#Weather dallas ga drivers#

However, cold temperatures are not, by themselves, a reason to cancel school. School buildings can also be susceptible to frozen pipes and heating malfunctions, especially in our older facilities.

#Weather dallas ga drivers#

That is why on mornings where the temperature is forecasted to be below freezing, our bus drivers are in their buses well before dawn to make sure they crank. Those low temperatures can affect our diesel-engine school buses.

Paulding County also had many student drivers, and road conditions must be safe for our most inexperienced drivers to get behind the wheel.Įxtreme cold is rare in Georgia, although we do occasionally see temperatures in the single digits. Paulding County school buses travel more than 13,000 miles a day, transporting more than 17,000 students. This shared information is factored into the decision-making process. We also rely on staff members and bus drivers to communicate road conditions in their neighborhoods, as well as officers from the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office, and the Dallas and Hiram Police Departments. This is one reason district personnel drive the roads themselves. We cannot assume that, because roads are good in one neighborhood, all roads throughout the county are safe. The northern part can be impassable, while the southern part might not have any precipitation at all. Road conditions can vary greatly in various parts of the county. Paulding County covers more than 314 square miles. This can lead to a delay in communicating a school closing until the morning of a cancellation. They are often up early the next morning driving the roads around the county looking for dangerous conditions for both car drivers and bus drivers. That means staff members spend their evenings and nights watching the forecast. Sometimes the weather forecast is not definitive enough to make a decision on school closing the night before. In the days leading up to an anticipated weather event, district personnel participate in conference calls held by the National Weather Service, multiple times a day and often at night. A degree or two in temperature can make the difference between normal, wet conditions and slick, snowy or icy roads. The decision to cancel or delay school based solely on the temperature is more difficult when the mercury is hovering just at or around freezing. Weather systems can speed up or slow down, meaning they do not arrive as forecasted. The precipitation can just as easily turn from rain into sleet or snow. Frozen precipitation that falls on neighboring states and counties can quickly turn to rain as a system moves across the state. Coordinating with these agencies and internal district departments starts well ahead of the anticipated arrival of bad weather. This is not a night-before or day-of decision. The final decision is made by the Superintendent of Schools, based on detailed recommendations from staff working closely with public safety agencies, city and county governments, the county’s Emergency Management Agency, and the National Weather Service. Student and staff safety is our top priority. The determination on whether to close schools in Paulding County for inclement weather is dependent on a number of factors.

How does the superintendent make the decision to close schools? Even if it looks clear on your street, dangerous conditions may exist in other parts of the county. The Paulding County School District is also in constant contact with the Paulding County Sheriff's Department about road conditions across the county. The Director of Transportation and his team of bus drivers test road conditions on bus routes starting in the early hours of the morning. School district staff listen to a variety of forecasts. From unsettled weather patterns that can spawn tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the late spring to snow and ice storms that may cause travel difficulties in the winter months. Several days before any weather event, the superintendent and his administrative staff participate in National Weather Service webinars and carefully watch the weather. Current Weather Conditions in Paulding County