When the weather turns bad, school officials say they will use all available resources to keep parents and students informed about school closings.

 Superintendent Lee Shiver said Monday morning, following what was one of the first mornings of possible impassable weather conditions we've seen this year, he will make the call on whether to close school by 5:30 a.m. This, he said, should allow time to get the word out to staff, parents and students.

 The school system has an information line, 706-253-1710 where closings will be posted.

 "We can put information on that line and we don't have to be at the office to do it - we can simply call in from home and put that on," Shiver said.

 Local radio station WYYZ 1490 AM also carries news about school closings, once announced by school officials. Shiver said WYYZ has always been great about carrying the information immediately. In addition the school's website, www.pickens.k12.ga.us/, is updated with the information and parents can log on and find out whether or not school has been called off.

 Atlanta television news and radio stations are also notified anytime schools close here.

 "It's interesting with the Atlanta stations because to make sure the reporters aren't getting prank calls, each station has a different code for each school system," Shiver said. "So we have a secret code we use for each station that we notify."

 Relying heavily on weather forecasters and satellite images, Shiver said he and key members of his staff also get out on the roads to check for icy or unfavorable conditions.

 "If we are looking at it and it looks like it's something that will interfere with transportation either to or from school we make the call by 5:30 a.m.," Shiver said. "When it's obvious the night before we try to get that information immediately over the radio, website and information line."

 "Sometimes like (Monday) morning it's really difficult," he said. "We rely heavily on the transportation director, chief of campus police and the assistant superintendent to get out on the roads in various areas of the county and see what shape they're in."

 Shiver said he and his staff pay attention to the radar and weather center but also stay in contact with superintendents and transportation directors in school systems in surrounding counties to find out what's happening there.

 "A funny thing that happened a couple of years ago is when it looked like we were going to have an imminent snow storm we had superintendents from other counties calling me and asking what to do, which was funny because I'm a flatlander and not used to these conditions," Shiver said.

 Shiver said last year school officials were surprised by a rapid descent of temperature when a front moved through faster than forecasters were expecting.

 "Our transportation director at the time was in Talking Rock when he called in and said it was snowing on him so we immediately called the schools and told the principals to get the children ready to leave in 30 minutes and we got the buses rolling."

 Schools let out almost two hours early because of the weather and only one bus was delayed because of ice on the roads, he said. As always, Shiver said, principals stay at the schools until all of the students are at home.

 "In that case we were relying heavily on forecasters who were saying that it wouldn't be here until 4:30 or so and all of a sudden it was on top of us. We've had freezing rain before but the trick is paying attention to the temperature. You can have freezing rain but if it's not freezing on the roads then you're OK."

 Shiver said three years ago there was a huge snow storm moving across Alabama and schools up and down the northern district of Georgia canceled school.

 "As soon as that storm crossed the Georgia line it just disappeared," Shiver said. "Sometimes you get lucky with the forecast and sometimes you don't."

 In addition to bad road conditions, Shiver said schools could also be canceled in the event of severe, sub-freezing weather.

 "That's unusual but it does happen," he said.