A week after Cobb schools were closed for three days due to yet another winter storm, superintendent Chris Ragsdale reiterated the district’s decision not to make up for “snow” days, add to existing class days or reduce planned break weeks to compensate for lost class time.
The Cobb County School District has called off seven class days in the 2017-18 academic year already, including five due to winter weather since mid-December.
Students were in class only one day last week, on Tuesday, since the previous day, Jan. 15, was the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday.
Ragsdale said an extended calendar has enabled the district to avoid scheduling makeup days, a course chosen by some school districts in metro Atlanta. He said he has “full confidence” in the ability of teachers “to meet the academic needs of our students.”
A similar message has been posted on the Cobb schools website.
The next break for Cobb students, teachers and staff is the winter break from Feb. 19-23, followed by spring break April 2-6. The state mandates that local school districts schedule 180 instructional delays, but some systems, including Cobb, have received waivers from that requirement.
At a Cobb Board of Education work session on Thursday, Ragsdale was asked by school board member David Banks what would happen if more bad weather forces cancellation of classes.
Ragsdale said while such an event is possible since it’s still January, “We’ll address that as we get there.
“It’s not my intent to modify the schedule at all,” he said. “I’m still looking for the crystal ball in knowing when to close and when not to close.”
Ragsdale said one of the main factors in deciding to close school is the safety of high school student drivers getting on the roads with inclement weather approaching.
When schools are released early for weather reasons, he explained that high schools are dismissed first, followed by middle schools and then elementary school students, so there would be someone waiting at home for the youngest children with school-age siblings.
Ragsdale said there have been some instances when elementary school students have been brought back to school because there was no one at home.
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