Published: February 08, 2010 11:38 pm      

No snow, no school

Students dismissed early due to weather worries

Tiny bits of snowflakes fluttered from the sky as the three local school systems dismissed students early Monday afternoon, but by the time most of the kids reached home, it was 40 degrees with no precipitation.

“I think they underreacted last time, and they are overreacting this time,” said Jennifer Barrett, who picked her children up early from Dug Gap Elementary School following the announcement that classes were being dismissed early.

Whitfield schools dismissed all car riders, student drivers and all elementary students at noon and dismissed everyone else at 1 p.m. Dalton Public Schools dismissed elementary school students at 12:15 p.m. and middle and high school students at 1:15 p.m. All Murray County schools dismissed at 1:15 p.m., but Murray preschools closed at 12:45 p.m.

“From what we knew, there was not a basis for releasing school, but based on the National Weather Service, we felt like we didn’t have a choice,” said Dalton Superintendent Jim Hawkins.

Hawkins said Dalton and Whitfield school officials received an e-mail shortly before 11 a.m. from county emergency management director Jeffrey Putnam. The e-mail said “The NWS has recommended an early release for schools.”

Whitfield schools Spokesman Eric Beavers said school officials’ actions were identical to those taken on Jan. 29 when they dismissed only 30 minutes early, despite the fact that it was snowing the sleeting. Some buses did not finish their routes until 6 p.m. or later that day.

Superintendents make the final call to dismiss early, but they base that decision on recommendations from their observations, local emergency management officials and the National Weather Service. Dalton area drivers were caught in traffic jams when school dismissed Jan. 29, and several students traveling by bus or with their parents were unable to get home for several hours because of icy road conditions.

Beavers said on Monday all students were dropped off by 2:30 p.m. He said they based their decisions both times on recommendations from a conference call with National Weather Service officials. This time, NWS, recommended closing early, he said.

At 9:37 a.m., the service issued a statement stating a “light wintry mix of precipitation” was “possible” Monday, Monday night and Tuesday night “across portions of North Georgia.” “... No significant accumulations are expected today,” according to the statement.

At 12:05 p.m., NWS issued another statement, stating for the rest of Monday and Monday night, “a dusting to half-inch of snow and ice accumulations are possible at higher elevations...”

Despite the warnings, outside of a few flurries, the wintry weather never hit Murray or Whitfield counties, leading some parents to question the early dismissal while others thanked school officials for being proactive.

Dug Gap parent Adeline Barros said school officials can never be “too cautious” when it comes to her children’s safety.

“I think it’s a good thing (school dismissed early),” said Barros, a nurse at the Whitfield County Health Department.

Barros complimented school personnel for doing a good job handling early dismissals.

Beavers said the school system notified parents through Twitter, Facebook, a Web site update at www.whitfield.k12.ga.us, faxes to schools, automated phone calls to parents and e-mails to staff.

At Dalton Middle School, Rafael Ortiz said school officials caused problems when they decided to dismiss at the regular time on Jan. 29. He ordinarily picks up his sixth-grade daughter from school and was caught in the 4 p.m. traffic snarl that day.

“You just never know about the weather,” he said.

Students were glad for early dismissals regardless of the reason.

“When school lets out early, we’re all happy,” said Cyson Manis, a sixth-grader at Dalton Middle.

His grandmother, Linda Mizzell, said her grandchildren called her about early dismissal, but she didn’t get a notice from the school.

Terri Dinges, who has a seventh-grader and a freshman in Dalton schools, said it took her two-and-a-half hours to get home after picking up her children on Jan. 29. Still, Dinges said she believes school system officials “do they best they can.”

“I think it’s probably best (to dismiss early) after last time,” she said.

Murray County schools spokesman Dean Donehoo said officials decided to close early because neighboring systems in Dalton, Whtifield and Catoosa were closing early. They’d also had weather reports of bad road conditions in Dade County and in northern Alabama, he said.

“We had a couple of buses that had difficulty (navigating steep icy roads) last time, and we were definitely being very cautious,” Donehoo said.

Donehoo said the school system normally consults local 911 officials on weather information. 911 officials did not recommend the school system close early, he said.

Was closing school the right decision?

“Yeah, considering what might have happened,” Donehoo said. “We’ll always err on the side of caution.”



Staff writer Misty Watson contributed to this story.