Nutter: Schools open Wednesday
by thenotebook on Oct 30 2012 Posted in Latest news
Mayor Nutter just announced that District, charter and archdiocesan schools will be open Wednesday. Superintendent Hite said that some bus service may be delayed.
Text of the District's statement:
PHILADELPHIA -- School District of Philadelphia schools and administrative offices will be open for Wednesday, October 31, as per their normal schedule.
The District does anticipate that some yellow school buses may be delayed in the morning as school buses deal with road conditions. The District urges parents, staff and the general public to monitor the District’s website at www.philasd.org for individual school and program notifications.
Updated information will also be posted on the District's Information Hotline at 215-400-INFO (4636).
Check back for updates.
Comments (16)
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 15:55.
That's great that school is open... of course many of us teachers and I am sure families of students are going stir crazy but how does the district expect all of its' staff to get to work tomorrow like normal? There are still power outages, roads blocked, etc. and some of us are not coming from short distances... I am coming from NJ. I am sick and tired of not being respected as a teacher and my safety not being taken into consideration. Of course I care about my students but sometimes, to feel like we are working for a cause, could someone show us about of respect? Many other school districts are closed- some people may need it and some may not but how about show respect for your staff and teachers.....
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 16:08.
Closures are based on conditions in the local school district. It is unfortunate that so many Philadelphia teachers do not live in Philadelphia. We should return to the requirement that all staff live in Philly. Then, maybe the taxpayers of Phila. would be more sympathetic to teachers.
Submitted by Mister Tibbs (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 16:48.
The school district provides the option for folks who are not able to get to work to take an inclement weather day. We get to choose to work or stay home if inconvenienced by power outage or other storm related issues. No disrespect intended.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 17:36.
Imagine being frustrated, cold, hungry and without an education. Imagine hoping to have one chance to get back to normalcy after days of uncertainty, discomfort and many awful things that several students in the district have to face. Imagine being on call as a first responder for days without sleep or being able to get in touch with your family. Now, be thankful that you have a job to return to, a house to lose power in and a profession where countless people count on you for their education and support. I'm sick of having my profession disrespected by people who never take a moment to think about the reasons we should've become teachers. You disrespect us more than any district official ever could. Enjoy your day off.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 18:10.
Thank you.
Submitted by ANON 452 (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 18:51.
Agreed. Everyone should make it their business to get to work tomorrow. Living far away from where you work is a personal choice.
The major highways are open.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 18:45.
Hopefully the district is making the right call. Driving after the ice storm was perilous, as was during that slushy snowstorm that started in the morning. Both times they regretted their decision and sent us home early. Half our teachers couldn't make it in either time, so we put the kids in the auditorium and showed movies. I hope teachers are planning on their commute taking longer tomorrow.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 19:01.
Check out the kids facebook pages & tweets. There is constant coverage about 2 million people not having power and leaders telling everyone to stay safe, stay in your homes. All the other school districts? Closed. What the kids understand? "There are cars getting set on fireby broken power lines, homes are getting crushed by trees & SCHOOL IS CANCELLED for all districts. Oh, except Philly. Get your lazy butts in to school." ***THAT is how the kids are interpreting it. People keep talking about the teachers, the teachers, and once again the conversation about the kids has been turned around to what is the best for the teachers.
Find one student in the school district of Philadelphia that is tweeting, "YEAH! Thank God I have a safe place to go tomorrow." They see a bunch of adults telling their children to stay safe & stay home except for the kids of Philly getting scuffled into school. I wonder what the attendance rate will be tomorrow & I wonder how many of the 500,000 people without power in Philadelphia will even get the message that the schools are open?
Submitted by ANON 452 (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 19:19.
It is @ 50,000 w/o power in the city of Philadelphia. PECO serves more than Philly. (see PECO's outage map here: https://www.peco.com/CustomerService/OutageCenter/OutageMap/Pages/Outage...) Lots of other districts are open. New Jersey, parts of Delaware and Montgomery County have it bad, but those places are not in Philly. Our kids do not live there, most of SEPTA is up and running, we can not set our school schedule to the suburbs.
Submitted by rob (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 19:24.
I think attendance is going to be very high. The students want to be with their friends and not sitting at home doing nothing. I also dont think many people lost power. In the suburbs there are a lot more trees and more downed powerlines that take time to clean up. In Philly, as soon as SEPTA is running, everything else should be ready to go.
Submitted by J.J. McHabe (not verified) on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 21:42.
You are correct. Tomorrow is also Halloween. I know all schools don't let their students dress up, but some do. They want to show off their costumes. I've been starting to get cabin fever being inside with this lousy weather, and part of me is looking forward to going back. Of course the second I walk in my Principal will find some nit-picky thing to criticize me for, and I will regret ever saying I was looking forward to going back....
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 00:50.
Southeast DELCO, Camden, Cheltenham and Upper Darby all open, just to name a few of the closest.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 08:04.
MOST of you must live in Philadelphia because if you did live in the "burbs" where the damage is ridiculous you might be singing a different toon. There are down trees, not small trees, but trees large enough to demolish a house that have fallen down all over the place in my town. My husband, a volunteer firefighter has been on over 50 fire calls for down wires which could at any moment become a house fire or other accident. The power is still out in almost 3/4 of my town, it is so bad that even the local police have instituted a curfew for residents to try and prevent crime. There is still TONS of break ins occuring, EVEN during the day. So for a lot of us teachers who live in the "burbs" we are quite frightened to leave our houses. This obviously does not mention the numerous street and traffic lights that are still out which makes getting to the highways treacherous. Yes the children of Philadelphia need school for many reasons, and yes it should be about the kids...BUT ONCE IN A WHILE the adults who service the children should be taken into account when decisions are made about opening school after a natural disaster. Please get off your high horses about how we should think about the students and how hard this is for them to be out of school. Some of us are dealing with issues as well this week and all we would have appreciated from our employer was 1 more day to sort things out.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 08:31.
Do you realize how ridiculous you sound???? If it's that bad for you, then by all means stay home, take as many sick or personal days as you need! As stated by someone above, it's YOUR choice to not live in the city where you work. I left home early, just in case traffic was bad and got here with no problem!! So just because you are experiencing difficulties, the whole district should be closed??? Really????? Grow up!!!! Stop whining and deal with it!!!!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 08:39.
School districts are open or closed based on LOCAL conditions . If you don't like living in Philly maybe you should find a job in your LOCAL community. Philly schools need to reinstate the residency requirement. Far too many teachers have "fled" the city for the 'burbs. We have no local voting power because the PFT has moved to the 'burbs as well.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/31/2012 - 08:44.
I had a great deal of damage during Irene. Couldn't say that I had time to read or post on this site during that terrible time. I hope both you and your husband are safe and are able to return to a normalcy soon.
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