School closings: Shelby County Schools, suburban public districts close; DeSoto on two-hour delay

In advance of winter weather expected to move through West Tennessee overnight and Thursday morning, all seven public school districts in Shelby County announced they were canceling class.

Shelby County Schools, Arlington Community Schools, Bartlett City Schools, Collierville Schools, Germantown Municipal School District, Lakeland School System and Millington Municipal Schools are all closed due to snow Thursday, the districts appeared to announce collectively at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening.

Unlike snow days during the pandemic last winter, it does not appear that any of the districts will be requiring remote work while buildings are closed.

The status of charter schools, Achievement School District schools and private schools were not all immediately clear.

DeSoto County Schools will be operating on a two-hour delay. The district said it will contact parents before 8 a.m. if the decision is made to cancel classes.

Snow: About an inch of snow, wintry mix expected for Memphis area Thursday

Germantown stated "the status of after school activity cancellations will be determined at a later time." Millington will announce the status of extracurricular activities after 1 p.m.

The National Weather Service in Memphis said the small accumulations are expected after a dry cold front pushes through the region. Precipitation will start around sunrise in Mississippi before moving in a northeast direction up to and through parts of Tennessee.

Areas south of Interstate 40 will likely see a combination of freezing rain, rain, and sleet in the morning; the precipitation is expected to change over fully to snow as the morning progresses, NWM said. Some ice accumulation is expected south of Interstate 40, but only a slight amount.

Heavier snowfalls, about two inches total, are expected for northern counties in West Tennessee and the Missouri Bootheel.

The snow closures come amid a trying time once again for schools as COVID-19 surges locally.

Schools returned from winter breaks earlier this week to the effects of the spreading omicron variant, which quickly surpassed previous infection levels locally while students were home for the winter holidays. Wednesday, 22,500 people had active infections, according to the health department, more than twice as many as were reported during the height of the previous record-breaking delta surge.

Districts cannot preemptively close due to COVID-19 and instead must receive a waiver from the state to close if they cannot operate.

The variant has "significantly impacted" attendance among students and staff at SCS, a spokesperson said. Collierville Supt. Gary Lilly Sunday evening stressed his staffing concerns to board members, stating that 89 teachers were out due to infections and exposures and the district had only 60 substitute teachers.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Schools, Arlington, Bartlett cancel school; weather