Lexington principal’s video shows what cold weather is like for students

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — A local elementary school principal made a viral Facebook video showing us what the frigid cold weather is like for many students.

The video comes after Fayette County Schools closed for two days this week due to extreme cold weather and unsafe driving conditions.

The decision behind closing schools received a lot of backlash on social media.

In the video, Gerry Brooks the principal at Liberty Elementary is shredding layers of his clothing to bring awareness to the fact many kids in our area don’t have the winter wear needed to keep them warm when temperatures drop.

Brooks explained, “So my point was that I absolutely love the cold and I said ‘But’, and I then took off all my outer gear and I put on a thin sweatshirt. And I took off my insulated boots and put on my regular shoes and said ‘That’s what most of our kids have’.”

He posted the video to Facebook and it really blew up. It’s been viewed more than a million times with over 30,000 shares.

“The controversy we’re having here in Kentucky on the idea that we have higher ups that are questioning the idea of why schools are closed,” says Brooks. “I knew that it would pretty much explode.”

He’s referring to Governor Matt Bevin’s comments Tuesday, on the nation “getting soft” and schools closing due to the cold is proof of this.

Brooks says in the video he’s explaining in part, the main reason behind closing schools. The kids.

“I’ve seen kids come in with paper towels in their shoes because they were cold and their shoes had holes in them. I’ve seen kids come in with towels wrapped around their hands because they didn’t have gloves,” says Brooks. “If we had not been out we would’ve had a lot of kids out in the cold with improper protection for the cold.”

Brooks says the message was also for parents, who were inconvenienced and upset with the school closings.

“So it’s stressful because the fact that we have people questioning us when we are the experts and we’re the ones that are trying our best to make sure what we’re doing is best for students, best for families, best overall.”

He ends the video by telling people to be a participant not a bystander and to go buy some winter clothes if you can, and drop them off at a local school with kids who really need them.