JOHNSON CITY, Tenn (WJHL) – The snow we saw Wednesday morning left several schools with a tough decision of whether or not to cancel class. Although many districts canceled classes, Johnson City schools remained open, frustrating many parents.
One parent told News Channel 11 that the lack of communication left them frustrated, especially considering the safety hazard the conditions could present.

Johnson City supervisor of safety and mental health Greg Wallace wants to reassure the community the school system puts student safety above anything else.

“I would say we always are going to think about the students’ safety,” Wallace said. “But obviously, when, like in today’s situation, we already had students on the bus. So we talked with transit. Transit felt comfortable because the buses were safe for transporting people. We want to get it right. We want to make sure kids are safe. We want to make sure that parents know that we put a lot of thought into it.”

Wallace said the school system made the best decision they could, given the information they had.

“The situation this morning was we just didn’t have any notification that there was going to be any kind of significant snow at all.”

Wallace also detailed the process they use when determining if classes should be canceled.

“There are several things that go into it,” Wallace said. “The first is that we’re in constant contact with the National Weather Service. We get updates from the Emergency Management Association. They typically are putting out updates on the weather. We also look at local weather.”

“Dr. Barnett’s in a group chat with other superintendents, so they try to discuss what they’ve seen and what they’ve heard. Typically, we’ve got a group of four or five district-level employees who are going to be out checking the roads before 5:00 in the morning. We work in connection with Johnson City Transit; their supervisors are out driving with us as well.”

Wallace did say that, in hindsight, a two-hour delay would have sufficed, as the conditions improved over the course of the morning.

Washington County-Tennessee schools decided to cancel classes for all schools in its district. School superintendent Jerry Boyd said the timing wasn’t ideal, but it was down to the safety of the students.

“We transport nearly 4,000 students,” Boyd said. “We have over about a thousand student drivers who are [in] high school. And then, in general, safety is always going to be the top concern.”

Our region expects more winter weather later in the week, which both superintendents are preparing for now.

“We’re going to evaluate the roads this evening,” Boyd said. “We’re going to, if we have to, evaluate them early in the morning. And if there’s a call that has to be made that hasn’t been made, we’ll make it tomorrow morning.
“I get updates 2 to 3 times a day from the Emergency Management Association and Washington County Emergency Management Association,” Wallace said. “And they give the latest update from Morristown, and it’ll typically tell us a percentage confidence level what they’re looking at right now. So we’re monitoring that.”

Both superintendents said the best way to stay up-to-date with school closings is to use their schools’ websites, app platforms or email lists.

To view News Channel 11’s list of school and business closures, visit Tri-Cities, TN/VA School Closings.