When a big winter storm threatens to strike a major city like Washington DC or New York City, administrators who run the school districts therein have an extremely tough decision to make: do they close schools or not?
The cities of Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Newark have all announced that they will shut down schools in their districts tomorrow. There's one glaring exception to the enormous list of school closings: New York City.
As of tonight, New York's 1.1 million students will report for classes on time tomorrow morning during the height of the major winter storm. We'll see if this changes.
Storm total snowfall forecast from NWS Islip NY as of 10PM Wednesday.
By rush hour tomorrow, the snow will be well underway with as much as 3" possibly on the ground by the time children have to ride and walk to school. The storm total for NYC could be 10-14" of snow along with around 1/10" of ice from freezing rain.
NYC Schools caught hell for staying open during the last snowstorm when 6-12" of snow fell across the area. ABC 7 asked the New York City Schools Chancellor for her rationale for keeping schools open:
"Damned if you do, damned if you don't," said Carmen Farina, the New York City Schools Chancellor.
[snip]
Farina says many kids are so poor, their only chance for a hot lunch is at school. Their parents are unable to take care of them, if they stay home.
"Parents have to go to work. You didn't hear of any businesses in the city of New York closed down. Macy's was open. So if people can go shopping and go to work, then kids can go to school," Farina said.
The decision in most school districts isn't purely based on travel safety or meeting state-mandated classroom time requirements. A big part of the decision comes down to those children getting a hot meal that day. If schools close, some (if not most) of those children may not have an adequate meal that day.
Keep this and other considerations in mind when you criticize a school district for staying open during a storm. While the benefits are clear, this might turn out to be a reckless decision. NYC could see over a foot of snow and ice tonight and tomorrow. That's a pain (and flat-out dangerous) to walk or drive in. We'll see if NYCDoE changes its mind in the morning, but for now, NYC is open and on time.