The recent snowstorm on January 24 and 25 as well as cold weather has made driving dangerous for students and teachers attempting to get to school. The issue is only deepened by the bus fleet which picks up a large number of students. In response, RCPS closed for nearly a week.
Due to the large area Rockbridge County covers including Lexington, Buena Vista, Glasgow, Goshen, Rockbridge Baths, and Fairfield the snowfall and ice cover varies drastically. In Lexington City, students and faculty faced poor road conditions initially but roads were quickly treated. Despite the quick cleaning, the roads were crowded from the snow piled up on the sides of roads which caused dangerous driving conditions. On account of the icy snow, many teachers were not able to leave their own houses.
Resident of Lexington City and faculty member Ashlee Payne faced initial challenges.
“We have someone who privately plows the roads for us so the road conditions weren’t bad. The worst part was honestly my driveway which I couldn’t get out of, so I had to hire somebody to come and plow out the driveway. I know for the English department there were several teachers who couldn’t leave their houses, which caused them to miss the first day back to school,” Payne said.
Contrastingly, in further parts of the county road conditions were slow to be restored. Aside from getting to school, many students were left snowed into their own homes. Resident of Rockbridge Baths and junior Eli Watkins faced trouble getting to school.
”I felt that getting to school was very hard and unsafe. Our roads were barely plowed and made driving almost impossible,” Watkins said.
All in all, the snowstorm confined students to their houses and made driving unsafe. In the future, poor road conditions will hopefully be more efficiently restored to safety.
