Cobb schools reopen Thursday

By Kristina Torres and Nancy Badertscher


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

While some schools in metro Atlanta were able to re-open Wednesday, others remained closed. Updates so far:

● Cobb County: All campuses re-open Thursday after being closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Students from Austell’s Clarkdale Elementary — where floodwaters nearly reached the roof — will at least temporarily report to either of the nearby Austell Intermediate and Compton Elementary schools. Donations of school supplies can be made at any local Cobb school. Staff will redistribute them to Clarkdale students and teachers. The Cobb Schools Foundation is accepting financial donations for the Clarkdale Elementary School Relief Fund. A secure link to the fund is on the system’s Web site at www.cobbk12.org. Donations can also be mailed to the Cobb Schools Foundation, 514 Glover St., Marietta, GA 30060.

● Marietta: Despite closures in its surrounding county, Marietta city schools re-opened Wednesday with no problems reported. “ Everything went fine,” spokesman Thomas Algarin said. “We’re fortunate.”

● Classes were back to normal for students in several major metro counties on Wednesday, including Fulton, Gwinnett and DeKalb, but some of the schools hit hardest in this week’s floods remain closed.

Updates from around metro Atlanta include:

● Paulding County: All campuses are closed Thursday for students. Employees are to report at 8 a.m. School officials said significant road closures and the county-issued boil water advisory remained an obstacle to reopening schools.

● Douglas County: Schools will be closed for the rest of the week, as they have been since Tuesday. The decision was made after talks Wednesday afternoon with public safety and water authority officials. The county is also under a boil water advisory, and experienced damage to bridges, roads and water mains.

● DeKalb County: Freedom Middle School experienced water damage but re-opened Wednesday along with other county schools, said system spokesman Dale Davis.

● Atlanta: Classes resumed Wednesday without major problems. “We had some water issues here, and some floor tile issues there. But there were no show-stoppers,” schools spokesman Keith Bromery said.

● Gwinnett County: Crews replaced soaked carpets in nine classrooms at Mountain Park Elementary, which still re-opened Wednesday along with all county schools. Spokesman Jorge Quintana said the damage happened when a drain near the school clogged and water seeped under a side door. In general, some buses were rerouted Wednesday morning because of road closures, resulting in some students being dropped off later than usual to start the school day, Quintana said.

● Fulton County: Schools re-opened Wednesday with some bus delays reported. Some schools experienced roof leaks but reported no substantial damage. Clean-up continued in one wing of Mimosa Elementary in Roswell that flooded. “We’re talking about water coming through the window sills,” schools spokeswoman Allison Toller said.house to other schools that will at least temporarily host students from the flooded Clarkdale Elementary campus.

Clarkdale, which is located in Austell, has 442 students who were evacuated Monday as flood waters rose. The building remained underwater Tuesday into Wednesday, and officials said they will reassign the school’s students to either of the nearby Austell Intermediate and Compton Elementary schools.

The Cobb Schools Foundation is accepting monetary donations for the Clarkdale Elementary School Relief Fund. A secure link to the fund is on the system’s Web site at www.cobbk12.org. Donations can also be mailed to the Cobb Schools Foundation, 514 Glover St., Marietta, GA 30060.

● In Paulding County, school officials said significant road closures and the county-issued boil water advisory remained an obstacle to reopening schools. All campuses were closed Wednesday and employees were also off. A recording on the system’s main telephone line advised parents to monitor local television stations for updates.

● Douglas County school officials asked some employees to come to work but otherwise kept campuses closed Wednesday. They said a decision whether to re-open schools would be made after talks Wednesday afternoon with public safety and water authority officials, since the county is also under a boil water advisory.

● Dale Davis, spokesman for DeKalb County Schools, reported that “things are back to normal.”

At one DeKalb County school, Freedom Middle, several classrooms had water in them, said Dale Davis, school system spokesman. “We have rectified the problem, and Freedom’s staff and students are operating as normal today.”

● Keith Bromery, spokesman for Atlanta Public Schools, said classes resumed Wednesday without major problems. “We had some water issues here, and some floor tile issues there. But there were no show-stoppers.”