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In other weather-related closing news:
* All campuses of the University of North Georgia, including the one in Cumming, will open at 10 a.m. on Friday, the college announced Thursday.
Per UNG’s inclement weather protocol, students, faculty and staff should exercise their personal judgment about the safety of driving conditions in their immediate area when traveling to campus.
The college’s campuses had been closed Tuesday-Thursday.
* Forsyth County’s government was closed Wednesday and Thursday.
The closure included the courthouse, senior services, and parks and recreation’s indoor facilities. All parks and recreation programs and activities were also cancelled.
UPDATE (11 a.m. Thursday) — The Forsyth County school system will be closed the rest of the week, as officials have announced that there will be no classes or after-school activities on Thursday.
Friday and Monday (President’s Day) are scheduled holidays. That means students won’t return to campus until Tuesday.
"Safety is always our No. 1 concern when making decisions about the status of school due to inclement weather," said Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for the district.
"We understand that many families and staff members have made plans for spring break and also for the week of Memorial Day. We will take that as well as our testing calendar into consideration when we meet to discuss makeup days."
Caracciolo added that officials also decided to cancel the Board of Education’s work session scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday. As of Thursday night, they planned to still hold the system’s Celebration of Excellence.
The annual luncheon, which is co-sponsored by the Cumming-Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, honors the system’s top teachers and business partners. It is set for 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Lanier Technical College Forsyth Conference Center.
Check back for updates at forsythnews.com.
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UPDATE (2 p.m. Tuesday) — Forsyth County Schools will not be open Wednesday due to the approaching winter storm. All after-school and extracurricular activities are also canceled.
No decision has been made on makeup days, though officials say Friday and Feb. 17 will remain holidays.
In announcing the decision, system spokeswoman Jennifer Caracciolo said staff has been “involved in the emergency management briefings since this weekend and [Wednesday’s] weather is forecasted to not be safe for students and staff.”
"We are not making a decision on make-up days because we do not know at this time the status of school for Thursday," she said.
Caracciolo added that not holding school on Tuesday was the right call as there were “campuses, mainly parking lots and sidewalks, covered in ice."
Check back for updates at forsythnews.com.
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CUMMING — Citing the winter storm warning and governor-declared state of emergency, the Forsyth County school system announced Monday afternoon that there would be no school on Tuesday.
All after-school activities and events also were cancelled.
As of Monday night, no decision had been made about the status of classes beyond Tuesday because of this week's forecast.
Garry Puetz, transportation director for the school system, said the decision to call off school was made “based on the severity of the projected weather event, including its duration, the uncertainty of its timing and the seriousness of the warnings both by the weather service and the governor’s office.”
“Those factors combine to make it possible that even should we be able to deliver students to school, conditions could make taking them home extremely difficult if not impossible within a short period of time,” he said.
Puetz added that “even an early release [on Tuesday] might be dangerous depending on how severe the weather is or how quickly conditions may change or deteriorate.”
“This is a risk we’re simply unwilling to take based on the projections as they stand, and we want to give our community as much prior notice as possible,” he said.
Still to be determined is whether students and staff will make up the day.
However, the calendar for this weekend, Feb. 14-17, would not change, according to the school system. Feb. 17 is the Presidents’ Day holiday.
The district has previously announced that students will make up just one of the three days they missed during the last winter storm Jan. 29-31. That day is set for April 21.
The first inclement weather day on the calendar, March 17, is taking the place of Jan. 7, when single-digit temperatures forced the district to call off school.
Pinecrest Academy, a private Catholic school in south Forsyth, cancelled Monday afternoon and evening activities, and also will be closed Tuesday.
Also changing its schedule due to the weather was the University of North Georgia.
The college announced all four of its campuses would be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that Monday night classes would be held as scheduled.
Lanier Technical College cancelled Monday night classes, and will be closed on Tuesday.