High schoolers get a day off in White County

CLEVELAND - Some school systems in north Georgia implemented a two-hour delay in starting classes Friday morning due to the dangerously cold temperatures.

White County was among those, but as officials started arriving at White County High School they discovered they had no power.

White County School Superintendent Jeff Wilson said Georgia Power Co. officials told them a tree fell on the line causing the power to surge off and on and that in turn knocked out the transformer at the school.

Wilson also said the backup generator at the high school failed with the extremely cold weather so they had to cancel classes at the high school. The remainder of schools in the county conducted classes as usual.

Wilson said the incident occurred during the time that they were transporting students to school, so some of the high school students had to be bussed to the middle school to await transport back home later in the morning.

Wilson said the incident really gave them a chance to practice procedures that they would use in case of an emergency, noting everything went smoothly.

The power was expected to restored to the school in time for evening activities at the school, including the basketball games against North Hall.