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Large numbers of students and staff missing class, widespread transit delays, unplowed sidewalks: This is what it looked like on Tuesday when New York City public schools reopened for in-person learning after more than two feet of snow blanketed parts of the five boroughs.
Just 63% of students showed up to school, according to preliminary attendance numbers schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels shared at a Tuesday press conference. Roughly 12,000 of the city’s nearly 80,000 educators — or about 15% — were also absent, though 5,000 substitute teachers were called in to fill in for absent teachers, Samuels said.
Many parents tried to pressure the city to make Tuesday a remote day, with more than 172,000 people signing a petition in less than 24 hours. But the day after the massive storm, which set records in parts of Staten Island and the Bronx, schools resumed in person because they were not prepared to pivot to remote instruction immediately after mid-winter break, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the press conference, citing concerns about device access.
“It was not possible to ensure that enough students had the devices they needed to effectively participate in remote learning,” Mamdani said.
Moreover, Mamdani said, schools were open because they provide meals and child care, and a remote day would leave some families in need.
Roughly 8,000 Department of Education staff worked over the weekend to clear entrances and prepare buildings for reopening, he added.
Despite those efforts, nearly half the sidewalk outside Bay Terrace P.S. 169 was unplowed during early-morning drop-off, Bayside, Queens parent Shawna Williams said.
Her principal sent an email to parents Tuesday morning warning of significant staff absences and possible changes in class schedules. The school canceled art and physical education, some students had substitute teachers, and certain pick-up and drop-off times were adjusted.
Williams, a parent and member of the District 25 Community Education Council, said some families questioned whether reopening was safe.
“I wasn’t surprised about schools being in-person,” Williams said. “But I wonder if it was worth the effort when so many staff and students seem to be absent.”
Roughly 32 staff members were out from her southeast Brooklyn school, said Kim Basile, a physical education teacher. She typically drives to work, but her Staten Island home’s driveway was snowed in. She then encountered severe delays trying to take the express bus instead.
She never made it to school.
Mamdani confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the city deployed about 200 extra sanitation staff to Staten Island to help clear roads and resume regular service for buses. Regular service should resume in the borough on Wednesday, he said.
Parents to Improve School Transportation, a school bus advocacy group, said a remote day could have reduced lateness and absences for students who rely on yellow buses. But Mamdani downplayed busing issues.
As of about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the city received only about 78 complaints about not being able to access school buses, and of 8,000 routes only 15 reported delays, the mayor said.
Roughly 150,000 children rely on yellow buses for their commutes. By the end of the school day, there were 37 reports of school bus vendor delays, according to public data.
Mamdani said more than 2,600 sanitation workers plowed every street at least once and cleared over 7,300 crosswalks and 3,366 bus stops after the storm began. Still, “due to blowing snow after the storm, many will need to be redressed,” he said.
New York City transit authority buses were operating with delays on Tuesday, and regular service was expected to resume Wednesday morning.
New York City schools had a traditional snow day on Monday rather than a remote day of learning after the mayor requested a waiver from the state’s 180-instructional day requirement. The city had already counted four professional development days toward that 180-day requirement.
Lizzie Walsh is a Data Fellow at Chalkbeat New York, reporting NYC local news and data-driven stories across Chalkbeat’s bureaus. Contact her atewalsh@chalkbeat.org.
