By Gary Lloyd
TRUSSVILLE — One year after a snowstorm left students stranded inside area schools overnight, Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill says she’s “still grateful to heroic efforts by city employees, school employees, churches and community members for uniting in a tireless, collective effort to take care of our students on that day and all through the night.”
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, a snowstorm blew through the area. Much more snow fell than originally predicted, leaving school officials, city officials and Jefferson County residents in a panic.
Paine Primary School students watch a movie Jan. 28, 2014, while stranded at school.
photo courtesy of Paine Primary School
Nineteen students stayed overnight at Paine Intermediate School. There were 25 students and 15 staff members who stayed at Paine Primary School overnight.
Hewitt-Trussville High School Principal Tim Salem said the last students at the school left with a school resource officer at 2:30 a.m. Jan. 29, 2014. He said nine staff members and some of them with children remained at the school.
“The weather will always be somewhat unpredictable and this year we will continue to rely on our expert meteorologists to help us make decisions for student and staff safety in the event of inclement weather,” Neill said. “No one predicted that storm to come in as quickly and aggressively as it did. The same emergency plan is in place this year.”
Neill said an important decision last year was to shelter students in place and not run the school buses. Despite the “atypical” decision, Neill said it was the key to student safety during the storm for three reasons:
- The buses could have been stranded in traffic in all areas of the city, creating unsafe conditions for students.
- Students could have been dropped off to empty houses because their parents were stranded away from home.
- Bus wrecks could have occurred because of the icy conditions.
Read more about the 2014 snowstorm’s effect on area schools here.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
