Putnam County Schools say icy road conditions continue to impact travel, prompting the district to remain closed again on Thursday.
Putnam County Schools Transportation Supervisor Ron Chaffin said most roads around Cookeville are in good shape. However, Chaffin said other areas of the county have not been so fortunate.
“There are some roads in the northern part of the county that are still snow-covered and also covered with ice,” Chaffin said. “So, we feel like that it is much safer to give it another day to hopefully get that melted off.”
Chaffin said the big concern has been secondary roads, with one-third of the bus routes still impacted by ice. Chaffin said that when making a decision, safety is the top priority.
“We just want to make sure that we are eliminating the possibility of accidents and making sure that everybody stays safe,” Chaffin said.
Chaffin said the school system will continue to monitor roads to see if a Friday closure is necessary.
“We are monitoring constantly on when we are gonna be able to get back into school,” Chaffin said. “I know that we are gonna look tomorrow afternoon at the possibility of maybe altering some of the routes that are going to be most affected, and possibly make it to where we might can combine some bus stops and not go down the worst of the snow-covered roads.”
Chaffin said Putnam Schools wants to get back into school as soon as possible, but wants to make sure it is safe to do so.