Raleigh, North Carolina – School systems across the Southeast are dealing with weather-related school closures for the second week in a row, prompting some to try remote learning while many prepare to add more school days to make up for lost instructional time.
A series of winter storms knocked out power to tens of thousands and made some roads too icy to travel, complicating efforts to reopen schools. Some cities, incl Nashville, Tennesseewas still experiencing unresolved power outages caused by a storm a week ago when another hit this weekend, bringing with it frigid temperatures. It was approximately 75,000 customers Without power in Mississippi and Tennessee as of Monday afternoon, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us.
In Belzoni, Mississippi, Chiquita Fields stayed in a hotel with her four children and 1-year-old grandson last week because their home lost power during the previous storm. She spent about $700 just to stay at the hotel — which was necessary because her granddaughter needs oxygen.
The financial burden of paying for housing has become especially burdensome because Fields, 41, was unable to work last week at her job as an elementary teacher assistant. Fields said her children weren’t exempt from that pressure, either.
“It was stressful for them, going back and forth from one place to another,” she said. “Kids don’t cope well when you do all that.”
As her family’s situation indicates, the decision to close schools due to the weather does not come without complications for the children’s education.
Missing out on severe weather can take a heavy toll On children’s learningAccording to a report by the Northwest Evaluation Association, a nonprofit educational research firm. Missing a day of school due to a weather-related closure translates into approximately four days of lost learning time due to other aggravating factors in the student’s personal life, the company said. These additional challenges can range from housing disruptions to poor mental health.
Public school systems in and around some of the Southeast’s largest cities — Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis and Raleigh — are part of a wave of school closures this week. Other major Southern cities like Louisville were delayed by two hours Monday after missing school last week.
In North Carolina, most of the state’s public school districts remained closed Monday and some extended their closures until at least Tuesday. In Mississippi, one of the states most affected by the recent storm, some school districts in the northern part of the state decided to cancel classes until the end of the week.
Power outages also contributed significantly to school closures in cities like Nashville. At the peak of the outages, 71 schools were without power or partial service, according to a Metro Nashville Public Schools news release. Power was restored to all schools Monday afternoon.
Several major universities in the Southeast were forced to close their campuses or cancel classes through at least Monday, including Ole Miss, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Some schools have tried implementing a version of distance learning, but those efforts have been limited by power outages affecting students’ ability to work from home.
In Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Tennessee’s largest public school system, schools were closed for the sixth straight day on Monday. Despite the closures, the school system said it is providing daily learning resources and learning packages for students to access at home while they remain out of the classroom.
The learning packages covered a variety of school subjects such as language arts, literacy, mathematics, and social studies, depending on the student’s grade level. Home materials also include mental health activities for students broken down by age group — such as coloring for preschoolers or journaling for high school students — to address what can be a traumatic time for children stuck at home.
Other school systems have opted for a more traditional snow day, telling students they have no schoolwork and should go outside and enjoy the weather.
But regardless of how districts implement school closures, many are considering adding more school days to make up for lost instructional time. In an email sent to parents from Metro Nashville Public Schools, the district plans to turn the Presidents Day teacher professional development day into a regular school day.
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Sophie Bates in Belzoni, Mississippi, Adrian Saenz in Memphis, Tennessee, Travis Lawler in Nashville, Tennessee, and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.
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