Another 2 to 4 inches of snow could coat Alexandria in white Thursday night into Friday morning. Snow is expected to start falling before 9 p.m. Thrursday and continue through at least 4 a.m. Friday.
Roads will be slick Friday morning and local officials are encouraging people to work from home if they are able to do so.
Alexandria and Fairfax County Public Schools will be closed Friday.
There's more than just the weather at play in the decision to close schools. In a series of tweets posted late Wednesday night, Alexandria Public Schools Board Member Kelly Carmichael Booz (acting in her personal capacity) explained the multiple factors at play:
While some days it has been unsafe to transport students due to weather, the coronavirus pandemic has affected the school system's ability to staff schools.
Many teachers and staff members live outside the City of Alexandria, so when other districts close school, many teachers end up needing a substitute in Alexandria because they don't have childcare at home. Unfortunately, the local school system is in a substitute teacher crisis — there just aren't enough subs to go around, which is happening nationwide, not just locally.
Without enough substitutes to cover leave for childcare AND to cover teachers who are quarantined due to coronavirus, the school system can't open.
Plus, snow.
"As a mom with a 1st and 3rd grader, I am feeling a bit of groundhogs day with kids home again, battling asynchronous work while I try to do my day job. It’s exhausting. I feel your pain. Thank you parents for hanging in there," Booz wrote. "And to our amazing ACPS staff: thank you. You go above and beyond and have so many balls in the air on a normal day when there was no COVID and no substitute crisis, yet you still make the learning magic happen with our students."
