No snow day for Philly students

"HINDSIGHT is 20/20," a top Philadelphia School District official said in response to questions about why city public and parochial schools opened yesterday despite a snowstorm that prompted most suburban districts to close.

"There was more snow that fell than anybody had anticipated in any forecast," said Fred Farlino, the district's interim chief operating officer.

Farlino said that snow-related school-closing decisions usually start with a conference call at about 3:30 a.m. between school officials, staff from the city managing director's office, the streets department and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The consensus at 4:30 a.m. was to open schools with "one to two inches" of snow forecast during the day, he said.

But when Farlino looked out on the streets at 6:30 a.m. to see two inches already down and more falling, he was "surprised at the volume."

About 10 percent of the district's 1,400 bus routes didn't operate yesterday due to delayed traffic, hills and drivers who didn't show up for work.

Farlino said that his office will investigate and may not pay contractors who didn't provide bus service.

After schools opened yesterday, the district decided at about 10 a.m. to close schools at noon, causing parents to scramble.

"It was a tremendous inconvenience to parents of young children who woke up and left for work believing they did not have to make alternative arrangements," said Keith Newman, a teacher at Morrison School in Olney.

The district closed schools early because of a National Weather Service warning calling for "sleet and icy streets starting at 1 p.m.," Farlino said.

Mayor Nutter said that he understood the decision: "Their concern is kids getting out of school, with the ice."

As for deciding to open schools in the first place, Nutter added, "I think it may not have been totally clear what the weather was doing at 3 o'clock in the morning."

The school closing came too late for Eliana Cohen, 12, a sixth grader at the Masterman School in Center City.

"I was really, really upset" when she heard that Philadelphia schools were opening, Eliana said. "I said, 'No! No! No!' "

Her father drove her to school from Roxborough, where they had trouble because of the hills.

"What really surprised me was that the streets were not plowed, not even the [Schuylkill] Expressway," Eliana said.

When she finally made it to school, only 24 of the 33 students in her class were there.

The numbers were much lower at the elementary school her younger sister attends, Eliana said. Out of 18 children in her sister's class, only six reported to school.

When schools finally let out at noon, Eliana said, students were still upset because they "had to get up early, get dressed and make it to school."

"The teachers were disappointed; everybody was going crazy because we didn't have a snow day," Eliana said. *

Staff writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.