We wanted to make this decision as early as possible today to give parents time to make arrangements for childcare.”
