A statewide writing exam scheduled to start Wednesday may be postponed for some students forced out of class this week by snow and ice, the only notable testing wrinkle for schools that faced a fourth straight day of closure today due to still-slick neighborhood and secondary roads.
Signs of life, however, have begun to pop up at local campuses.
Decatur city schools Principal Greg Wiseman began to clear walkways Wednesday at Winnona Park Elementary, one example among many as local staff prepped for re-opening. And systems such as Gwinnett County, despite keeping schools closed Thursday, said administrative offices would be open and ready for business.
“It’s not going to be a stretch to get [students] caught up," said Gwinnett math teacher Camille Larkin, who has spent the past few days enjoying the outdoors with her sons, Todd, 8, and Cameron, 6. "They should enjoy their days off and spend it with family. This is once-in-a-lifetime snow.”
Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, said a decision will likely be made in the next day or two whether to postpone the state's eighth-grade writing assessment, originally scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Cardoza, stressing that no final decision had been made, said discussions centered on students who missed at least three days of classes. It is possible students given only a day or two off from class -- or not at all -- would still have to take the exam as scheduled.
The time off is not expected to affect the next SAT exam day, scheduled for Jan. 22.
Cardoza has said state officials will work with local school systems if they need to make up class time. Most systems had already built into their school calendars three to four days for school closures, a contingency many had either almost used up or surpassed.
In Cobb County, spokesman Doug Goodwin said school board members will likely take up what to do about the missed days when it meets Friday. The board knows the impact of the inclement weather: its meeting was put off from Wednesday because of the snow and icy conditions. “We have some flexibility with the calendar currently in place,” he said.
So did Atlanta Public Schools, which built in four days this school year for emergencies.
Schools spokesman Charles White said Clayton County officials had not formally discussed how that district will respond to its lost days. The district had originally scheduled diagnostic exams this week for elementary students, but White said those can easily be made up.
Gwinnett officials had planned for three snow days in their original school calendar, including setting up May 26 as the last day of school (instead of May 25). Although they made the call Wednesday afternoon to keep schools shuttered Thursday for a fourth day, system spokeswoman Sloan Roach said that "no decisions have been made, if additional days are missed, how those will be made up.”
The time off will not mean fewer furlough days for teachers. Gwinnett Schools employees have already taken their three scheduled days for the school year.
Staff writers D. Aileen Dodd, Nancy Badertscher and Jaime Sarrio contributed to this article.
About the Author