Most kids to return to school Monday, others on Wednesday

Sunday November 4, 2012 4:55 PM By Sheila Anne Feeney

Photo credit: amny | amny

Fasten those school bus seat belts: It's going to be a bumpy week.

While most of New York City’s 1.1 million school children will be reporting back to school Monday morning, more than 34,000 students won’t start back in until Wednesday, the day after Election Day. The students with an extra day of liberty are enrolled in 57 schools that sustained such bad structural or flooding damage after Sandy they can’t reopen, and students enrolled in eight schools now serving as emergency shelters. Students in these schools will be ordered to report to alternate locations, but the details and specifics for many are still being ironed out.

Another 29 schools cannot  open Monday, because they have not yet had their power restored.  

In a Sunday afternoon news conference, Mayor Michael Bloomber advised all parents to dress their children warmly, as some schools may have electricity, but no heat. 

Parents can call 311, plug their school’s name into the Board of Education’s School Relocator on its website at schools.nyc.gov for instructions or text 877 877 to find out where and when their children should report. A spokes woman for the United Federation of Teachers said the organization would also be posting school info as available on to its website at uft.org and Facebook page. Bloomberg said that while parents were being robo-called, they were advised to take the initiative to reach out and find out where their children should show up. 

Ninety-six percent of school buses would be running as usual Monday morning, but the school reboot “is not going to be perfect,” Bloomberg warned. Substitute teachers were being called in to take over for teachers who could not report and new bus drivers unfamiliar with their routes might make mistakes, he noted.

Tags: news , schools , board of education , uft , sheila anne feeney