Metro Atlanta schools cancel in-person classes today due to weather

Some Atlanta area school districts are canceling in-person learning today because of the potential for heavy rains, winds and tornadoes.

Atlanta Public Schools, Cobb County Schools, DeKalb County School District and Henry County Schools announced late Wednesday that all students will instead learn virtually on Thursday because of storms that are sweeping southern states.

Marietta City Schools will not hold in-person or virtual classes today. Superintendent Grant Rivera said weather forecasts prompted the decision to cancel in-person learning, and the district decided not to hold classes online either.

“We have elementary students who likely went home today without their school-issued device and, to complicate matters, there is a high probability that we will have power outages tomorrow morning,” he told parents in a letter.

“As we know from the last time we tried virtual learning after a storm, it doesn’t work well without power,” the letter said. “Tomorrow, let’s take the day to decompress; it has been a hard year.”

Cherokee County School District also will close school buildings. Teachers will post assignments for students on the online learning platform, according to a statement on the district’s website.

Emory University will delay opening until 11 a.m. today. The university said online courses will continue, but students with in-person classes should check with their professors to find out if they will instead teach online.

Atlanta school board meetings scheduled for today will be held virtually. APS also said all of today’s after-school activities, including athletics, are canceled.

Atlanta teachers and staff also will work remotely today, except for any “essential operations staff” who are to report to work at 10 a.m., the district said.

Cobb officials said the decision was made with safety in mind.

“We often talk about the safety of Cobb students and staff being our highest priority. Avoiding the dangers associated with severe weather when students are riding buses and staff are driving to work is an example of that priority,” the district said in a statement.