School closures in the Southeast stretch into 2nd week after latest winter storm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — School systems across the Southeast are dealing with weather-related school closures for the second week in a row, leading some to try remote learning while many prepare to add more school days to make up for lost instructional time.

A series of winter storms has left tens of thousands of people without electricity and made some roads too icy for travel, complicating efforts to reopen schools from Mississippi to Maryland. Some cities, including Nashville, Tennessee, still had unresolved outages from a storm a week earlier when another hit this weekend, accompanied by frigid temperatures. Nearly 75,000 customers were without power in Mississippi and Tennessee as of Monday afternoon, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us.

In Belzoni, Mississippi, Chiquitta Fields has stayed in a hotel with her four children and 1-year-old grandchild the past week because their home lost power during the previous storm. She's shelled out about $700 just to stay at the hotel — a necessity because her granddaughter needs to be on oxygen.

The financial burden has been especially stressful because Fields, 41, has been unable to work the past week in her job as an assistant elementary teacher. Her kids haven't been exempt from that pressure either, Fields said.

“It's been stressful for them, with the moving back and forth from one place and to another,” she said. “Children don't adjust well when you do all that.”

As her family's situation suggests, the decision to close schools for weather doesn't go without complications for children's learning.

Absenteeism from severe weather can take a steep toll on children's learning, according to a report from the Northwest Evaluation Association, a not-for-profit education research firm. Missing a day of school from a weather-related closure translates to almost four days of lost learning time due to other exacerbating factors in a student's personal life, the firm said. Those added challenges can range from disruptions to housing to poor mental health.

Public school systems in and around some of the biggest southeastern cities — Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis and Raleigh — are part of the wave of school closures this week. Other major Southern cities, such as Louisville, operated on a two-hour delay Monday after missing school last week.

In North Carolina, much of the state's public school districts remained closed Monday, with some extending their closures to at least Tuesday. In Mississippi, one of the hardest-hit states in the latest storm, some school districts in the northern part of the state canceled classes through the rest of this week.

Power outages have also heavily contributed to school closures in cities such as Nashville. At the peak of outages, 71 schools had no power or partial service, according to a Metro Nashville Public Schools news release. All of the schools had their power restored by Monday afternoon.

Several major Southeastern universities were forced to close their campuses or cancel classes at least through Monday, including Ole Miss, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Some schools attempted a version of remote learning, but those efforts have been limited by power outages affecting students' ability to work from home. In some cases, though, parents said their districts seemed well prepared to implement remote learning.

Olivia White's children stayed home a couple days last week and then again Monday after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools canceled classes. She found her kids' remote schoolwork manageable, adding that the school system seemed understanding of how families may choose to spend their time on a snow day. In White's case, her kids spent some time outside building a snow fort and throwing snowballs at each other.

In Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Tennessee's largest public school system, schools will be closed for at least seven straight days come Tuesday. Despite the closures, the school system said it is providing daily instructional resources and learning packets for students to access at home while they remain out of the classroom.

Learning packets covered a variety of school subjects such as language arts, literacy, mathematics and social studies, depending on what grade a student is in. The at-home materials also include mental health activities for students broken up by age group — such as coloring for preschoolers or journal writing for high schoolers — to address what may be a distressing time for kids stuck at home.

Other school systems have opted for a more traditional snow day, telling students they have no schoolwork and should go out and enjoy the weather.

Regardless of how districts implement closures, many are considering whether to add more school days to make up for the lost instructional time. Metro Nashville Public Schools told parents in an email that the district plans to convert a teacher professional development on Presidents’ Day to a regular school day.

Sophie Bates in Belzoni, Mississippi; Erik Verduzco in Charlotte, North Carolina; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Travis Loller in Nashville, Tennessee; and Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

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A playground in the Humphreys County School District sits empty on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026 in Belzoni, Miss. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)

Chiquitta Fields and her son bring their belongings inside their home on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Belzoni, Miss.. (AP Photo/Sophie Bates)

This image taken from a video released by the city of Oxford, Miss., shows crews working on power lines Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. (City of Oxford Mississippi via AP)

A truck plows snow along the parkway during a winter storm Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, in Sevierville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Tennessee National Guard Specialist Taylor Osteen, left, holds a chainsaw as he takes a break from cutting trees from a road Friday, Jan. 30, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

CAIRO (AP) — A dozen Palestinian returnees were allowed into Gaza from Egypt late Monday after the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah border crossing was marred by delays. Their arrival came hours after a small group of medical evacuees was ferried from the territory into Egypt.

The reopening of the crossing marked a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire but mostly a symbolic one, with few people allowed to travel and no goods allowed to pass through. The limitations were apparent Monday as crossings fell well short of the 50 people officials had said would be allowed to move in each direction.

About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave the devastated territory via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials. Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.

The crossing had been closed since Israeli troops seized it in May 2024. The number of travelers is expected to increase over time if the system is successful. Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry.

Ambulances queued for hours at the border before ferrying patients into Egypt, the state-run Al-Qahera News satellite television channel showed. Just before midnight, a bus arrived in Gaza carrying Palestinian returnees who had fled the fighting early in the war. As the vehicle entered the compound of a hospital in Khan Younis, a girl wearing barrettes and an older woman stood just inside the front door, waving to relatives anxious for their return.

Before the war, Rafah was the main crossing for people moving in and out of Gaza. The territory’s handful of other crossings are all shared with Israel. Under the terms of the ceasefire, which went into effect in October, Israel’s military controls the area between the Rafah crossing and the zone where most Palestinians live.

Violence continued across the coastal territory Monday. Gaza hospital officials said an Israeli navy ship had fired on a tent camp, killing a 3-year-old Palestinian boy. Israel’s military said it was looking into the incident.

Rajaa Abu Mustafa stood outside a Gaza hospital where her 17-year-old son Mohamed awaited evacuation. He was blinded by a shot to the eye last year as he joined desperate Palestinians seeking food from aid trucks outside the southern city of Khan Younis.

“The health ministry called and told us that we will travel to Egypt for (his) treatment,” she said.

About 150 hospitals across Egypt are ready to receive patients evacuated from Gaza through Rafah, authorities said. But the isolated crossing is separated from Cairo by a six-hour drive. The Egyptian Red Crescent said it has readied “safe spaces” on the Egyptian side of the border to support those evacuated.

More than 10,000 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since the war began, according to the World Health Organization. But Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing brought the pace of evacuations to a crawl, with an average of 17 patients a week leaving for most of the time since.

Israel has banned sending patients to hospitals in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the war began, cutting off what was previously the main outlet for Palestinians needing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.

U.N. officials on Monday called on other countries to take in more patients from Gaza “so that everyone receives the treatment they need.”

With the crossing reopened, Gaza residents looked forward to the return of family members who fled earlier in the war.

“This time it's real,” said Iman Rashwan, anticipating the arrival of her mother and sister. They left Gaza a year ago when her mother's heart condition worsened and she was referred for treatment in Egypt.

“They called us yesterday and said they received news that they will leave,” Rashwan said. “We have been waiting for it for too long.”

The Rafah crossing will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents with a small Palestinian presence. Historically, Israel and Egypt have vetted Palestinians applying to cross. Fearing that Israel could use the crossing to push Palestinians out of the enclave, Egypt has repeatedly said it must be open for them to enter and exit Gaza.

A 3-year-old Palestinian was killed when Israel's navy hit tents sheltering displaced people in Khan Younis, Palestinian hospital authorities said. According to Nasser hospital, which received the body, the attack happened in Muwasi, a tent camp area on Gaza’s coast.

Also on Monday, Israel's military said it killed four Palestinians in northern Gaza who approached troops near the line marking Israeli-controlled territory, “posing an imminent threat to them.”

More than 520 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire went into effect on Oct. 10, according to Gaza's health ministry. They are among the over 71,800 Palestinians killed since the start of the war, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.

The ministry, part of Gaza's Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Israel had said seizing the Rafah crossing in May 2024 was part of efforts to combat arms-smuggling by the Hamas militant group. The crossing was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a ceasefire in early 2025.

Israel had resisted reopening the Rafah crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza cleared the way to move forward.

The reopening is seen as a key step as the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.

The truce halted more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas that began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.

The second phase of the ceasefire deal is more complicated. It calls for installing the new Palestinian committee to govern Gaza, deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas and taking steps to begin rebuilding.

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press journalists Wafaa Shurafa in Khan Younis, Gaza and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

This story has been corrected to show that the latest figure from Gaza's Health Ministry says 71,800 Palestinians have been killed.

Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

Juman Al-Najjar, a 3-year-old Palestinian patient, looks out from a vehicle with other patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian patients wave from a vehicle in Khan Younis on their way to the Rafah crossing, as they leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A U.N. vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinian patients board a vehicle in Khan Younis on their way to the Rafah crossing, as they leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Juman Al-Najjar, a 3-year-old Palestinian patient, looks out from a vehicle with other patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray beside the body of Iyad Abu Rabi, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Khadija Abu Rabi cradles the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Khadija Abu Rabi mourns over the body of her son, Iyad, 3, who was killed when an Israeli strike hit tents sheltering displaced people along the coast of Khan Younis, according to hospital officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A crane enters the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

Trucks carrying humanitarian aids line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing, heading for inspection by Israeli authorities before entering the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)

Ambulances line up to enter the Egyptian gate of the Rafah crossing on the way to the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohamed Arafat)