LEXINGTON, SC (WOLO) — For many students in the Midlands, school had started again until Tropical Storm Debby disrupted the start of a brand new year.
And in some districts, like Lexington-Richland School District Five, today would have been the day children would have returned to classrooms.
District Manager Dr. Akil Ross explains the decision-making process.
“So this process is really about collaboration. We want to get as much information as possible and share it as quickly as possible. The limitation is that you’re not 100 percent sure what’s going to happen until the event,” he says.
At the beginning of the decisions, the National Weather Service informs the County Emergency Management Team, which then updates the school districts.
From there, the school management will be notified as quickly as possible so that a decision about the following school day can be announced to parents by 12 noon.
Dr. Ross reiterated that the safety of students and staff remains the top priority.
“In this case, there was a high to severe risk of flooding. That was our concern and we did not want our buses and drivers to be on the road in those conditions. Conditions changed overnight but we live with our decision. Always in the interest of safety. I would rather be in the situation, better safe than sorry, than take the risk and have an incident,” says Ross.
It takes into account instructional minutes and catch-up days, as well as a number of transportation considerations, including safety issues related to buses reaching students who live on high-risk flood roads or on unpaved roads.
“And since you’re getting real-time information from the National Weather Service and County Emergency Management, you have to make sure you can get 17,400 students to campus and back home safely,” he says.
Several students have messaged Dr. Ross to let him know how excited they are for their first day. They said, “The messages I’ve received from parents and students have said, ‘We wanted to go today, we were ready for the first day, we have to wait another day for that.’ But we’re looking forward to welcoming them tomorrow with all those smiling faces and better conditions for the opening of our school day.”
