Lynn school day unaffected by ice storm

LYNN-Students hoping icy conditions would score them a long weekend had their short-term dreams crushed Monday morning, but the decision to keep schools open proved correct as the day went off with little incident.Superintendent Nicholas Kostan said he wrestled with the decision to cancel or delay school due to the freezing rain and ice, but the day’s projected weather reports were not enough to convince him that the plug needed to be pulled.While most area residents awoke to slippery sidewalks and vehicles encased in ice, city crews worked throughout the morning to sand area roads and school entrances. That, combined with steadily improving conditions as the day continued, allowed for a difficult, but relatively uneventful commute for students and teachers.Kostan said there are several factors that go into the decision to delay or cancel school, and unless the city is buried in a blizzard, whichever call he makes will always follow with mixed reviews.”Everything seemed to go smoothly (Monday) despite the icy conditions. It is always a tough call when you have a change in the weather like that,” he said. “It is probably one of the toughest calls we have to make. Either way, it seems like we always have some parents that are upset.”Along with the obvious question of whether the roads are safe for buses and students on foot, Kostan must also consider if the weather pattern will sustain itself in the area throughout the day.On days that school is cancelled, most parents are stuck with the task of finding last-minute childcare while they are at work, and scheduling is also a big concern considering that snow days must be made up at the end of the school year.”We have heard from a few parents, we always hear from parents when this decision is made,” he said. “But you just look at the weather and try to make a judgment call. There have been times when I’ve cancelled school and you don’t see another drop of precipitation for the rest of the day, and then you have people upset because we cancelled school. So, it is a tough call, but there weren’t any districts in the area that did cancel school and I haven’t heard of any problems from any of our principals.”Peabody and Salem public schools were the only two districts in the area to enforce delays, and none of the schools in the Greater Lynn area chose to cancel the day entirely.Kostan said he asked principals to practice judgment and leniency when marking students tardy, because the bad weather did cause slower traffic and delays for some who did not take the bus to school.Kostan was also in contact with the transportation office after the initial morning routes were complete and said he heard of only one “very minor” incident involving an empty bus and a vehicle that slid because of the ice.