Superintendent asks for patience as TCSS buses students home; all students safe, no damage to buildings

Published 4:45 pm Thursday, January 12, 2023

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Superintendent Brian Shumate is asking parents to be patient as the Troup County School System works to get students home. No students were hurt and no school buildings received damage from Thursday’s storm.

Most secondary school students were held off of buses as the storm passed. Troup County was under two simultaneous tornado warnings at one point, with one impacting the northern part of the county and one in the southern part of the county.

Shumate said a few secondary buses had already left before the decision to stop buses was made, but most were held. Elementary school students were already released by the time the decision was made to hold buses. Shumate said buses already on the road stopped in a safe location and sheltered in place until the storm passed.

“We appreciate our student cooperation and staff leadership in keeping students and staff safe and exercising all of the safety measures that we practice monthly,” Shumate said. “We also appreciate parents’ patience during this process but student safety was our number one priority.”

Shumate said the situation changed quickly — and the forecast intensified quickly — and that TCSS made the best decisions it could with the information at that time.

One of the locations where a tornado touched down was on Hamilton Road, near Troup High School, according to observed reports. Shumate said students moved into hallways into the storm passed.