Many Atlanta area schools take another day off

School closures Friday:

Atlanta

Cherokee County

Clayton County

Cobb County

DeKalb County

Douglas County

Fayette County

Forsyth County

Fulton County

Henry County

Marietta

Paulding County

Information was unavailable at press time for Rockdale and Decatur schools

The hangover from snowy weather is keeping many Atlanta-area schools closed Friday as they recover from schoolhouse sleepovers, terrible traffic and sleepless nights.

Many school leaders decided to take a third straight day off even though major roads are expected to be clear and temperatures expected to rise to the 50s on Friday.

Cafeterias used to shelter students overnight need to be cleaned, said Atlanta Superintendent Erroll Davis. School buses need to be towed. Teachers, students and parents need rest.

“We want to give them the time necessary so on Monday, the places will be clean, the food will be restocked and the buses will be running,” Davis said.

Davis apologized to those who were stranded overnight on Tuesday and said students and employees who had difficulty getting home “will need a bit more time to recover.”

Parent Prem Bhatia wasn’t pleased with the decision, saying it prolongs the storm’s suffering instead of getting back to the job of teaching students.

“The kids are going nuts at home and the parents are going nuts because they have to scramble to find child care,” said Bhatia, who has children enrolled in kindergarten and second grade at Morningside Elementary. “The best way to move forward is to go forward with business as usual. We can’t keep taking another day and another day and another day.”

Schools in Gwinnett County planned to return to class Friday.

“I always assume we’re going to have school on school days, and we haven’t seen anything that would prohibit us from having school tomorrow,” said Gwinnett Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks.

Cold weather Thursday night and early Friday morning create the potential for icy spots to remain on some roads, said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Natalie Dale.

“For all intents and purposes, our roads are clear,” said Dale, who noted she wasn’t including secondary roads maintained by local jurisdictions. “Give yourself more time than you would in a normal morning.”

In Fulton County, road conditions contributed to the decision to close schools again Friday, but school officials also needed time to make sure they’re ready for students to return.

“We are still performing a massive assessment of our facilities as well as surveying roads and bus routes throughout the county,” said Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale.