GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Several Guilford County Schools parents raised concerns after GCS announced a two-hour delay for school Tuesday morning. GCS said on its website potentially hazardous road conditions in the morning including the potential for black ice was the reason for the two-hour delay. Monday, the district operated on a normal schedule with freezing rain in the forecast.
Hundreds of parents took to the district’s Facebook page about the decision to delay school Tuesday, but not Monday. Parents WFMY News 2 spoke with said they were confused about the decision.
“It’s not even raining or doing anything right now and it wasn’t forecasted to do anything, so it was very confusing,” GCS parent Lucas Taylor said. “It almost felt like it was a makeup for missing it on Monday to implementing it on Tuesday.”
GCS parent Jade Bell had similar concerns.
“If anything, caution should have been taken yesterday,” Bell said. “Especially after reports of a bus sliding off of the road which is extremely scary especially for parents. So, I feel like they probably took that caution today because of what happened yesterday.”
WFMY News 2 reached out to Guilford County Schools to ask how the district decides when to implement a two-hour delay. The district sent us the following statement:
“Our primary weather information and consulting comes from the Raleigh office of the National Weather Service. We review their briefings multiple times in the evening and during the morning as we make weather decisions. We also check with our local and state government and public safety partners. Our teams drive areas across the county where we tend to see the most ice and evaluate the actual road conditions.” – Mike Richey, Executive Director of Emergency Management
WFMY did some digging and found on the district’s website, GCS lists how it makes inclement weather decisions, who assist the district in making inclement weather decisions, and when the district holds school remotely when weather is uncertain.
The district's website says, “Unfortunately, the nature of predicting the exact impact of the weather in advance is uncertain. There is no perfect call, and we are always learning to make the very best decisions to protect student safety as well as maximizing instructional time when it is safe to proceed with school.”
WFMY also reached out to Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools which is the second-largest school district in our area. WS/FCS also had a two-hour delay Tuesday morning after operating on a normal schedule Monday.
The district said it must decide by 5 a.m. The district sent us the following in an emailed statement:
Weather scenarios are one of the most difficult things the district deals with because of the uncertainty and the frequent, sometimes quick, changes in our weather patterns. The district leadership team tries its very best to put safety first and to make the best decision possible, with the best information we have.
Monday morning’s moisture came in much earlier than any of the national, state, or local forecasts we use predicted. It came in after our transportation systems had started running. That is almost always a tough scenario as stopping the multi-tiered transportation system which includes different levels of students on different buses from different schools at different times is an intricate process. Many smaller districts around us can stop buses or return them to a school because their buses are tied to one school and one schedule. WS/FCS is quite the opposite. As some of the ice began to appear this morning, many students were already on buses, things were moving as the rain began to fall. We also knew we had students who were already waiting, and would be left at stops, perhaps without a parent or another option, if we decided to change or halt runs later in the morning. Anytime weather begins to impact transportation our drivers are instructed to begin to use extreme caution, slow their speeds, avoid areas that may concern them, and stay in contact with our transportation communications center about delays, problems, or areas of concern. The transportation team also begins assessing trouble spots and rerouting as/if necessary. The rerouting this morning was due to traffic delays, not weather, and all our buses made it to their final destinations safely.
When it comes to other drivers, we always remind parents that they are always the best decision maker for the safety of themselves and their children. If a student is late due to weather, we excuse the tardy as we want everyone to do what is best and safest for their individual situation.
As for today, what I can tell you is - We make the very best decision we can with the information we have at that time. Last night we had much more solid information that this morning could present hazards and opted for a delay. We continuously try to err on the side of caution and always think about student and staff safety, first.
WS/FCS has more details on its inclement weather changes on its website.