School make-up days to be decided soon
Bob Jones parking lot remains empty as school is closed again Friday.
Madison City School students have spent five days home from school because of snow and ice, which means they’ll have five days to make up.
Students were out Jan. 10 through 14.
Now, the question is when will those days be made up.
Dr. Camille Wright, instructor of secondary education for MCS, said while she isn’t 100 percent sure when the days would be made up, she’s sure it will be the major topic of discussion at next school board meeting.
“The system does have two built-in snow days and they may take a couple days around President’s Day weekend where students are off Friday and Monday,” Wright said. “Students are supposed to get out on the May 26, so they may put one day at the end, which would do it.”
She said the decision is ultimately up to the board of education and school Superintendent Dr. Dee Fowler.
Madison County Schools will resume school Friday, Jan. 14 with a three-hour delay in the morning. Wright said while that was also an option for Madison City Schools, the best decision was to resume classes Tuesday, Jan. 18.
“It’s going to be 10 degrees tonight with a wind chill in the single digits,” she said. “School starts at 7:30 a.m. and school buses leave 6:30 a.m. We don’t want children at bus stop that early in the morning with those temperatures and with ice and other hazards that exist. The city has done a great job with getting roads cleared. All main roads and streets are passable. But, we have a different standard of care.”
Wright said it’s one thing for adults to travel on the roads, but it’s a different picture when teens on the way to school drive.
“Once the kids get out on the roads, you have more people passing,” she said. “We’ve still got some areas that are still icy and some of the neighborhood sidewalks that are iced, which could be dangerous if you were to hit any of those patches.”
Another problem icy roads would cause would be for the city’s school buses, which would not be able to safely transport students to and from school, according to Wright.
“We just felt, like given all those things, it’s just not safe for us to return to school tomorrow,” she said. “Tuesday, there is zero risk. So, if one student or employee fell tomorrow and got hurt, for a few hours of school, why would you take that risk? I know this is an inconvenience to the parents because they have to get back to work, but we feel like we need to protect all the students by taking one extra day.”
