January 28, 2014
State
troopers headed to schools to rescue stranded teachers and students
By
Mark Niesse and Ty Tagami
The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State
troopers are continuing efforts to reach hundrests of students trapped in
schools since early closings Tuesday.
Slippery,
snowy roads left students stranded on buses and in schools and prevented
parents from reaching them late Tuesday.
The
rescue efforts followed Gov. Nathan Deal’s declaration of state of emergency
Tuesday for all 159 counties. He addressed the government’s efforts to help
unclog roadways and rescue stranded motorists late Tuesday night, and said
troopers being sent to schools where students were stranded.
On
Tuesday afternoon, some schools and their employees began prepping for students
to sleep overnight because no one could reach them on the slick roads.
“We have been trying to transport students all
afternoon, into evening and up to about 30 minutes ago, Cobb school spokesman
Jay Dillon said in an e-mail send to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
at 9:36 p.m. Tuesday. “At this point, the roads have deteriorated to the point
that there is no use in further attempting to deliver students home. All buses
have either returned their remaining students to school, or will be there shortly.
That’s only a relative handful of buses. We dismissed two hours early and were
able to safely transport the vast majority of elementary students, and most
high school students.
Kim
Sherman, the mother of three North Fulton students, called the school system’s
handling of the weather a “debacle.”
Sherman
said she was disappointed in the school system because officials had been
discussing the weather since the night before. And when the decision to close
was made, her only notice was at the last minute, by an e=mail delivered at
1:45 p.m., as school was closing. She got no text messages or phone calls, and
only saw the email after she got home the first time, with her girls. She later
ventured into traffic again to rescue a few other students who were stranded in
school or walking from it.
“It’s
just ridiculous,” Sherman said. “I have lost complete faith in my Fulton County
school board.”
At
North Atlanta High School,
students were still waiting for buses at nearly 10 p.m., according to Atlanta schools
spokeswoman Kimberly Willis Green. According to the school district’s Twitter
feed, food was on the way. Frustrated parents said school officials had been
promising to feed students for hours.
Roads
were in such bad shape that Marietta City Schools and Cherokee and Bartow
counties north of Kennesaw suspended school bus service, asking students to
remain at school until parents could pick them up.
“They
seriously miscalculated,” said Marcus Reed, who drove 90 minutes over five
miles of side roads to fetch his eighth-grade son Payton and sixth-grade
daughter Marlyn from Sandtown Middle School in Fulton County. “I know every
school day is precious, but they shouldn’t have had school today.”
At
Keheley Elementary School in Cobb County, Principal Liz
Jackson stayed behind to care for two kindergartners whose parents
had been trying for hours to reach them.
