In an e-mail, Hall County Schools Supt. Will Schofield said that Hall County, Gainesville City, Habersham County, Lumpkin County and White County are jointly announcing that they will be closing early Thursday.
Schofield said Thursday will operate as an early release day with elementary schools being released at 12 p.m. and middle and high schools releasing at 1 p.m. He said all extra-curricular events and field trips are canceled for the day. YMCA after-school program policy is also to be closed when the schools close. Therefore, there will not be YMCA after-school care.
Gainesville City Schools Supt. Marianne Dyer said Gainesville City Schools will also operate on an early release schedule. That means that elementary students will be released at 11:30 a.m. while middle and high school students will be released at 12:20 p.m. Dyer said all extra-curricular and athletic events for Thursday will also be canceled.
Both Dyer and Schofield said that a decision regarding school closing on Friday will be made as early as possible.
Schofield said he thinks this is the first time the superintendents have made this kind of decision together.
"Well we all keep each others cell phone numbers and we try to be consistent with each other so that parents don't get mixed messages," he said.
Officials with Lakeview Academy said they are waiting until later in the day to make a decision regarding canceling class on Thursday.
For specifics on the other school systems' plans click on the links below.
The National Weather Service late this afternoon issued a Winter Weather Advisory for most of north and central Georgia. (See separate story.)
http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/1/226006