Decatur Schools Closing Early Tomorrow Due To Potential Winter Weather

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UPDATED 10:17p: CSD noted in its email to the community that…

This decision comes following a state of emergency issued by Governor Nathan Deal that will close state offices tomorrow at noon as well. For the full announcement from the Governor, visit http://goo.gl/nZ1zhb.

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UPDATED 10:07p: Here’s the current list of schools and businesses closing early or just plain closing.  Cobb and May-retta are already shutting down early like CSD.  Assuming this list will grow.

DeKalb County has a Winter Weather Advisory in effect from 3p tomorrow until 7p on Saturday, with potential accumulations of 1 to 2 inches of snow and sleet.

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City Schools of Decatur are e-blasting the heck out of parents this evening with messages saying that all City of Decatur Schools will dismiss two hours early tomorrow, Friday, January 22nd.

According to an email sent out by the schools, in addition to the 2 hour early closing, “All after school programs and activities are cancelled for Friday afternoon and all day Saturday.

Don’t be confused.  That snow pic is from 2011!

62 thoughts on “Decatur Schools Closing Early Tomorrow Due To Potential Winter Weather”


    2. For what it’s worth, The Dude spoke briefly at our child’s curriculum night last night. He was late for his scheduled time because he was on a conference call with other school superintendents from around the metro area. No one had decided to close at that time (around 6pm), but that group was scheduled to have another call later in the evening to reassess things. The Dude is from Iowa, and I got the impression that he was pretty tickled about how folks in Georgia freak out over the potential for an inch of snow. This is just to say that the decision on this is not made in a bubble and might not reflect how he would deal with inclement weather on a personal level.

      1. Lot more snow plows, salt trucks, and chains up in Iowa…Not to mention people who know how to use them. Everything’s relative.

  6. God help us all. Especially those of us flying back home to Atlanta tomorrow early afternoon hoping we can pick our kids up from school.

    1. Just like the last several years; even though basically all kids above 10 yrs old can walk home from any CSD facility, schools closing due to rain or cold.

  12. Maybe they will send the kids home with reimbursement checks for all the lost work time that will result from rain. Next thing we know schools will be closing early if there are dark clouds.

  14. Who’s working? My office (gov’t) is closing at noon. My boss said to follow the rules b/c they won’t be liable if I work later!

    2. I am working! work remotely from home – as long as there is power and internet connection – business as usual.

      1. One of the few downsides of working from home, as I can attest: no true snow days. The closest I get is if the company’s servers go down — truly the snow day for the Information Age…Only then are we free on our own recognizance.

  16. I think folks should take it up with the Governor. Any public school supt going against his proclamation is taking a big political risk. Now if you want to find fault with Deal I’m right with you.

      1. Gwinnett is the exception to the rule. Maybe they don’t need the Governor’s money. I think the brand new supt of a tiny system is wise not to show his butt to the Governor. But you go ahead and blame him if it makes you feel better.

  20. I could go on and on about everything that has been disrupted from work to school activities but I understand that this region cannot be expected to put the resources into cold weather preparation and handling that a state like Maine or Wisconsin does. I also blame the regular and social media that has sensationalized the weather to the point that it’s hard to distinguish between hype and true danger. And the rain IS going to change to ice or snow here tonight, right? Or am I looking at Facebook posts from last year that are still circulating?

  22. Wife’s office is closing at noon. Several of her colleagues at other firms report the same. I agree with others that there is a lot of top-down influence on these decisions. As long as Deal and Reed are in office, there will be overcompensation for the 2014 debacle.

  24. I teach in Dekalb, and this decision makes sense for us; our system is so sprawling that different school clusters experience different weather. Freezing rain in Dunwoody doesn’t mean the same weather near SW Dekalb or Arabia Mountain. But this seems like a weird decision for CSD. I’m curious about a previous comment – are almost all middle and h.s. students really able to walk home? The city line is about 50 yards from our house in Midway Woods and that would be a long walk to Decatur High or even Renfroe. And streets like Chevelle are even further away. Full disclosure – if you’re worried about your school tax dollars, I typed this during our bizarre 15 minute 10:00 lunch today. Hope all the kids make it home safely!

    1. I was told last year that the concern is for staff/teachers to get home. Not everyone who works in the schools lives in walking distance.

        1. In fairness, it does not have to be 32 degrees for it to start snowing. You won’t have sheet icing till that point, but you will have snow and sleet and thus a lot of slush on the roads, which is plenty dangerous, especially when combined with the extremely strong winds that are also part of the forecast. So while noon closings for everyone was probably a little too conservative, it does stave off what could have been a horrific Friday rush hour.

    2. The answer to the question about students being able to walk to Renfroe Middle and Decatur High is yes and they actually do. Walking is considered cool, getting a ride is ok, cycling is cool among certain cliques, and taking the bus is kind of uncool (although sometimes bus taking cliques form and then it’s ok). Some things about CSD are hype but students and families really do walk a lot. My kids knew every inch of the City of Decatur from an early age, much better than I did.

  28. Seems pretty simple to me:
    – is there going to be anything more than a trace of snow before 1am Saturday? No, according to all forecasts.
    – will the weather make it difficult or dangerous for people to drive or walk in metro Atlanta before 1am Saturday? No, according to all forecasts.
    – do any of CSD the teachers live in north Georgia? I suspect not, given that would be an insane commute – and if a few do they could be allowed to go home early.
    – does CSD have a history of closing the whole system on a whim with little regard for the impact on parents or children (e.g. when it is supposedly too cold to wait for the bus)? Yes, very much so.

    1. daughter’s fifth-grade teacher lived in North Georgia (and got stuck in the last “big” snow storm), but she has retired and moved to Florida – so it is possible to have someone commuting from that area. 🙂

    2. “will the weather make it difficult or dangerous for people to drive or walk in metro Atlanta before 1am Saturday? No, according to all forecasts.”

      This simply isn’t true.

      1. It most certainly is true, unless you think people shouldn’t drive in the rain. This is an over reaction to a bad decision two years ago and nothing more.

        1. I agree with Bulldog 100%. The attitude that made everyone blow off a genuine storm two years ago is the same attitude that overreacts to light rain at well above freezing temperatures. We have learned nothing.

          1. Part of the problem is that metro atl is often on the border of these storms, and around here, the actual border can move very quickly to expand beyond original forecast (or the reverse). That is what happened 2 yrs ago. It has been happening today- NPR, not known for sensationalism, was predicting snow here by 9ish, sleet earlier than that- already at 4 hour swing from last night’s predictions. Plus, no one likes a same day decision to close schools early. I think this was handled appropriately.

            1. Aaaanndddd big fat snow flakes right NOW! Another crazy 4 hour change in the forecast. I hope someone gets a good eye on the street pic of the current snow globe conditions!

                1. Whatever. They closed school 2 hours early. Hardly a great loss for erring on the side of caution. At least what would have been a terrible Friday rush hour for many was probably greatly improved. And you might as well be prepared for more of the same if the predictions for higher than average winter precipitation turn out to be true. I’m sensing very little backlash against officials for being overly cautious, certainly not enough for them to change course.

        2. The rain is supposed to change to snow way before “1 am”. I just saw on Channel 2 that “dangerous travel conditions” can be expected this evening in metro Atlanta, now including areas south of I-20.

          1. Channel 2 and all the other stations love to play with all their equipment and models for stuff like this. The bottom line is that you will be safe if you use common sense. Drive slower. Don’t talk on cell phone. Concentrate on operating a motor vehicle. Show caution. The problems start when people try to travel the same speeds as they usually do in ideal weather.

          2. So let me get this straight about dangerous driving conditions…
            It took Georgia officials until 2010 to figure out that TEXTING WHILE DRIVING is a bad idea. And talking on your cell phone at the wheel is still fine. Oh, and signaling before changing lanes is generally perceived to be taking the fun out of life. But snow, man, a half inch of that stuff is a lethal cocktail of the sort unknown to mankind.

        3. State officials are asking people to be off the roads so they can treat them before this evenings changeover to snow. It’s not just about the conditions right now.

        4. I’m getting all sorts of auto text warnings from various official sites about emergency conditions. Being from north and then west, I’m not too impressed, but I can see why school officials have to follow suit. As a veteran of the great two-day interstate pileup of the blizzard of March 1993, I maintain that the danger in a Southern snowstorm may be the Southerners themselves, not the weather, but the danger is still real.

          1. Hard to disagree with that. You’d just like to think that at some point we’d all learn something and move onward and upward in the battle against mildly inclimate weather. Or even actual severe weather.

  30. The armchair quarterbacking on this thread is simply breathtaking. Suddenly we’re in the midst of bunch of meteorologists, traffic modelers and other self-proclaimed experts. The Dude and other metro area superintendents are simply erring on the side of caution. I’d hate to see the reactions if they were to err in the other direction and the worst-case weather forecasts came to fruition. Come on. Leave the decision-making to those in positions of responsibility.

    P.S. I’m from New England. We would get a foot a snow, and as long as the plows had a few hours’ lead time over the buses, school was on. This isn’t New England. We’re not equipped for bad weather.

    1. Well we actually are equipped decently well for bad weather. So you’re wrong on that one. Two years ago the problem was that the plows and salt trucks didn’t get sent out early enough because no one took the storm seriously. The city spend something like $11million the next year buying even more equipment so we’d be even more prepared for the next storm, which we’ve yet to see.

      There is a difference between erring on the side of caution and being a reactionary, illogical Chicken Little.

      1. “A reactionary, illogical Chicken Little” remarks the guy with zero responsibility in this situation. Come on. Get over yourself.

    3. But one needs not be an expert to understand that the ‘worst case scenario’ for today is that it will be cold and rainy until long after the usual rush hour. I don’t find it odd that people are frustrated with officials when they come across as so myoptic and paternalistic. Wherever else I’ve lived the world, cold or hot, the government does its best to keep life going as normal, not slam on the brakes.

    4. Turns out all you crap armchair meteorologists were flat wrong. 5:19 p.m. And it’s snowing huge flakes in Decatur. And it’s sticking.

      Yes, Gov. Deal is trying to cover his behind and avoid another Snowmageddon. The weather reports are a best guess and the schools are doing the best they can.

      1. I’ll get my skis. I guess my definition of ‘huge’ and ‘sticking’ is different

        1. Actually, if you have an old pair of cross-country skis at home, it’s a blast to ski around Decatur when it does snow. It doesn’t take a whole lot of snow on the ground to do it. But you don’t want to use expensive new skis given the bare patches and curbs. For most snow storms, Java Monkey and Kavarna have been open, with Starbucks and Dancing Goats opening soon after. Skiing to coffee in Decatur is one of my favorite things on earth. Anyone can ski in Vermont, skiing in Georgia takes true zeal and optimism.

          1. Unfortunately, this storm’s dusting is not skiable–ground too warm. Unless there was a way to go from car rooftop to car rooftop…

  32. DM publishes a story about an Oakhurst resident being shot at with a bullet ending up buried in the side of his home, and nobody says a word. School lets out early because of unpredictable weather and there’s hell to pay.

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