Chesterfield County experienced major impacts from the considerable snowfall predicted by the National Weather Service this past weekend. The Snow analysis from Jan. 5 and 6, showed that the county received about 3-6 inches of snowfall, with temperatures falling well below freezing and wind gusts up to over 20 MPH. On the evening of Jan. 5, CCPS decided to close their schools for the following day due to the inclement weather. When asked about the situation, Cormac Hogan, 10, stated “I figured they would close the schools. It had already snowed like four inches on Sunday, and then it snowed more on Monday. Plus, the ice wasn’t melting at all.”
After the continued precipitation on Jan. 6, CCPS announced that schools would remain closed for Tues., Jan. 7. While the area did not receive any more snow, the extremely frigid temperatures prevented the ice from melting, ensuring roads were too dangerous to travel. This resulted in CCPS schools staying closed on Jan. 8. Landry Essig, a 6th grader at Midlothian Middle School said, “I was surprised they canceled school on Wednesday, there wasn’t that much ice near us.”
Since the temperatures had yet to increase above freezing, many assumed schools would remain shut for the following day. However, on the night of the 8th, CCPS stated there would be a two-hour delay instead. They posted this decision on both their Instagram and Facebook accounts, and within minutes, hundreds of parents and teachers began to flood the comments with complaints. Many argued that the back roads, which many buses travel on, were still completely covered in ice, which the county failed to provide adequate resources for. They also criticized the lack of consideration CCPS had for working parents, who had to figure out last-minute transportation for their children.
CCPS’s announcement also stated that while student arrival times were delayed, teachers and faculty needed to report for work at their expected time. In the comments of their Facebook post, teachers expressed that they felt entirely neglected by CCPS, who seemed to show zero sympathy to their staff who commute long distances and are affected by the water issues in neighboring counties.
Once school began on the morning of Jan. 9, parents again ran to the comments of CCPS’s Facebook post, expressing to them how dangerous the situation was and how they made a poor call to reopen the schools. Parents described instances of cars and buses sliding on the icy roads and how crashes almost occurred many times. Students also reported that the school parking lots and sidewalks still contained ice and snow. When asked about the road and conditions on Thurs. and Fri., Camila Flakas, 10, stated, “There was, literally, still a ton of ice on the roads. I even saw a car lose traction when driving on an ice patch.”
On the evening of Jan. 9, CCPS announced that schools would have yet another delay on Jan. 10. They once again stated staff must come in at standard time. However, they backtracked from their previous announcement, claiming they wanted faculty to arrive at their typical start time to allow them to prepare lessons for their students after the missed days.
While the CCPS school system is highly focused on keeping its students inside the classroom, their actions have made it abundantly clear that they do not value the safety of their employees and students. The inability to sympathize with faculty in these trying times, failure to help aid road conditions, and complete disregard for parent input shows that CCPS could have done a significantly better job handling this situation.
