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Parents phoning Montgomery County's information line may have wondered what "extenuating" circumstances closed schools this morning.

Well, it was snow fall and black ice, Superintendent Tiffany Anderson said.

Anderson woke up this morning before 4 a.m. to get on the roads to check for their safety. After a first drive, she decided to put schools on a two-hour delay. But, in an e-mail message to subscribers, she advised checking back for a potential closure.

"“After snowfall began in parts of the county, particularly in the areas of higher elevation, we recognized that the snow was freezing upon contact given the low temperatures and this created hazardous road conditions,” she said later on.  Therefore, when we reassessed the roads by driving them again at 6 a.m. as we normally do when there is a delay, we found areas of black ice and continued snowfall.”

This is the second time this year that schools have been shut down after an initial two-hour delay. Anderson admits it's not ideal, but she said it's sometimes needed.

If students don't miss any more days of school this year, they'll be out for the summer by June 8. The district's calendar has six built-in snow days to accomodate inclement weather.

Montgomery County's school board will present a $93,807,307 operating budget to the Board of Supervisors on Monday.

School board members said they recognize money is tight, and they fully expect supervisors to suggest changes to the budget

As approved, the 2009-2010 operating budget freezes hiring of 28 classroom teachers, but maintains athletic trainer supplements, gifted coordinators and teachers, library aides and full 10.5 month contracts for Technology Resource Teachers.

Jayanne Bridges, a sixth-grade science teacher at Christiansburg Middle School, is among the six finalists for the 2009 McGlothlin Awards for Teaching Excellence.

Blue Ridge PBS administers the McGlothlin Awards, now in its 10th year. The awards, which are among the largest teaching prizes in the United States, are given annually by the McGlothlin Foundation of Bristol,
Virginia.  Teachers in parts of Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky are eligible.

Two teachers will be awarded $25,000 each. The ceremony will take place at Radford University on April 6.

Two winning teachers, one from grades K-5 and one from grades 6-12, must use $10,000 of the $25,000
award for international travel.

The finalists, who were selected from 19 semi-finalists, were judged based on a standards-based lesson plan with a 20-minute video of themselves teaching the lesson in their classrooms.  Judges will next
visit the six teachers at their schools to evaluate their classroom instruction, classroom management, interaction with students, and, if possible, use of instructional technology such as computers, video, or
digital cameras.