Mayor Thomas M. Menino defended his decision Friday to keep schools open as a late winter storm surprised Boston with more than a foot of snow.
Almost 40 percent of the city’s 57,000 public school students stayed home, leaving empty desks and vacant seats on the city’s fleet of 700 buses. Forecasts varied drastically and all underestimated the amount and duration of the snow, which city officials had expected to peter out by 9 a.m.
Comments
Snow had little to do with this non-decision. The Super, esteemed Dr. Johnson, was out of town per her normal four day weekend, leaving no one at Court Street to make the call. Mumbles is right you don't make this call at 7, you make it at 2 an err on the side of keeping the buses off the streets.
Now how stupid is marking kids present when they weren't? What kind of messahe are you sending to those whi made it in? You fools?
We're sending the message to our children that it is ok to lie...so long as it makes you look good. And then we can't figure out what is wrong the fabric of society. We are teaching our children to alter the morals.
In most towns, the Superintendent of schools makes the decision to cancel school. If this indeed was Menino's decision, perhaps it is time to say goodbye.
You're asking him to leave because he didn't call off school one day?
I don't understand the big deal here. With my experience in education, the decision is usually made by the schools chief or super. Why involve a committee into such a decision? In smaller cities the decision to cancel school can morning in the morning, but a city like Boston needs to make a firm decision the night before.
A dangerous, thoughtless decision....what I saw yesterday around my
local school was a disgrace, students walking in the middle of street, buses
swerving, staff/ teachers slipping and falling....this decision did not put people first and in my mind questions the
competency of district leadership. We are in the 21st century folks...there has got to be a better way of
dealing with dangerous weather!!!
Thank you to all the bus drivers who kept our children safe on the roads. Thank you to our teachers who put their own lives on the line to make sure our children are safe, were safe at school and getting into vehicles going home from school, and teaching all at the same time. The decision should lie with the SUPERINTENDENT, not the Mayor. I think it is time for both of them resign, and do it gracefully. We are lucky that none of our children were injured by their decision yestereday. And in this case...I am pretty sure that parents would have understood a late closing, just as they would if there was a heating problem in a school, and that school was forced to shut down after 5am. Come on, I think we're working with limited brain cells here. RETIREMENT TIME
Oh, come on, it was a snowstorm. As far as I can tell, there were no storm-related auto fatalities, no children were run down in the street. No one has more respect and admiration for public school teachers than I do, but do you really think they "put there lives on the line" getting to work? Geez, maybe you just moved here from Hawaii or SoCal, but snow happens in Massachusetts, we deal with it. And the idea that the Mayor and Superintendent should resign over this, lord, what is wrong with you?
Everyone including the forecasters were fooled by the storm. Why not admit the decision was based on a faulty WX forecast and move on. It's all about safety and not about day care, etc., and defending yourself as mayor.