INDENDENCE, Va. – Grayson County schools are approaching two consecutive weeks without in-person learning due to winter weather, but years of experience with challenging conditions have prepared the district for extended closures.
Located in Virginia’s New River Valley and home to the state’s two highest peaks — Mount Rogers and Whitetop Mountain — Grayson County’s high elevation makes winter closures a recurring challenge for school administrators.
“We’ve been out for a week and a half already this month and then we were out in December. So it’s been really challenging, to say the least,” said Angel Halsey, a counselor at Grayson County High School.
The district has faced significant challenges clearing campus facilities. “We’re battling the ice at all of our campuses,” said Superintendent Kelly Wilmore. “We’ve actually had to call in some contractors and get some extra help for our maintenance department, because it took our maintenance departments probably six days just to get this campus done here at the middle school, high school.”
However, Grayson County’s school system has developed adaptable strategies to handle such disruptions. The district operates on an instructional hours system rather than counting days, and maintains extended school days throughout the year. This approach has provided crucial flexibility during weather events.
“If you work in Grayson County, you can just about bet you’re gonna have extra days added at the end of the year. We just miss so much because of the snow,” said Sharon Reeves, a Grayson County High School teacher.
Last year, the district faced over 30 days of school closures due to winter weather and Hurricane Helene. Despite these challenges, Wilmore remains confident in the district’s ability to maintain educational standards.
“I’m not worried and our staff does an amazing job,” Wilmore said. “Last year we missed a whole lot more time than this and we were still able to do well with our test scores and get our students graduated.”
The district still has five virtual learning days available, while some neighboring counties have exhausted their allotment. “Right now if we don’t miss any more days... we’ll still have over a thousand hours. So we’re gonna be fine,” Wilmore added.
The timing of the closures has particularly affected seniors working on college applications and financial aid forms. However, faculty members have maintained support through remote channels.
“I work with a lot of our seniors on writing letters of recommendations and helping them get into college,” Reeves said. “It’s nothing for one to send me an email at home. Hey, could you send this recommendation letter in for me? And I’m more than willing to do that.”
Halsey emphasized the challenges facing graduating students: “It’s really hard on them, especially our seniors... We have scholarships and college applications that are due and we have all this stuff and we can’t be here to do that.”
The extended day schedule has proven beneficial for maintaining summer programs. “That works really well for us. If not, we would be having to knock out some summer programs because you don’t want to go to school so long that you can’t do your summer programs,” Halsey noted.
Despite approaching their limit of cancellation days, Grayson County’s experience with severe weather has helped the district develop robust contingency plans, allowing them to maintain educational continuity even during extended closures.