DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Some DeKalb County parents say their children were put in harm’s way on Monday morning as storms moved through metro Atlanta.
They say that because school district officials did not delay the start of the day, their kids were in danger.
One parent showed Channel 2’s Michael Seiden panicked text messages that she received from her child.
She says after learning that her two children, ages 9 and 5, were riding out a severe storm on the school bus parked in a Walmart parking lot, she nearly drove there herself.
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“My son called me from the school bus, and there was a lot of kids in the background yelling and screaming,” parent Lisa-Marie Carrol said. “I was nervous for my children.”
No one was hurt, and Carrol’s children made it to Murphy Candler Elementary School safely.
But she says the situation could have been worse, and she wants to know why DeKalb County School District officials didn’t do more.
A spokesperson for the school district shared a statement with Channel 2 Action News that read,
“Based on the information available at the time, conditions did not meet the threshold for delaying. Our transportation and school teams remained in communication throughout the morning and continued to monitor conditions as buses operated.”
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Several other districts in north Georgia and metro Atlanta chose not to delay school.
However, nearly 30 districts either delayed start times, went virtual or canceled school.
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