Gilmer County students did not return to the classroom at all last week because of the winter storm.
North Georgia was blanketed in snow Friday, Jan. 10, with 4 inches recorded in Ellijay. Freezing temperatures and ice on the roads caused hazardous conditions for all drivers through the weekend and last Monday.
While most streets in Gilmer were drivable by Tuesday, Jan. 14, ice remained a problem on shaded roads and hills, requiring schools to close to avoid buses driving in the dangerous conditions.
“I’ve never seen anything that would stick around for so long,” GCSS Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said. “We’ve just seen a cycle of thawing and refreezing, and thawing and refreezing, that has resulted in some of our less traveled roads being turned into solid sheets of ice for days at a time.”
On Friday, Jan. 10, plus Monday and Tuesday of last week, Gilmer County Schools fully closed to students. Wednesday through Friday of last week were virtual days.
Ice on the roads was still impacting 12 bus routes as of Thursday, according to Dr. Ridley.
“When you’re talking about school buses, young drivers and potentially the people that might bump into them even if we don’t do anything wrong, It’s hard to justify taking a chance with children’s safety,” Ridley explained.
Tuesday of last week, staff members were encouraged to come in by 10 a.m. if they could, and be in the classroom the rest of the week. Ridley noted that GCSS employees made good use of the snow days.
“Our staff has taken the opportunity to do some additional training, planning, held a lot of the meetings and things that we have to squeeze in the rest of the [year], so we made good use of the time,” Ridley said.