UPDATED: Residents Called it! No School Thursday, Friday

Image Courtesy Prince William County Schools

Updated: Jan. 27, 11:30 a.m.

It looks like the parents were correct!

Prince William County Schools officially announced all county schools will be closed Thursday, Jan. 28 and Friday, Jan. 29 on Code Red.

PWCS will remain closed Thursday 1/28 and Friday 1/29 to due to remaining impassible roads and sidewalks and other weather-related travel conditions in many areas. Code Red for Employees. SACC will not open. All Thursday and Friday activities are cancelled.

The school division also announced elementary parent-teacher conferences originally planned for Friday will be rescheduled as needed to meet individual student needs.

The Feb. 1 due date for specialty program applications remains unchanged.

Original Story:

Prince William County Schools announced Monday evening its plan to work towards a two-hour delay Thursday, following five days of weather-related closings due to the blizzard that hit the area last week.

As of Wednesday morning the Office of Facilities Services has marked 24 school parking lots and 6 sidewalks as "complete" on the school division's snow removal progress page.

Residents are not confident the school division can meet its ambitious goal of clearing the parking lots and sidewalks of its nearly 100 schools and administration buildings by Thursday.

Furthermore, in a statement Tuesday evening, Superintendent Steven L. Walts seemed to prepare residents for the potential cancelling of classes for the rest of the week.

"PWCS efforts to prepare school grounds are making progress, but they are just part of the safety considerations that go into any decision to reopen schools," he said. "Currently, hundreds of miles of roads and sidewalks throughout the county remain largely impassible and certainly unsafe for those making their way to school. Similar conditions caused the federal government to remain closed Tuesday, and are prompting other school divisions to reconsider their schedules for the remainder of the week."

The unanimous consensus on social media is that students will return to class next week.

"Every storm we've had like this had led to a week off. This won't be different," Michelle D'Antuono Wilburn of Bristow said.

Some feel the school division and county just don't have the resources to address the amount of snow the region received.

"Although working hard, I don't think they will be able to clear 90 schools and administration buildings as well as clearing out 800 buses that run in our county," a Bristow woman said. "The county only has so many resources and personnel and the trucks that PWCS owns are not setup to plow 3+ feet of snow."

Many suggest the school division should just close for the rest of the week, since many schools have yet to be cleared.

"Prince William should just call for closing of school for the rest of the week!," Tammy Vuong of Haymarket said. "There's no point of letting us know day by day when they know themselves that it's not going happen!"

Despite their skepticism, residents do understand that weather-related closing decisions are made in the best interest of students and staff.

"People have to remember, the powers that be are not taking this lightly by not calling it for the week - there are regulations that sometimes have to be followed," a Bristow woman said. "People just need to be patient and understanding of the position they are in."

In his statement, Walts assured residents that he's putting the needs of county students first in his decision-making process.

"I am holding off on any decision in the hope of salvaging as much classroom time as possible, but I will not choose school over safety," he said. "Fortunately, I am confident that our talented and dedicated teachers and administrators will be able to modify teaching plans to suit whatever schedule safety dictates; our students will be well served."