Decatur Schools Closed Tomorrow, Wednesday February 25th

Just in from City Schools of Decatur…

CSD Administration has been following the National Weather Service forecasts closely. Models are predicting potential icy conditions on the roads in the morning and possible snow accumulation in the early afternoon. Our primary concern is to make sure that all students and staff are able to travel safely to and from school. Therefore, City Schools of Decatur will be closed Wednesday, February 25th.

Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb County Schools are also closed.

48 thoughts on “Decatur Schools Closed Tomorrow, Wednesday February 25th”


  2. There damn well better be some snow/ice on the ground for my kids to go sledding. Otherwise, they’ll just want to watch TV or play Minecraft.

      1. Need your address, since it will be a snow/ice free day. Will also need you to provide lunch and and other entertainment when they get bored. PB & J will be fine.

        Since it looks like tomorrow will be another “snow” day, I will bring sleeping bags, toothbrushes and a change of clothes. I’ll plan to pick them up sometime after dinner tomorrow night.

        See you in 20 minutes.

        🙂

        1. Considering the screams coming from the bedroom from my two, I say bring ’em and we will lock them in the garage with electronics and junk food. And maybe a space heater.

  8. Every preteen and teen in Decatur is apparently on social media right now sharing the news. The electronic storm may cause enough warming that schools can reopen…..

  10. If it does in fact snow or ice, where are the best hills for sledding/snowboarding around here?

  14. If the schools aren’t going to teach our neighbors’ revenue negative brats, I want some of my tax dollars back!

  16. Do the folks at CSD realize there is an “Hourly” tab on the Weather Channel webpage and it shows no temperatures below 33 until AFTER 8pm tomorrow and none as low as 32 until 11pm tomorrow?

  18. Scheduled off day from work today. I’m sick. I was looking forward immensely to resting in bed. CRAP. I’ll be a little disappointed if snow/ice doesn’t strike before before 5pm today. Can’t really blame the powers after last year I guess.

  20. The school system needs to take a hard look at why it feels the need to cancel school so early.
    Growing up in Washington, the announcement came early in the morning.
    That way the city avoided canceling school for no reason.
    Release a statement the night before saying you are evaluating conditions, then make the call at 5am.
    That gives time for parents to make backup plans.
    It’s not difficult, and can save a lot of parents a lot of inconvenience.
    Closing schools today clearly was the wrong call.

    1. after last year the schools are not willing to take the risk and I can understand that.
      I was having a discussion the other day about how people want the schools to cancel for a snow day so far in advance that it’s really nothing but a guess as far as weather. look what happened in Cobb County last Friday. I find it ironic that in these days of social media and instant information parents feel they need to be informed earlier and earlier. back when I was a kid we would wake up in the early morning and turn on the TV and if we were lucky we got the announcement around 6:00AM before walking to and from school uphill both ways. 😉

      1. To me, a mistaken cancelation is fine if you learn from it.
        Our schools do not seem capable of doing that when it comes to weather.
        Canceling school is a hardship for parents who don’t always have childcare and then are forced to stay home.
        Always doing it out of an abundance of caution is ridiculous.
        I’d like to know why waiting until 5am when an updated forecast model is available is not a plausible solution.

        1. I don’t think that this criticism is fair. It’s not just CSD cancelling school, it’s every school system in the metro area. It’s GSU, Tech, and Emory. All government offices are closing early and a state of emergency has been declared by the governor’s office. I think cancelling school is reasonable not ridiculous. How is a snow day any more of a hardship than a sick child? School is not guaranteed daycare. It think most parents understand this and can make arrangements for their kids.

            1. I don’t think parents consider it daycare.
              I do think they consider it a public service that should be open on a day when it’s not raining or snowing and the weather is cold but clear outside.

              1. How does closing in the morning at 5 am give you more time to make backup plans than closing the night before? Also, I was up at 5 am and the news people and weather service were still both saying it would snow today.

                This isn’t an area that gets loads of icy or snowy weather but when we do, it is bad. Because we don’t get loads of snow or icy weather. It isn’t Washington or even Arkansas where people are more used to and capable of responding to emergency weather situations.

            2. I don’t think of it as daycare, but that argument ignores the reality that most families are now dual income (and there are a lot of single parents too). No, school isn’t daycare, but we expect on school to be open on school days. Just like my clients expect me to be at the office. Some employers will be sympathetic up to a point, but if I can safely get to and from work, the schools should be open. Some employers aren’t so nice about it. This is twice in the last week when so-called experts predict the next ice age and either it is ten degrees too hot or their is zero precipitation in the hourly forecast (my personal favorite). Given such ambiguity, the schools need to wait. Maybe they make the same decision at 5AM, but there was no need to cancel school yesterday when the forecast said snow was likely late afternoon today. Yes, a mistake was made last year. Let’s learn from it instead of just overcompensating and making different mistakes.

              And the new rule of thumb seems to be “If we may have to close early, we should just go ahead and close the entire day”. This is bad policy.

              “when I was a kid we would wake up in the early morning and turn on the TV and if we were lucky we got the announcement around 6:00AM before walking to and from school uphill both ways”

              I remember those days fondly. I grew up in Clayton County, and it seemed like every single time I turned on the TV, they were in the D’s and I had to wait for them to go through the entire alphabet. And having the patience of a 7 year old who was dying for a snow day, it seemed to take hours.

          2. I completely agree. Schools are not there as babysitters for parents who need to work. Last year CSD had staff stuck on roads for 24+ hours trying to get home when schools released early. Every school and most local governments were closed today. Criticizing CSD for closing is ridiculous. They used the information given as well as additional info from GEMA. If you’re looking for someone to be angry with, blame the meteorologists who get paid big bucks to be wrong time and time again.

            1. “If you’re looking for someone to be angry with, blame the meteorologists who get paid big bucks to be wrong time and time again.” — Hear, hear. Also, I reserve a healthy portion of bitter resentment for the local and regional politicians and officials that have allowed our transportation landscape to deteriorate to the point that the slightest hiccup creates a disaster situation. Last year’s debacle was truly grave and nobody wants to risk a recurrence. But a huge contributing factor was the fact that we live on the brink every day, with too many cars traveling too far between work and home and too few alternatives available.

        2. This does appear a bit ridiculous as I look out the window. But the school systems’ hands were forced when the Governor declared a state of emergency for 2 PM (not 4 PM when buses have finished delivering kids) and sent government workers home at noon. Working parents without sufficient leave or nearby relatives or baby-sitters on 24-hour call should blame Governor Deal.

          3. I think the decision to close state offices at noon strongly influenced local systems. A big contributor to last year’s debacle was everyone hitting the roads at once in the afternoon, after the weather event began. There’s still a chance we could see snow begin to accumulate here in the early afternoon, but with the schools already closed at least they won’t contribute to the traffic problems. Call it overly cautious, but get ready to call it that for the next few years; it will take a while for people to forget how bad last year was.

  24. These are the times when enterprising local teens should come together and offer group childcare. 2-3 teens for 10-12 kids at one house (I realize the hosting home sacrifices, but that could be accounted for). Great way to pick up extra money! I am considering going ahead and putting one of these in place for days like this, so all it would take is a couple of phone calls to finalize who would be there. Thoughts?

    1. Superb! It’s a win for all. Little kids love bigger kids. Teens love money. Parents of little kids need to go to work or telework. (Most telework agreements do not allow parents to use telework for childcare.) Parents of teens would love for them to do anything but sit on their devices all day.

  26. Hmm, just curious.
    How do other school systems closing require that we follow their lead?
    Doesn’t CSD have different characteristics in terms of area than other districts?
    If I felt really snarky, I might suggest that there are lots of reasons why following APS’s lead isn’t a great idea.

    1. I think it was more the Governor’s declaration of a state of emergency and sending government workers home at noon. There’s been plenty of times over the years that CSD was open when other school systems weren’t.

    2. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. In this case, the threat of a disastrous commute home for some of our teachers was likely an influencing factor.

  28. you all think you are frustrated now, wait until it is 6 pm and all we’ve seen is some rain. to the moon!

    1. “you all think you are frustrated now, wait until it is 6 pm and all we’ve seen is some rain. to the moon!”

      Which, of course, makes no sense. I think it’s sort of a variation on the sunk cost fallacy. Events are already cancelled whether we get bad weather or not, so why would getting bad weather make it better?

      1. Because building an iceman and throwing giant ice balls at your neighbors always makes it better!

        And the kids enjoy it too.

        1. Leaving aside the fact that some enjoy winter weather, it would actually be worse if there is precipitation other than rain because then it would be more likely that things are cancelled tomorrow as well.

          2. Although the current forecast calls for rain and temperatures to stay above freezing until dawn, I expect the school robo-call before sundown. I am hoping they will only delay opening for a couple of hours.

      1. You didn’t have any sleet or hail? We did in NW Decatur. It actually bounced and crunched. I called it crunchy rain. It went on for a couple of hours. Then it became non-crunchy rain.

        1. 100000% disagree. We had sleet for at least two hours. I had to get it off my windshield at 4 pm when I went to yoga.

  32. Does anyone know if Atlanta Gymnastics is closed? I guess I could call but that would mean TALKING to people.

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