After getting an extra two days off because of the weather conditions, students and teachers will return to the classroom today for the first time since last Friday.

The school system will operate today on a three-hour delay with limited bus routes. The WrapAround Program (before and after school program) will open at 9 a.m.

School was closed for students and teachers Monday and Tuesday because of the treacherous driving conditions on roadways. School system officials opted to err on the side of caution and cancel classes to avoid any potential issues with student drivers, bus drivers and faculty and staff members.

School officials decided Saturday evening to cancel classes for Monday, and they reached their decision to close school Tuesday during the afternoon on Monday.

Dr. Jeff Church, assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, spent time Tuesday with other school officials traveling the roads of the county to check their condition before a final decision concerning classes for today was made.

"Most of the bad roads are in the outskirts of the county," Church said. "There are a lot of them that are still slushy and some that have not been scraped yet."

Church indicated the conditions of roads were at their worst in areas like Collettsville, Draco, Happy Valley and Buffalo Cove, noting the need to have the delay, especially with the prospect of more freezing overnight.

"Hopefully, by giving that extra three hours, that gives a little more time to thaw a little bit," he said, adding the decision for the delay was made out of concern again for students and staff. "There are just some roads that aren't safe right now."

The limited bus routes will be in areas that typically have bad road conditions and will include dead-end roads and others that do not provide areas for buses to turn around.

"We have some areas of the county where the people living there generally know and have the understanding that buses may not run when we have this kind of weather event," Church said.

With the three-hour delay, teachers are expected to be present at school 30 minutes prior to the arrival of students, Church pointed out.

Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute also was closed Monday due to concerns with the road conditions and parking areas, but the college operated on a two-hour delay Tuesday. Marla Christie, the school's public information officer, said a decision about today's classes will be made by 6 a.m. Anyone needing to check the status can call the Hudson campus snow line at 828-726-2900, the Watauga campus snow line at 828-297-7077, visit the Web site at www.cccti.edu or watch a local news station.

Monday's sunshine created some thawing of snow and ice on roadways, though not enough to allow crews to thoroughly clear all roads.

Primary roads throughout the county are in good shape, with most of the snow and ice pushed well off the shoulders. Some of the secondary roads still may be covered in places.

Temperatures that warmed into the mid- to upper-30s Tuesday along with the rain that fell steadily throughout the day helped with some thawing efforts. If nothing else, the rain was able to loosen some of the snow and ice on roads, which allowed the plows and motor graders from the N.C. Department of Transportation to break and scrape a lot of it off the roads.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol reminds motorists traveling on snowy and icy roads to increase their following distances, drive slow and make sure they are buckled in, adding that there still could be issues with black ice during the morning commute.