Only two DCSS schools still without power

ALBANY — Many Dougherty County schools and colleges pulled through the severe storm system that blew through the county last week in good shape. However, all classes within the Dougherty County School System and Albany Technical College remained closed on Monday, not due to resume until later dates.

The storm created havoc for DCSS facilities. And while school officials said one problem was getting better Monday, another, maybe more serious, problem still looms on the horizon. At Albany Tech, a major network outage resulted in the college delaying the beginning of its spring semester for a month.

Last Thursday, DCSS officials reported nine of the district’s 23 schools were still without power. Monday, that number had dropped to just two schools: Albany High and Sherwood Acres Elementary School. Students were supposed to report back to school on Friday, but school system officials reconsidered and push the start date forward again to Jan. 17.

“We are hopeful that all our schools will come online in the next day or two,” DCSS spokesperson J.D. Sumner said Monday. “None of the schools suffered major damage, and we are confident in getting power fully restored before the 17th.”

Sumner, however said the system will face issues with transportation once classes resume.

“Our biggest concern is transportation because many students have been displaced,” he said. “We are in the process of putting together a plan that will stay in place for the next 30 days. We want to make sure the students get on the correct bus in the morning and afternoon.”

Sumner noted that the school system transports between 5,000 and 6,000 students to and from school each school day. Those numbers account for one-third of the system’s students.

“Soon, we are going to ask the parents or guardians of displaced students to come downtown and give us the new address of the students so we can plan properly,” he said.

At Albany Technical College, spring semester was originally slated to begin on Jan. 4. However, the term will now begin on Feb. 6 after the storm caused the campus several network outages with no official date for restoration of service. In addition, the homes of a large number of Albany Tech students, faculty and staff suffered from storm damage, and many remain without power.

“The delayed spring term is beneficial to our students in order to make progress toward graduation,” said Albany Tech President Anthony Parker. “This is the best thing to do for our community.”

Private college prep schools Deerfield-Windsor School and Sherwood Christian Academy are operating normally, as is Albany State University and Byne Christian School.

A call seeking comment from St. Teresa’s Catholic School Monday went straight to voice mail.