DeKalb Schools Make Decision On Friday Classes: Hurricane Irma

DECATUR, GA --After being closed for four days this week, the DeKalb County School District has decided to reopen classrooms for Friday, Sept. 15. The school district is one of the last to resume activities in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

Of all of metro Atlanta, DeKalb was hit especially hard due to the storm's driving rain and strong winds, which caused mass power outages in the area. (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

"All schools and offices will reopen on Fri. Sept. 15," the district said on social media. "All extracurricular & sporting events will go on as scheduled." The school system cautioned that delays may happen due to school buses trying to navigate through storm-struck areas. "We ask for your patience as we re-open schools safety."

DeKalb Board of Education meeting has been rescheduled for Sept. 19, the district said.

The City of Decatur Schools system resumed classes the previous day for the most part, opening Thursday at most locations.

In a Wednesday evening message, Decatur said that College Heights is still without power and will remain closed. Westchester and Clairemont "are still without power but will open for regular drop off," the school system said.

The Decatur school district added this:

Clairemont Elementary students will begin and end their day at Clairemont and will be bused to Renfroe Middle School during the day for instruction.
Westchester Elementary students will begin and end their day at Westchester and will be bused to Decatur High School during the day for instruction.
To expedite the transitions to and from Clairemont and Westchester, the Decatur Police Department will direct traffic for the buses each way.
Parents of Clairemont and Westchester students may excuse their children from school Thursday if they would prefer to keep them home.
College Heights, Westchester, and Clairemont will provide more details in a separate eblast to their school communities.

Read more: ''Please stay inside': Irma wallops Florida

The area is recovering after Gov. Nathan Deal expanded a state of emergency for all of Georgia's 159 counties. On Thursday, Deal said that Irma affected "virtually" the entire state.

Georgia Power said Thursday afternoon that it was trying to have electricity to everyone in metro Atlanta by the weekend. The utility released a schedule with estimated times of power restoration, with the latest being Friday at 10 p.m.

Earlier in the week, the company said that about 360,000 of its customers still were without electricity. Georgia EMC, an electrical membership cooperative serving much of the state, reported another 232,000 people in the dark Wednesday morning.

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Across the state, the Red Cross was also out in the community, survey damages and providing relief items to people who were still unable to get into their homes.

Image via Shutterstock