COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The winter storm brought ice and snow in parts of Metro Atlanta and other parts of Georgia, prompting schools in Cobb County to close on Tuesday.
Classes resumed for the Cobb County School District and the Marietta City School District on a two-hour delay, Wednesday. While Cobb County barely saw any snow,
the temperatures were bitterly cold.
Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke to the Director of Transportation for the Marietta City School District who said her team began planning for the weather well before it hit.
“In order to get ready for a cold start morning we spent a lot of time pre-planning. We actually pulled up a list of where our employees lived over the weekend and reached out to them to find out who thought they would be able to make it and who would not. With the temps and wind chill being forecasted to be as low as it was this morning, we wanted to make sure we could combine routes to not leave any kids standing in the cold,” said Kimberly Ellis who is the Director of Transportation for the Marietta City School District.
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A number of school bus drivers live outside of Cobb County in areas that were hit hard with winter weather, which forced some to call off.
“Our bus drivers live all over metro Atlanta, we happen to pay the highest rate in metro Atlanta for our bus drivers and so they come from everywhere. We have some that live in Atlanta, we have some that live in Stone Mountain, we have some as far away as Union City. Not everyone was able to come in this morning and so that was a part of the reason why I think we did a 2-hour delay,” said Ellis.
Tab Wheeler, a retainer bus driver for the district, was ready to jump in where help was needed.
“Covering routes making sure we get the kids to school safe,” said Wheeler.
Ellis and some of her staff showed up to work extra early to start 115 school buses, making sure each one was warm when drivers began their shift.
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“It was freezing. It was 16 degrees when we got here this morning. We were out here this morning at 5:00 a.m. getting all the buses started,” said Ellis.
When bus drivers arrived, they checked their buses before they made sure the inside temperature was warm enough to pick up students.
“We drive around like an hour, we get here early, make sure they are warm,” said Wheeler.
“We were able to get all the kids picked up on time and delivered to school. We did not have any late buses this morning so super proud of my team for that. Everybody pulled together and we just made it happen,” said Ellis.
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