TOMMY MILLSAPS, Editor

and

JESSICA CROSS, Staff Writer

Providing a safe and productive learning environment gets complicated for the two local school systems when the weather turns sour.

It becomes no easy task to get 7,000 students, the buses and parents that transport them and hundreds of school employees to and from school. Then add to the mix East Tennessee's variable weather--70 degrees, flooding and tornado warnings one day to snow the next day. To make things more challenging, Monroe County is one of the largest counties in the state with curvy roads, rivers and creeks and varying terrain with perhaps snow on one hilltop and nothing in the valley.

The goal for the county's top school officials is simple: The safety of every student, school staff and everyone involved in getting children to school, Monroe County Director of Schools Mike Lowry and Sweetwater City Director of Schools Dr. Melanie Miller say.  

See full story in the Sunday, Feb. 3, edition of The Advocate & Democrat.