I went to my building today - road and sidewalks seem fine - road leading up to the building is normally 2 lanes in each direction and there;s usually a path for students who get dropped off at one bus stop. It's now down to one lane and no path. this means that kids will be walking in the street and sharing the single lane with cars.

The way I see it, this is a no win situation - cancel more school and we end up going to school through July. Go and people complain that it's not safe. My prediction is that we have low attendance for the remainder of the week but that things slowly improve. I for one am glad that we are finally heading back to school. I miss my students and miss the school. I also think that if we wait until the streets and bus stops look great we will be waiting until it hits 80 degrees outside. Time to suck it up, dig it out and get back to business as (un)usual.

Plus my own kids need new blood - over a week trapped together and they are ready to eat each other. Donner party? Table for 5, er I mean 4?

Getting to my school building was absolutely horrible. I thought that teachers that drive to work would have very little problems traveling through the city but I was wrong. My ride is normally 20 minutes and it took me nearly an hour to get there. The roads were pretty much on lane which made is difficult for commuters, MTA buses and school buses. Martin Luther King BLvd was horrible and so as Howard. What is the city going to do now about the enormous pot holes that are in the street (esp MLK). the plow pushed so much snow into the bus stops that adults and children are still standing in the street. The city leaves it up to the MTA to now shovel all the snow the plows pushed into the bus stops. Absolutely ridiculous.

My daughter attends Baltimore City College High School and we live approx. ten minutes(driving) away from the school, however it took us 1 hour to get there today. I am appalled , that shool are open, there are ice glaziers that are taller than most of the children ( inabiling motorist to see children) this siutation is dangerous and I hope that no one gets hurt today because of pressure from administrators to open a system, that is difficult to commute/get to. Have you seen the bus stops
(thirty to forty people) standing in the street adults elementary /middle and high school students as well as the elderly.???

I think that schools should be closed until Monday when we as adults (parents,administrators ...) are able to ensure that each child is SAFE, bus stops are clean and motorists are able to see children passing by. On a lighter note, I would love to commend The Baltimore City School system repair shops for cleaning the sidewalks and en suring that the children have a walkway to get into schools. Keep up the good work repair shop.

I thought it was treacherous, very unsafe. Kids were walking on the street along with all the traffic. There were younger kids waiting on buses, standing in the street. I also saw several buses with huge mounds of snow atop them. That seems like a big hazard should the snow break away. I know the kids need to get back in school but at what risk?

I agree with all the above comments. I usually never have to walk my kids to the bus stop because it is right up the street; I can see it from my house, but today I did. Neighbors did a great job shoveling their sidewalks but they were still icey or snow covered in spots. So I choose to walk in the street instead. The street is a down to one lane instead of two. The bus stop has been half cleared but kids were still standing in the street. High schools have asked their students not to drive to school because there are parking spaces being taken up by mountains of snow. I think school should have been canceled until Monday.

My son also attends Baltimore City College High school :-), getting him there this morning was a pure obstacle course. Why are the snow plows operating during rush hour? They are doing a great job removing the snow mountains etc., but come on, must this be done during rush hour in the morning and the afternoon hours? You are now watching out for backed up traffic, blocked streets, pot holes and children. Thank you to all the men and women that put in the long hours getting Baltimore up and running. Each person can do their part as well, I had my son perform community service helping shoveling snow for the eldery.

same as everyone else... took 30 min to make a 10 minute drive. school parking lot only fit 6 cars. no cleared sidewalks.

I'm curious more about the big question now:
what is going to happen with our school calendar now? do you have any information?

The streets surrounding our school in Northeast Baltimore are horrendous. Not only are the parents having trouble but one of the major streets getting in was blocked by a trash truck that just got stuck! We never have seen a plow and its probably too late for that since the road is 6 inches of solid compact ice. You can't see the crosswalk and the corners are just huge mounds of snow.

I work at a school in Baltimore but live in Harford county. The people living there have better cleaned streets so now the focus is clearing bus stops and sidewalks. People need to take responsibility to shovel their own property. "Treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated"

Apparently, the DPW did not get the word that independent schools were opening yesterday. For Homeland residents, the ultimate irony, after not getting plowed for days, was that a front end loader was working on, and blocking, one of only two streets out of Homeland where there is a traffic light at Charles!! This on top of the fact that Charles Street still is not fully plowed. What is normally a 5 minute trip to school took over 1/2 hour. And you can't let the kids out to walk because there is no where to cross the street safely!

I was pleasantly surprised that most of my Rodgers Forge neighbors made an effort to clear a path on their sidewalks. On some blocks the entire sidewalk was cleared from corner to corner.
Still a few lazy selfish people (I know who they are, and they are NOT elderly or disabled) refused to clear their walks, forcing the children to march down Pinehurst dodging cars and snow piles (why do people in Baltimore make snow mountains in the middle of the street?). The school let the kids in early and allowed curbside drop offs so parking did not become an issue. All in all, very nicely surprised! Now if I can just get the kid home ...

The roads in Southeast Baltimore are HORRIBLE. No parking for teachers and staff members. The city did a poor job getting ready for schools to be open.

Traffic has been miserable since I had to go back to work... last week. I realize schools are different than private companies, but City Schools have been closed for 6.5 school days. I took off 2.5 days, and if you count the work I did from home via computers and phones I only took off 0.5 days. Come on people.

My kids need to go back to school. Count on increased driving times - that's why school is delayed 2 hours. If you think it's too dangerous for your kids, keep them home.

I think that children's safety should come first. I know it is important for the kids to get back to school, but it is very dangerous for them to be walking in the streets. Especially the elementary students who are younger and may not pay attention closly while walking in the streets. Plus in my neighborhood (baltimore county) cars were still flying down the road and you can't see if a child would come around a snow bank. VERY DANGEROUS FOR THE CHILDREN. Hope no one gets hurt......

Driving into west baltimore today I was totally taken by surprise. Parking lot's are terrible, and it seems that every road I went down to get to school this morning was closed due to snow removal or still hadn't been plowed. Young children were forced to walk in the street because many of the sidewalks have been used as dumping ground for plowed and shoveled snow. As a teacher I was ready to go back and understand the need to get back, I just wish that there was better preparation to ensure the safety of the students and faculty.

I just counted a total of 169 days of school on my Baltimore School for the Arts calendar. This is the number if no more snow days are taken. That includes the 2 weeks of finals and juries where no intruction is given. A 180 day school year in Baltimore is a fairy tale. Now they want to waive the law that requires school days that students don't even get without a snowstorm. It's obvious from test scores in Baltimore that spring break is more important than educated kids. Nancy Grasmick should be ashamed of herself.

With all the recent appeals reminding people to clear neighborhood sidewalks so kids could safely make it to their busstops, I was surprised to find out this morning that the Baltimore County-hired contractors who the other day were using bobcats to push more snow out of the street actually were dumping that snow onto PLOWED SIDEWALKS!!!

The woman whose house serves as our busstop told us that her husband ran out of their house in a vain attempt to stop the contractor ... but by then the contractor had covered all the sidewalk they had cleared --- and had even knocked down their mailbox and bent the speed limit sign next to it.

I can't imagine this is only happening in our neighborhood.

I think that the children need to return to school; however I do believe it is treacherous. The city had too much time to prepare to not be further along than they are right now. If individuals can shovel snow at the speed of light, then they should have called in more snow plows from other states to help. They are paying $300/hour for one machine, and they can't pay individual contractors a lesser fee to help in neighborhoods that have schools. County children have a yellow bus picking them up, but Baltimore City's children have to wait in the snow/ice mound to be picked up by the MTA that runs poorly on a dry day. The buses are not even driving their complete routes, so only time will tell if the children even made it to school. This is horrible.

The parking lots and sidewalks at my school were perfect. Kudos to everyone that worked to clear the school parking lots.

However, driving to school, I passed several teenagers walking down Snowden River Parkway. Due to the fact that the sidewalks were snow covered, they were forced to walk along the road. This was definately not safe, people drive very quickly down this road.

What I find amazing is that so many people posting comments on the subject of schools re-opening seem to lack the ability to spell or construct proper sentences.

You are all a bunch of snow weenies.
Quit whining and get on with life.

I walked to work today. A walk that normally takes 10-12 minutes took 20. I found sidewalks to be icy and/or unshoveled. As a result, much of my walk was in the streets - mostly dry, with some treacherous patches of ice. When I arrived, I found the sidewalks around the school to be passable, but only 1/3 of the parking lot had been cleared. Some teachers had resort to hunting for spots in the neighborhood.

@cryforthetrees - Reading blogs seems to be an exercise in utter frustration for members of the "grammar police". You may be happier if you either avoid them, or relax your standards. I believe many of us like to have a place where we can express our thoughts quickly without having to parse each sentence. Join us, you might enjoy it. :)

I agree with Brenda & cryforthetrees. Do you people honestly believe we should keep the children home until everything has melted? They NEED to get back into school. Of course it's going to take longer than usual. Of course it's going to be an inconvenience. It is/was for the rest of us, right? How do you think people in snowier states handle it? Time to toughen up and get over it.

This email is intended for all of the parents who are being selfish and small minded concerning the return to school in not such great circumstances. I want you all to put down your cell phones and laptops and picture something in the world that does not revolve around you. Imagine the kid, you probably do not know but your child might, who has been cooped up as long as you have but who does not have all the amenities you have access too. Imagine the kid that your child might share a portion of his lunch with each day who struggles to find a balanced meal day to day. The kid who counts on the free breakfast provided by City schools and the free or discounted lunch each day at school. Imagine what he or she may have been thinking each day school was closed and the cupboard was empty. Trying to figure out what few things he/she could eat to get through the day. Imagine the kid who uses school as an outlet too physically and mentally get away from the chaos they face each day. The kid who knows that days home from school is not necessarily the best thing in the world. Imagine the kid who counts on going to school for a little heat to warm the body to make through the night and on to the next day. So as you complain and worry about your child walking a few feet, yards or a block on ice or in the street because it is one lane and you can not drop them out of your truck/car right in front of the school. Just think of the kid who is relieved that school is finally back in session so he/she can survive day to day.

I DO NOT THINK THE KIDS SHOULD OF GONE BACK TO SCHOOL TODAY,IT WAS VERY CRAZY TRYING TO GO PICK MY NIECE UP FROM SCHOOL TODAY IN BALTIMORE COUNTY,THERE WERE NO WALK WAYS,WE HAD TO WALK IN THE STREET AND WHEN WE COULD FIND A PIECE OF SIDEWALK TO WALK ON IT WAS ICY THAT'S NOT SAFE AT ALL. THEY SHOULD OF HAD ALL THE WALK WAYS CLEARED OFF BECAUSE WALKING IN THE STREET IS DANGEROUS IF IT WAS FOR ME I KNOW IT WAS FOR THE KIDS WHO HAD TO WALK TO AND FROM SCHOOL

I live in Owings Mills and while some sidewalks are relatively clear, I was very troubled when making my commute out of the community down Lakeside blvd. The sidewalks down by the apartment and up to New Town high are completely impassable. Students are forced to walk in traffic in a road that is already extremely narrow with no service lane.

The cars speed too fast and most concerning is that students are walking on the bare edge of the road on top of ice. It must be extremely frightening! Parents, you must put their children's safety ahead of the requirement to get to school. If you can, drive your child to school. If you cannot and they have to walk in the street, keep them out of school and complain to your community association, who receive a portion of your homeowners dues for tasks like this.

I am so worried that someone is going to lose their life because of these circumstances! Then you will see the elected official on the news bemoaning the situation and promising change - but as usual - only after tragedy has struck.

My day went much better than expected. I am worried about the kids in the streets. However, most of our kids seemed to be on the busses or dropped off by parents. The principal unloaded every kid individually! It took time but we actually had classes with 100% attendance.While I do not believe missing school will change any lives, I do think it is time to begin building routines again. My day was made by a first grader commenting" I'm so glad to see you. I never thought I'd see you again." Followed by,"I've been reading." The teachers were parked all over the neighborhood but somehow the whole episode brought out the survivor gene in all of us. Bring on Thursday! I'm glad to be back with my kids. City Schools-good call.

My school was great on the school property. Parking lots and sidewalks immediately around the school were clear and almost totally ice-free. Attendance was poor and I can understand why--the sidewalks around the neighborhood where the students had to walk to get from the bus stop were basically uncleared. We may be snow weenies but MD is not prepared for this type of weather. There is no good solution for this issue. We will muddlle on through somehow and 20 years from now, the students will look back on it and laugh.

I had about 90% attendance in each of my high school classes - in a non-magnet school in the city! I was very happy to see my students safe and sound in my 9th grade classes, but they did have some horrible tales about bus connections, snow mounds in front of bus stops, and drivers who sped around them, whipping slush on their clothes. Most were in good spirits and happy to have some normalcy return to their lives.

I think it was a poor decision to send students back to school today, especially in Baltimore City. The major roads still have not been completely cleared, causing more traffic problems. In addition to the traffic problems, students were walking and waiting for buses in the streets. Although the entrance to my school was cleared, the parking lot was not completely cleared and there was not adequate parking for the staff. If more time was needed to prepare the schools and roads for a safe return to school, then that's what should have happened. The safety of students and staff should not have been jeopardized. I hope that the city and the schools have plans to continue clearing the roads, sidewalks and parking lots or we have a long road ahead of us until this all melts.

Hurry kids - lets get back to school so we can spend our days doing practice MSA tests!!

Liz - lets ask some teachers about what's happening in the classroom as schools prepare for MSA. Better yet - ask them what happens on those 10 testing days when absolutely NO instruction takes place.

A friend just shared that their son cant take gym for the remainder of Feb and all of March so he can get some extra math and reading practice gearing up for the big test. No wonder the kids hates school!

I have no ties or experience with the school system so have no idea where children might be walking or trying to catch a bus. While we have been diligent in digging out our neighborhood, there are those few who still have not touched their sidewalks, and even previously-clean areas are now covered with plowed snow.

What I would like to know is where we can find out if the schools in our area received complaints? If there were complaints about sidewalks in our neighborhood, we would collectively address the issue. But we just don't have that many school-aged kids in our area so don't know which corners need to be clean for buses, etc.

If the City had made a better attempt quickly after the 1st snowstorm(when everything was closed) to get out and plow the streets in the city and not just ride up and down with the shovels in the "up" position then maybe things would not be as bad.
Also, why wait days after the 2nd hit to then decide to come out during peak mornings and evenings to plow the sidewalks just to come out in the morning to see that instead of plowing the snow from the pavements out into the street (since its blocked off) and not towards peoples homes who now have to come out on their first day back to work and shovel themselves out.
Edmondson Avenue is a mess!!!!The plow guys are doing every other side of the street but because of the manner in which they are doing it, there are very high mounds on the corners,they are covering up bus stops and corners which in some cases had not been covered. As for the children and adults (not everyone drives)these conditions are so dangerous and since the buses are still running on limited schedules, people are getting home so late. I as a parent would have preferred that schools stayed closed this month until this mess is cleaned up. So what if they have to go to school in the summer. Those who would not attend do not attend on a regular basis anyway and would still fail.
And at the same time, if those with cars had stayed off the streets immediately following the storms and the city had reacted in a quicker and more efficient manner than none of us would be so upset about this mess. Why is it that so many of us who do not work where these issues should have been addressed have better solutions as to what should have been done and how it should have been done? Makes you wonder why they still have their jobs and are paid so much.

When putting my special needs child on the school bus yesterday morning in Fairfax, there was significant ice on the road. The bus maneuvered fine, but the ice was frozen over solid to get to the door. 3 people were required to stabilize and get him on the bus. He told me when he came home from school that the bus was bumpy and he kept bumping his head. The bus was also over 25 minutes late, which meant standing outside for that amount of time waiting. So, quick assessment - slow and bumpy...with danger due to frozen solid ice on the road, but he got to school safely and returned home safely. The snow has created a situation noone could have predicted, with massive impact on daily living and business/school system/government operations. School's needed to open. Instructional time must be made up prior to the tests in Virginia on the SOL's. Unfortunately, this situation is just hard all the way around. We have to suck it up, deal with it, and get back into living normally...and I think we are.

The neighborhood streets are in terrible condition, and the sidewalks are worse. Still, I was glad to see my students back yesterday and today!

I'd like to echo city teacher's question about the school calendar. Please report as soon as possible: if the snow days will be added in June, over spring break, or waived; and related decisions about postponement (or not) of MSA's, HSA's, and final exams.

I think BCPS did a great job....schools are almost open now. They had equipment break and no where to push the snow. Schools were opened 3 days to early but they made it work. So congrats to Balto Co Pub Schools Facilities Department.