‘Make better decisions.’ Wake schools under fire for holding classes during storm
UPDATE: Wake County announced that schools will open Tuesday on a two-hour delay.
Some Wake County parents, students and teachers complained that school was held Monday amid a storm system that brought high winds, heavy rain, flooded roads and later snow to the area.
Some Triangle school districts (Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Franklin County and Orange County) canceled in-person classes for Monday due to the storm. The Wake County school system’s decision to open on a normal schedule Monday drew a flurry of complaints on social media from people who said it was reckless to have people driving to school during the storm.
“I was just in the carpool lane at Wake Forest High school and witnessed a tree fall on a car,” Angela Carter tweeted at Wake on Monday. “Huge pop & sparks from the power line above us. This is unacceptable weather to have parents, teens & buses driving on the rodes (sic). Make better decisions!”
Wake says no need to close
One of the most frequent complaints Monday morning was the lack of communication from the school district.
“We made the call to keep the kids home today upon safety advice from the National Weather Service and local authorities,” Chelsea Bartel, a parent, tweeted Monday. “Incredibly disappointed in @WCPSS complete silence.”
Lisa Luten, a school district spokeswoman, said district leaders determined there wasn’t a need Monday to cancel in-person classes, delay their start or dismiss early.
“The review of the situation this morning didn’t indicate a need to close school early,” Luten said in an interview.
Luten said that a delay wouldn’t have necessarily made schools safer. There’s a nearly two-hour window between when high schools and elementary schools start classes, so a delay might have only shifted weather problems to a different group of students.
The transportation department didn’t report significant delays in bus service, according to Luten.
Only one Wake school, Green Hope High in Cary, dismissed early Monday. The school cited power outages for sending students home at 10:15 a.m.
Some other schools reported power outages but chose to dismiss at their regular time.
Raleigh City Council Member Nicole Stewart defended North Carolina’s largest school district.
“I support @WCPSS administrators and their decisions,” Stewart tweeted Monday afternoon. “They have a complete set of information to make the best decisions for our children and teachers, holistically.”
Driving during flash flood warning
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Wake County through 3 p.m. Monday. Parts of Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Lee and Orange counties were also included in the alert, The News & Observer reported.
“Between 1 and 1.5 inches of rain have fallen in the last hour,” forecasters wrote at about 6:45 a.m. “Additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches are possible in the warned area. Flash flooding is already occurring, with flooded roads reported in Chapel Hill.”
Some people on Twitter noted how Wake was asking people to go to school during a time when emergency weather alerts were telling people to stay off the roads if possible.
“I almost died,” LaShonda Haddock, the magnet program coordinator at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, tweeted Monday. “Getting to work ... power out on Wake Forest Road ... drove right through 3 feet of water that I couldn’t see ... big truck hit a puddle that blasted on my windshield ... MY WIPER FELL OFF...
“When I got to the teacher parking lot I sat there crying for 10 minutes.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 9:04 AM with the headline "‘Make better decisions.’ Wake schools under fire for holding classes during storm."
