Wake, Durham, Johnston schools cancel in-person classes Thursday due to storm threat
Several Triangle school systems are canceling in-person instruction on Thursday due to the threat of severe thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes in the afternoon.
Thursday will now become a remote-only instruction day in Wake County, Durham Public Schools and Johnston, Orange and Chatham counties with campuses closed to students. All athletic events and other in-person activities are also canceled Thursday. But Johnston County says middle schools and high schools will provide curbside meal service from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., weather permitting.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system will also have the small number of adapted curriculum students who’ve been getting in-person instruction switch to remote learning on Thursday.
How each district will handle the day of remote learning varies.
Wake County announced that Thursday will be an asynchronous learning day, meaning no live online instruction will be offered, or a remote learning day. Wake is telling parents to contact their child’s school or individual teachers.
But Johnston County said teachers will provide live remote instruction to students.
The Orange County school system announced that all instruction will be facilitated by teachers remotely and will start at the usual instructional start time.
Durham’s specialty high schools (City of Medicine Academy, J.D. Clement Early College at N.C. Central, Middle College at Durham Tech, and New Tech High) had been set to resume in-person instruction Thursday for the first time in a year. Their first day on campus will now be Friday.
Durham elementary school students had returned to in-person instruction on Monday for the first time in a year.
Severe weather risk
Much of central North Carolina is at Level 4 “moderate risk” for severe weather, which means widespread storms are likely, The News & Observer reported.
A storm system moving from the west could bring severe weather from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday. The threat is expected to continue in parts of Eastern North Carolina until 9 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
The Raleigh and Durham areas could see up to half an inch of rain during the day Thursday, with the potential for more at night and during thunderstorms. Large hail and strong winds are also possible, forecasters said.
“Significant tornadoes” — EF2 or or stronger — are also possible, though the threat of those isn’t as great, forecasters said.
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 1:37 PM.
