CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — A weather system passing through the area overnight brought a bit of precipitation to the unseasonably cold Eastern Panhandle. Public schools appeared to be opening on time around the Panhandle as the bus routes began.
Officials with Jefferson County Schools, however, are saying they made a mistake in their original assessment.
The JCS operation team reviewed road temps and weather conditions as they regularly do on bad weather days, particularly in mountain areas like Shannondale.
“We have a diverse county geographically, which can make this tricky. This morning, road conditions appeared okay, and the weather did not look to be more than some light flakes,” JCS officials said in a note to families.
As secondary schools students were riding to class on their buses, drivers began reporting deteriorating road conditions. “Many of our secondary students were already at school or close by, so the decision was made to keep them in the building and wait for the weather to clear this afternoon,” JCS writes.
Elementary students, whose buses would pick them up later in the morning, however, might have been subjected to more treacherous conditions, so a decision was made to cancel school for elementary students.
The school system said all students will be counted present for Friday even if an attendance call went out to their homes.
“This morning, we got the call wrong, full stop,” The note said.
“We know this is a big deal that impacted your schedules, your jobs, and our students,” JCS officials said, pledging to conduct an internal review of processes and protocols “to ensure this does not happen again.”
We are sorry and understand the weight of our responsibility to keep our students and staff safe.
“We thank you for your efforts today to quickly change course with us and work to get our students safely to where they needed to be,” the note ended. “We will do better.”
Scanner traffic from the morning relayed reports of icy roads in Jefferson County and a few vehicle crashes during the morning commute.
