MELISSA CHAN AND MAGGIE HAYES
A shortage of teachers at Bayside High School, after this year’s biggest snowstorm so far, forced students to spend the day in the gym and auditorium.
“We just wasted a whole day,” said senior Ibrahim A. “It’s pointless to be here when we’re not doing any work.”
After students reported to school Wednesday at 8 a.m., school officials found they didn’t have enough teachers to monitor all of the students, according to parents and students.
They were then told to call their parents to pick them right back up again.
“There had to be 35, 40 parents on line waiting to get their kids,” said Michele M. who grabbed her 15-year-old daughter around 11 a.m. “What was the point of opening up?”
Michele’s daughter and multiple students said at least 40 teachers were absent.
“More than half of my teachers didn’t even come, and more than half that did didn’t even get to teach,” said Jane, a freshman. “I just sat in the auditorium and watched Iron Man 2. I slept through most of it.”
Another freshman said he walked into school around noon and a dean told him to go home.
Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina made the call to keep schools open around 11:20 p.m. the night of the storm, Tuesday, Jan. 21.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who participated in the decision, said the National Weather Service “made clear that just as the snow had intensified earlier, it was slowing very noticeably around 10 p.m.”
“It was clear at that point we would have a much better situation by morning,” he said. “We knew we could do a good job overnight of clearing the streets.”
Despite de Blasio’s confidence, Ibrahim said there were barely any teachers and students at school the next day.
They were kept in the auditorium and “just walked out” before noon.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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