Habersham County public school students will return to the classroom on Wednesday after two days off because of poor road conditions caused by this weekend’s winter storm. Superintendent of Schools Matthew Cooper made the decision after inspecting local roads Tuesday.
“There was a great deal of melting that took place today and the county road department did a great job of hitting our trouble spots,” he says.
Cooper says Wednesday will be a normal school day for students and staff.
Habersham County public schools closed early Friday as Winter Storm Helena made her way into Georgia. The storm system dumped up to 3 inches of snow on Habersham County overnight Friday into Saturday. Despite the lack of precipitation since, bitterly cold temperatures kept the snow and ice from completely melting, resulting in trouble spots on area roads.
As a precaution, school officials canceled classes Monday and Tuesday.
The decision as to whether students will have to make up the days will be left entirely to the local school board.
“Now that we are a Strategic Waivers System, our board of education has full local control over the number of days that our students attend,” explains Cooper. Prior to becoming a Strategic Waivers System, the state board granted four grace days to local school systems and waived make up days when a state of emergency was declared. Gov. Deal declared a state of emergency for 78 Georgia counties, including Habersham, prior to this weekend’s winter storm.
Now, under the new system, Cooper says, “Our local board will have full discretion over whether or not there will be any make-up days.”
