Liverpool (WSYR-TV) -- We’ve received a number of emails and phone calls from parents asking why Liverpool, North Syracuse and the Syracuse City School Districts chose not to close Friday morning. Kids boarded busses at the height of the storm and at least one superintendent agrees, he should have kept his kids at home.
Liverpool schools superintendent Dr. Richard Johns admits he made the call to stay open too early.
It was a coin toss. You know there was nothing that we had that told us this snow was going to come down as heavy as it did and as quickly as it did,” Johns said. “I wouldn't have made [the decision to stay open] if I'd known we were going to get dumped on right during that period of time when we were picking up all our kids.”
Many parents agree kids should have stayed home.
Tania LaFaye is the mother of a five-year-old North Syracuse student and a six-year-old Liverpool student. She told NewsChannel 9, “The roads are slippery, perish the thought if somebody can’t make that stop sign or something, they’ll ram right into these kids.”
Syracuse school officials, however, say two to four inches of snow is not a reason to close schools.
“We know the busses are okay, sometimes they slide as well, but drivers are trained how to deal with that slide and other motorists are not, so if it was only busses on the road we would never close,” Syracuse Schools’ Transportation Director Patricia Bailey said.
We all knew the first snowfall would come and know bus drivers are prepared to drive in wintry conditions, but school superintendents we spoke to said their worried about the kids who haven't had the experience in the snow yet.
“Some kids just got their license in the last year and have never driven on snow and ice before. They're the one's who don't understand that you can't go 40 mph on ice and have any control when you put the breaks on. They're the ones I worry about,” Johns said.
Jamesville DeWitt students were already on busses when Superintendent Alice Kendrick called off school Friday morning at seven. She sent an apology letter to the district. For all schools, when late decisions like that are made, students are bussed back to their homes.
