FORSYTH COUNTY — The Forsyth County school system has announced schools will be closed Thursday due to the threat of heavy snow and ice.

And perhaps of more interest to students and parents, it will not be an online/itslearning day. Children will not have to go online to receive assignments from their teachers.

In addition, central office and 240-day staff are directed not to report Thursday morning, said Jennifer Caracciolo, spokeswoman for the district.

School system officials will monitor conditions throughout the morning and notify them by email when, and if, they should report, according to Caracciolo.

As for after-school activities and athletics, a decision will be announced midday Thursday.

According to Caracciolo, officials decided on the break from itslearning because students already had a great deal of work to complete from the previous days.

She also cited the governor’s state of emergency, which could result in a make-up day being forgiven.

All after-school activities and athletics were canceled for Wednesday as the third winter storm in two weeks bore down on Forsyth County.

As it approached, Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency.

In a news release, Deal said the state of emergency spans 50 north Georgia counties, including Forsyth, beginning at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

According to Deal, state offices will close at noon to avoid traffic jams during afternoon and evening snowfall — which crippled the region during a January 2014 storm.

Despite the emergency declaration going into effect Wednesday afternoon, Deal said state resources being deployed to address the storm will also be available overnight.

The closure will be the third of the week for the Forsyth County school system and seventh time in nine days that schools won’t be open.

After a normal day Monday, the district called off school Tuesday as snow started falling in the early morning hours.

Last week, schools were open only on Friday. Feb. 16 was the President’s Day holiday, while ice, frigid conditions and lingering power outages did not allow for school Feb. 17-19.

Feb. 17 and 18 will be made up, covered by the district’s two built-in inclement weather days, on March 16 and April 3. Feb. 19, Tuesday and Wednesday were the system’s first-ever online/itslearning days.

Once school has resumed, Caracciolo said, the system plans to post an online survey asking parents for feedback on the itslearning program.

The Associated Press and FCN regional staff contributed to this report.