Several dozen school districts and colleges in metro Atlanta and across North Georgia are cancelling classes or moving to digital learning as the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the region Friday morning.
Gwinnett County, the state’s largest school district, is planning a digital learning day. Cobb County’s school system, the state’s second-largest school district, is closing its schools and offices Friday. DeKalb County is planning an “asynchronous independent learning day.” City Schools of Decatur is also closing Friday. Rockdale County will have an independent learning day. Fulton County Schools will operate remotely on Friday. Atlanta Public Schools and Paulding County’s school district are closing Friday. All extracurricular activities scheduled in both districts for Friday and Saturday have been canceled. APS students will have assigned classwork, but will not log into class remotely. The district says schools will contact families about assigned work.
Many of the region’s largest private schools, such as Greater Atlanta Christian School and The Lovett School, announced no in-person classes on Friday.
In North Georgia, some school districts announced Wednesday closure plans. Polk County’s school system posted a message on its website Wednesday morning saying it will transition to a “learn-from-home day” on Friday. All extracurricular activities/sporting events for Friday and Saturday are postponed and will be rescheduled at a later date.
“We apologize for any inconvenience, but will always make decisions in the best interest of our students and staff, keeping safety our first priority,” officials said in the message.
Gordon County announced Wednesday afternoon it is closing its schools on Friday. “Students will bring home any missing assignments, including work for their reading logs, spelling, vocabulary, or other classwork, to complete if they have not already done so at school,” the district said.
On Thursday, public school systems in Rabun, Towns and Union, counties in the northeast Appalachian region of the state, announced there will be no in-person classes on Friday.
More colleges and universities in metro Atlanta were making snow plans.
The University of Georgia announced Thursday it will close its Athens campus and move to modified operations on Friday. All dining halls will remain open, but opening will be delayed by one hour on Friday, and closing times may be adjusted if weather conditions warrant. Campus transit will end service as scheduled at 3 a.m. Friday and will resume service when weather conditions make it safe to do so.
Georgia Tech has announced it is moving to a “digital learning day” on Friday. That means there will be no in-person classes, but individual instructors will have the discretion to move the class online or cancel it entirely.
Emory University, the state’s largest private university, is moving to remote learning. So, too, is Oglethorpe University. Georgia Gwinnett College announced it will shift to a virtual mode on Friday.
The Atlanta University Center Consortium has scheduled remote operations on Friday. The consortium consists of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse and Spelman colleges and Morehouse School of Medicine.
South of Atlanta, Clayton County school officials announced plans to close the district Friday and said it will be a non-workday for staff. “Students will have access to instructional activities for optional asynchronous learning,” the district said on its website. Henry County Schools is also closed Friday. So, too, is Bibb County Schools.
Other school districts, such as Barrow, Forsyth and Gordon, said on their websites they are closely monitoring the forecast and will make decisions as necessary.
In preparation of the storm, Dalton City Schools encouraged families experiencing food insecurity or would like assistance to visit its website for a list of food resources available.
Here’s a list of some of the colleges and school districts that will be not be holding in-person classes or operating remotely on Friday:
Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Technical College
Bibb County
Brenau University
Buford City Schools
Calhoun City
Carrollton City
Cherokee County
City Schools of Decatur
Clark Atlanta University
Clayton County
Cobb County
Dalton State College
DeKalb County
Douglas County
Emory University
Forsyth County
Fulton County
The Galloway School
Georgia Gwinnett College
Georgia Northwestern Technical College
Georgia Piedmont Technical College
Georgia Tech
Gordon County
Greater Atlanta Christian School
Gwinnett County
Haralson County
Heard County
Hebron Christian Academy
Henry County
The Lovett School
Marietta City Schools
Morehouse College
Morehouse School of Medicine
Oglethorpe University
The Paideia School
Paulding County
Polk County
Rabun County
Riverside Prep
Rockdale County
Spelman College
St. Benedict’s Episcopal School
Towns County
Union County
University of Georgia
University of North Georgia
West Georgia Technical College
Woodward Academy
Young Harris College
Staff writers Joe Kovac Jr., Fletcher Page and Caroline Silva contributed to this report.
