Rain or Shine: First day of school held in Fort Mill despite weather

FORT MILL, S.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — Katrina and the Waves welcomed Fort Mill students to their first day of school in a literal downpour as River Trail Elementary played “Walking on Sunshine” over the speakers. The kids were all smiles as they walked, and ran, into school.
“We are so excited!” said principal Savannah Steger. “It’s going to be a fantastic school year. We are over the moon to welcome all of our otters back, and it’s going to be an awesome school year!”

The wipers were on full speed and umbrellas were out in the drop-off line.

The rain from tropical storm Debby didn’t seem to bother the kids too much, but some parents in the district felt differently.

“We did receive calls here at the district office, just like we saw on Facebook,” said Joseph Burke, Chief Communication Officer at the Fort Mill School District.

While some schools canceled class Thursday morning, the Fort Mill School district posted this picture online of their buses ready to roll out for the first day of school.

Parents, relatives, and even some who didn’t have kids in school anymore left hundreds of comments below the post disagreeing with the decision not to cancel class.

Some called the decision “ridiculous.” Another said they refused to put their kids in danger, so they’re staying home. One said the district was “wrong for sending kids out in the unpredictable weather where it’s possible for power lines, trees, etc to be downed.”

“Well, I want to talk a little bit about, first of all, how the decision is made,” Burke told Queen City News. “Obviously, last night, the weather forecast was not showing any indications that we were going to hit the thresholds for busses not to be able to travel. You know, in South Carolina, if it hits 30 mile an hour sustained winds or 40 mile an hour gusts. Busses are either not supposed to be on the road or have to pull over if they’re already on the road,” he said.

Burke says it’s always a tough decision to hold or cancel school, especially on the first day. He says they’re in constant communication with emergency management and will tell drivers to pull over if they start to see wind gusts passing a safe threshold for buses or if they see flooding on area roads.

“When it comes down to it, some districts face different challenges,” Burke said. “You know, when you’re talking about some of our other districts in York County that are more rural or have larger areas to cover, they have to look at what the decision is best for them. In Fort Mill, we’re only a 52-square-mile district. We don’t have a lot of rural area except maybe over in our Tega Cay side,” he said.

While the majority of comments online were negative, there were a number of parents praising the district’s decision to carry on with class and thanking the bus drivers for braving the elements too.

“We get to start the year being flexible and adaptable,” said Steger as kids were setting in for the day.

Burke says he didn’t see a mass number of students calling out of school. He said an early release wasn’t likely with improving conditions throughout the day.

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