BPS had full day, other districts lacked communication ahead of snow storm

BOSTON — Boston Public Schools had a full day of classes ahead of Tuesday's snow storm -- and some parents were not happy about it.

In West Roxbury for instance, one parent told Boston 25 News she was worried about driving with her infant to go pick up her other children from school. And that too, during the height of the snowfall.

"I don't understand the reason for keeping the schools open when the conditions are that poor," she said.

But in other school districts, including Fitchburg, despite the early release there was some frustration with a lack of communication.

Many parents assumed it was going to be a normal school day because they hadn't heard otherwise. That is, until their kids started calling and texting them from school.

At Fitchburg Middle School, one mom didn't find out until later in the day and had to rush home early from work.

"Kind of a miscommunication day, yes it was. Most definitely," Maria Bailey said.

Fortunately at least, most parents had a few hours until dismissal time to make some schedule adjustments. Still, the ill-timed snow was a shoo-in for chaos all around.

LIST: School closings, delays, early dismissals

By mid-afternoon, about 90 public school districts in eastern and central Massachusetts had dismissed students early.

Why didn't Boston Public Schools then?

"We don't have the ability, not the way our transportation works," Mayor Marty Walsh said, in response to the growing concern with road conditions. "That's one of the complications when we had our situation last year [and] we tried to change the start times. One of those was to come up with a better system to do early release."

In other words, because of the bus schedules and staggered school timings, BPS could not have early dismissal -- even though the snow was expected to intensify closer to the end of the full school day.

"That's why we are out there extra early, pre-treating the roads and making sure there is enough salt on the roads," Walsh said.

BPS added that with extra curricuar activiites cancelled, they will have extra buses ready to go if need be.

HOUR-BY-HOUR: What time does snow arrive in my town?

Cox Media Group