By: Christi Pugh
The night of February 11 the Shelby Country School District posted a few tweets that gave kids across the county hope that maybe- just maybe- school would be cancelled the next day.
"We recognize that Shelby County is under a Winter Weather Advisory. We will continue to monitor the conditions throughout the night… We will make an announcement if there is a decision to close school,” the tweet reported.
However, the next morning when everyone anxiously awaited for the news to see if SCS was close; to everyone's dismay, it wasn’t.
School on February 12 was still in session for Shelby County Schools.
Desoto County didn’t have school. Fayette County either; nor did the Catholic Schools of Memphis. 6 other school districts as well as 35 other schools in the Memphis area were closed on February 12.
WREG Memphis also encouraged viewers to stay off the roads and reduce speeds on bridges, overpasses, and ramps. In fact, some busses weren't able to cross the Arlington/Collierville Road bridge due to the ice.
So why did SCS remain in session?
Superintendent Dorsey Hopson stated that education is their main priority.
"We have alarming literacy rates and achievement gaps across our city and suburbs, and every day we are out of school is a lost opportunity for teaching and learning," stated Hopson.
Parents of SCS children were outraged and took to social networks to voice their opinions.
“SCS would get a little more respect if they just admit they made a mistake,” Pam Matochik stated on the Germantown Municipal Schools Facebook page.
Tracie Hogan, another parent on the same site, posted “SCS doesn’t just have responsibility of their own bus drivers, but also the thousands of 16 and 17 year old students driving themselves to school everyday.”
A few hours later WREG reported more than 150 weather-related accidents reported just in that morning.
Danielle Katz, a senior, said her mom, a teacher a Peabody Elementary, was victim to one of those accidents.
"She was driving on her way to school and then hit a really big patch of ice and she lost control of the car," stated Katz.
Three cars were involved in this accident, and although Katz' mom retained no serious injures, all three cars were damaged and she had to be taken to the hospital.
Many people were very unhappy with the way Shelby County handled this situation.
"I've given up on SCS," a student tweeted.
“There's a fine line between being strict and being insane about school closings, and [SCS is] flirting with it” tweeted another.
The question still remains whether the school system made the correct choice.
The night of February 11 the Shelby Country School District posted a few tweets that gave kids across the county hope that maybe- just maybe- school would be cancelled the next day.
"We recognize that Shelby County is under a Winter Weather Advisory. We will continue to monitor the conditions throughout the night… We will make an announcement if there is a decision to close school,” the tweet reported.
However, the next morning when everyone anxiously awaited for the news to see if SCS was close; to everyone's dismay, it wasn’t.
School on February 12 was still in session for Shelby County Schools.
Desoto County didn’t have school. Fayette County either; nor did the Catholic Schools of Memphis. 6 other school districts as well as 35 other schools in the Memphis area were closed on February 12.
WREG Memphis also encouraged viewers to stay off the roads and reduce speeds on bridges, overpasses, and ramps. In fact, some busses weren't able to cross the Arlington/Collierville Road bridge due to the ice.
So why did SCS remain in session?
Superintendent Dorsey Hopson stated that education is their main priority.
"We have alarming literacy rates and achievement gaps across our city and suburbs, and every day we are out of school is a lost opportunity for teaching and learning," stated Hopson.
Parents of SCS children were outraged and took to social networks to voice their opinions.
“SCS would get a little more respect if they just admit they made a mistake,” Pam Matochik stated on the Germantown Municipal Schools Facebook page.
Tracie Hogan, another parent on the same site, posted “SCS doesn’t just have responsibility of their own bus drivers, but also the thousands of 16 and 17 year old students driving themselves to school everyday.”
A few hours later WREG reported more than 150 weather-related accidents reported just in that morning.
Danielle Katz, a senior, said her mom, a teacher a Peabody Elementary, was victim to one of those accidents.
"She was driving on her way to school and then hit a really big patch of ice and she lost control of the car," stated Katz.
Three cars were involved in this accident, and although Katz' mom retained no serious injures, all three cars were damaged and she had to be taken to the hospital.
Many people were very unhappy with the way Shelby County handled this situation.
"I've given up on SCS," a student tweeted.
“There's a fine line between being strict and being insane about school closings, and [SCS is] flirting with it” tweeted another.
The question still remains whether the school system made the correct choice.