When students woke up this morning, they were met with snow and 13-degree weather that felt like -2 degrees with the wind chill. And when they got to school, some of the hallways and classrooms were still so cold that some students wore their winter coats and jackets inside the school. 

Because of the “inclement weather,” as Principal Tim Hamblin called it during morning announcements, the tardy kiosk in the attendance office was also not put to use during first block.

Despite this, though, 462 students were absent today. This is an increase of over 150 compared to other school days, which average on around 300 students being absent. 

Although while one may at first think this is because of the cold weather, Tonya Johnson, who works in the attendance office, thinks it’s because of a different reason. 

“I actually think we had more people out because they’re sick (with covid) than (because of) weather.”