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Boston schools closed tomorrow
By adamg on Tue, 03/14/2017 - 3:19pm
Mayor Walsh says he'd rather err on the side of caution. All other city departments will be open.
The city snow emergency ends at 7 a.m. tomorrow, which means you have 48 hours from that point to hold onto any spaces you shoveled out.
In the spirit of Tom Menino, he said the city's main focus today is "clearing the major artillleries."
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Comments
Hate to say it
We're snow wimps. There are Midwest universities that haven't had a snow day in decades. If we Bostonians can't figure out how to go to school the day after a storm we'll never get anything done.
Yup. Just look at any grocery
Yup. Just look at any grocery store the past few days to see how embarrassing we are with snow.
Yes because that's a good comparison.
College aged students traversing a college campus v elementary school kids in an urban area with heavy traffic.
Can you list these universities?
Also, you might want to look at THIS before spouting any more.
Just because some fratbrained administrator likes to play the "we never have snow days" game doesn't mean that people don't get hurt as a result of idiotic policy.
BTW - how far do your local teachers travel to school? There is this thing that has happened in recent years called "commuting". You might want to look that up, too.
Sure Swirlygirl
Not a case of fratbrained administrators at all. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus had no closings for winter weather in the 90s and just a handful in the truly brutal winters of the 70s and 80s.. Granted, teachers cancelled night classes, but rarely. I know because my brother and father taught there and they didn't complain about the tradition. I'm careful to not make light of weather as it can be deadly, but nobody died from this. And the public district closings had similar records ovee the period. Often no snow days for consecutive years (for example district 270 whose superintendent was a family friend). In the late 1990s things changed. We wanted to play it safer. But we went to far. In Boston, we live in a winter climate and I question the wisdom of Bostonians *multi-day* school closings for what in other parts of the country is actually pretty typical winter weather.
One little thing
Swirly points us to UMD. Duluth. You know, the campus with the good hockey program.
Boston plans for 5 snow days. The Ides of March is day 5, and spring is less than a week away. I think closing tomorrow is overkill, but opening today would have been insane.
Because our kids need less school
It's an election year
The school department has 8000 + employees, many of whom vote, plus friends family and more.
Yes, they should have closed today. Not tomorrow - at worst a delayed open to let the ice melt. But if you are mayor and you want votes, being known as the guy that gives 40,000 paid vacatuon days at the drop of a snowflake every year helps your cause.
As I've said before, make the first five snow days mandatory to be made up and you'll see us imitating Minnesota real fast.
This is cynical even for you
40,000 paid vacation days? Really? Have you ever met a school teacher, or talked to one on their "day off," which is usually spent skittering around trying to figure out how to condense 5 days of curriculum into 4 (or in this case 3) days?
I agree that this looked a little sketchy as a snow day, but I took the train to work this morning rather than drive--the roads were absolute shit after the melt-and-refreeze. I didn't want to risk it in an all-wheel-drive sedan; there's no sum of money you could pay me to drive a school bus on this kind of ice, much less a bus full of elementary school aged kids. The mayor who orders a school bus out on those roads, and end up with a fatal crash as a result, is a one-term mayor. He's not my favorite guy, but Marty is no idiot: he knows this.
Wouldn't have said this maybe 1p years ago
Seems to be a growing trend. I think this might be the second "2 day" snow closure this year? With milder winters, seems like they close at the drop of a hat in recent years. All our kids need more days in school, but especially our urban kids. Again, easy change. First 5 snow days must be made up. If we get the winter from hell and there are 8 snow days, then 3 don't happen, but otherwise hell, high water or snow, you have a180 day school year which is already one of the shortest in the developed world.
God bless the teachers. But don't tell me they work any more or less hard than anyone else.
Growing Trend
Because people like you hate to pay taxes but like to make demands.
Who cares? They still go to school about 20 days a year more than you did.
Another thing you probably deny: more storms, more severe, more ice. Climate change, duuuude.
He has no idea
No clue whatsoever.
He knows no teachers. He has no kids. He has never talked to teachers or watched what they do. If if is possible to be less of an education expert and more full of himself about his greedy ignorance, I would be surprised.
Worse yet, he thinks that untrained apes administering shocks to students while grunting and working for peanuts means BETTER schools than professional teaching staff with master's degrees and years of training in curriculum and classroom management because the sexy voice of Betsy DuhhhVose in his head says so as she fondles his wallet.
Don't engage him. He's an idealogue - which is worse than a moron.
Sadly for you
My first job out of college was teaching middle school and HS English which is one of the reasons that even though I don't have kids I remain passionate about getting our kids the best education we can give them - at a price that offers good value.
Not quite paid vacation
Sorry for the confusion.
The schools are open 180 days regardless. The goal is to close by the end of June. If there were no snow days this year, they'd close a week earlier.
Actually looks like you could be correct
Based on the comments back in 2015, it led me to believe that it was a "use 'em or lose em" system (which is what we had when I was growing up in NY - but anything over 5 days had to be made up).
There is a "floating" last day of school in Boston - which stretches if there are cancellations, but you can't go past June 28th (in this calendar year).
What is unclear is whether those cancellations refer to the first five cancellations (which means the last day for BPS is already stretched to June 28th?! )
Or if it means the first 5 days count as school days, the next 5 need to be made up and then anything over 10 doesn't get made up (which would explain all the angst about not going to school in July back in 2015 when this would have been an issue).
Happy to admit I'm wrong on this - but as you can see - it's very confusing inside the baseball of school scheduling.
Extending school into the
Extending school into the summer to make up for snow days is useless. How much educating actually happens in those extra days?
Sorry Stevil & Swirly
First to Swirly, you are correct. It is not the 1960s. But these teachers are making a choice to NOT live in the city and commute to Boston. So, my sympathy levels for them are low. If they are committed to the students of Boston, they should be willing to come in and work for them. And if that means tricky driving conditions, oh well. That was a choice they made.
And to Stevil, this "40,000 paid vacation days = votes" doesn't really work since a majority of teachers for BPS don't live in Boston. You know who does? Parents like me who need to send their kid to school because we don't have family nearby to watch them on a "snow day" like today. So the people with the "free day off" can't actually for vote for the mayor, while those of us who need BPS and need our streets cleaned can for the mayor.
I do agree it should have been a 2 hour delay today. Boston probably has as more pieces of equipment for roads then the cities and towns that surround us.
I also think the the plowing on the streets near my house was far worse than the other storms this year. I don't think I saw one plow or salter after 5pm come down my street.
You want fewer snow days?
Insist on tough enforcement of sidewalk clearing laws.
Demand that school lot clearing be a priority rather than an afterthought.
Fine plow companies for plowing in wheelchair ramps.
Demand that the MBTA clear all bus stops in the area of any bus that goes by any school.
Require that these things be priorities rather than after thoughts and schools will be able to open more quickly after a storm.
You live there? DEMAND IT.
Meh
At the start of that horrible snow time a few years back, one of you suburbanites were crooning about how Boston should remove all the snow on the sidewalks. I was up in Woburn a few days later, and notably several days after the last storm, and came upon the city DPW folks (or whoever does the work) clearing the sidewalks. Days after the storm.
The reality is that the City in this case erred on the side of caution. The kiddies could have gotten to school today, but the fear was there. The reality is that all the things you think our city should be keeping an eye on will still be issues tomorrow, the difference being that the kids will be going to school.
'' BTW - how far do your
'' BTW - how far do your local teachers travel to school? There is this thing that has happened in recent years called "commuting". You might want to look that up, too. ''
School , no school argue all you want. This one is lame Other people have to commute as well, the world isn't stopping. You want stores replenished, that stuff isn't emailed into the stores from the dc. What about those guys up in buckets fixing the wires ? Do they bunk in at the service centers? Come on for crying out loud, we got a civilization here to run, instant gratifications and all.
Universities used to have the profs near campus
Schools usually had teachers living in the same town.
Things change - you obviously haven't. You think it is 1960 (when there were fewer storms and less ice).
In the 60's you could walk to
In the 60's you could walk to the local neighborhood school , and if you did well there , you could take the MTA to the local college or university of your choice. No need to walk up hill in both directions either.
lol
But I spent 6 hours shoveling my spot. And it was uphill both ways. And the Boston Yeti kept chasing me. My spot is mine until the last speck of snow disappears. This is the way my neighborhood has done things since 1776, and if you have a problem with it, I'll bayonet your tires.
Hahahaha!
Paul Revere fought for our right to save our parking spaces.
"clearing the major
As long as Varitek was able to split the uprights, I see no reason this can't be an ionic moment for the mayor.
Clearing my artilleries
To shoot my canons at the guy that wants to bayonet my tires.
A very Dorchester (Heights) thing - especially if I wait until Friday.
10/10
.
Back atcha
n/t
New snoweaters
why doesn't the City use some of those new snow blowers/melters they bought last year and start clearing the snow OFF the streets. We have a parade this weekend.
Seemed ridiculous to call
Seemed ridiculous to call this yesterday but I just rolled into work and the sidewalks are GARBAGE. Black ice all around. Plenty of neighbors scraped down to the concrete but there's still a nice thin layer of slip and break your nose. Neighbors who didn't get out there after it stopped snowing are looking at ice chunks and rock hard slip and slides all the way down their property.
You win this one, Marty.