ATLANTA -- Students and teachers at one DeKalb County school say the freezing temperatures we saw overnight made it awful chilly inside their classrooms. They can’t understand why the school system wouldn’t turn on the heat.

The school system says no matter how cold it gets, it’s their practice to turn the heat on in all schools on October 30. Students and teachers say when the temperatures dip into the 30’s, like it did overnight and this morning, it is hard to study without heat.

“It was freezing. We were doing testing today and I couldn’t even concentrate,” said Briar Vista Elementary School student Beleyou Leulesged.

“It was like you were covered in snow,” said student Kaylah Edwards.

If you thought it was cold outside overnight and at daybreak, students at Briar Vista say it was even colder inside their school most of the day. When students and teachers complained about the frigid conditions and asked for the heat to be turned on, they say they were told they were not going to turn on the heat until Thanksgiving.

A DeKalb County Schools spokesperson told Channel 2 that’s not entirely true. We found out the school district doesn’t turn on the heat system-wide until October 30. And once the heat is on for all schools – it stays on.

“But I mean, what’s the problem if you turn it on now and for the rest of the months,” asked Leulesged.

The school system did tell us that principals can petition to have their heat turned on before October 30. But if it warms up, the heat won’t be turned off – so many principals choose to wait.

Kayla Edwards told us it was tough for students to take their tests because of the chill factor.

“Some people only had on sweaters and they were still complaining about how cold it was,” said Edwards.

Teachers say classrooms that were facing the sun were okay, but the others felt like the North Pole.