School District Faces Backlash After It Takes Hours For Students To Get Home During Snowstorm
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ROYERSFORD, Pa. (CBS) -- A local school district is facing backlash from parents after their decision to not cancel school or dismiss early for Thursday's storm. Some parents in the Spring-Ford Area School District says it took hours for their children to get home.
The bus got stranded during the snowstorm.
There were more than 250 accidents across Montgomery County and 350 disabled vehicles.
'This Was A Perfect Storm': Snowstorm Forces Students To Sleep At Schools
The school district was the only one of 10 districts across the county that did not have an early dismissal.
"I think he should've followed the rest of the schools. I mean you have nine schools out of 10 going home early and we're the only school district that's still in session? C'mon, that's 90 percent of 100," said parent Julia Betancourt.
Student Alexandria Cruz told CBS3 it took two hours for her to get home on the bus.
Principal Reads To Students On FaceTime While School Bus Was Stuck In Traffic During Snowstorm
"It was scary. There was a girl crying and stuff on the bus," said Alexandria.
Dr. David Goodin, the school district's superintendent, says he did not call for an early dismissal due to safety.
"I understand that people are upset that I did not do an early dismissal but my reasoning I believe was sound…..safety. As always these decisions are not easy but I always try to look to safety first and foremost. On a side note, I know that many schools did an early dismissal, but they were dismissing in the middle of a lot of snow fall, and as a result they had problems as well. I don't think anyone anticipated the storms impact," Goodin said in a statement.
Drivers Stuck For 12 Hours On I-78 Due To Wintry Mess
School bus drivers are being commended for going above and beyond to ensure the safety of the students in the district. To show their appreciation, the Custers Garage will be treating their school bus drivers to an Appreciation Day.
"Today was not an easy task! We had MANY drivers who stepped up to cover additional routes," officials from the company wrote on Facebook.
School was first delayed and then canceled on Friday. Following the snowstorm, students will be out of school all next week for parent-teacher conferences.
