As the Bay Area prepped for the largest storm in years on Dec. 11, schools from San Francisco to Santa Rosa announced plans to stay closed the day before, saving parents and teachers from traveling in the wet weather. Officials at the Petaluma City Schools District did not make the decision to close until the morning of the major storm, agitating some parents who said the delayed response made it difficult to plan child care. The district garnered further contempt when it announced schools would stay closed on Dec. 12, even though much of the storm had subsided. A majority of those who took part in this week’s unofficial online poll said the district did not handle either day of a school closures appropriately. Here were some of the comments:
“Leadership means making timely decisions. It was inexcusable to wait so long and inconvenience so many families. Plus, not every family has someone to call at the last minute to babysit.”
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“I live in Rohnert Park so when they said school was open, I get there only to find out it was closed. I know we are all human, but it would have been nice to know when I called.”
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“Many children were already arriving at Petaluma Junior High School by the time the school’s robo-call (about the closure) was made.”
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“So it rained. I’d hardly call that a storm. Ridiculous to close the schools.”
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“They needed to act sooner on the Thursday storm and didn’t need to close schools on Friday.”
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“School employees were not officially notified until 8:06 a.m. on Thursday so many students, teachers and parents were already at school, which caused additional problems. The next day being canceled was the district’s way of staying on the conservative side from the mess the day before. The superintendent is not making very good decisions and many question his leadership.”
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“Ultimately I think they made the right choice with the available information. They could have decided earlier though.”
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