'Shell shocked': Why Superintendent Rocky Hanna made the call to close schools Tuesday

Superintendent Rocky Hanna is sharing why he made the call to close schools on Tuesday amid another round of anticipated severe weather.

“The decision to close schools was not easy,” Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a Monday evening phone call. “Our people are still a little shell shocked about what happened on Friday and our transportation is just not back up and running again.”

Hanna said the decision was made following a “frank” discussion with NWS, the Leon County Emergency Management and school principals.

'This is unprecedented': Leon superintendent Rocky Hanna opens up on latest school cancellations

“They (school principals) felt that given the conditions of their staff members, the teachers and the kids, if there is another threat of severe weather they’re probably going to stay home anyway,” he said.

The latest closing decision effectively makes three days of interrupted school after three tornadoes swept through Tallahassee early Friday leaving the city in disbelief – and in the dark. The district tried to delay the start time Friday before cancelling and had a half-day Monday before closing at 1 p.m. amid a threat of "likely 75 mph winds" by the National Weather Service.

"And the positive thing about today was, our kids that hadn't had power for a while were able to get to school this morning and get a good breakfast and a good lunch in their bellies, before we send them back home to a potentially dark house for some more weather coming in," Hanna told the Democrat in an interview earlier in the day. "So, at the very least we were able to feed thousands of kids and do the best we could to educate them while we had them here."

The district's announcement comes as the Tallahassee community braces for yet more waves of possible severe weather going into Tuesday morning. In fact, minutes after Leon Schools made the call, the National Weather Service issued a special weather statement warning the city could see 40 mph winds until 6:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, Leon County is under a Level 2 on a scale of 5 for severe weather.

Even though schools will be closed, all LCS administrative staff that are not school based, are expected to be at work at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The district said in an email Monday afternoon, communications with the state department of education are underway regarding instructional hours for seniors set to graduate at the end of the month. They are also adjusting high school schedules for AP and IB makeup exams.

"We need our kids in school whenever possible," Hanna said.

Bus routes will be monitored ahead of Wednesday and if possible, some schools may continue any afterschool activities, Tuesday.

The district has been sending out updates to parents via text message and social media.

Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Leon superintendent says to close Tallahassee schools Tuesday. Here's why