BARNSTABLE – Barnstable Superintendent of School Mary Czajkowski was the first of Cape Cod’s superintendents to make the call of “no school” for Friday.
This will be the fourth snow day this week caused by the ferocious blizzard Juno.
Czajkowski said she made the decision after touring the schools and speaking with Barnstable Department of Public Works Director Daniel Santos.
“As we toured each of the schools, there were some schools that did not have their parking lots cleared, did not have sidewalks cleared and did not have exit doors cleared, so obviously that was the determining factor for me for tomorrow morning,” she said.
She noted that, as an example, Barnstable High Schools has 52 exit doors and some of them had snow drifts blocking them from anywhere from five to six feet high.
She said Santos told her not all the side streets in town are cleared and some are very narrow and would be very difficult for buses to take corners on.
“Safety is always going to be first and foremost for students and staff,” she said.
She also noted that many of the town’s sidewalks are not cleared and there is no place for students to stand to wait for buses. The Barnstable School District runs 45 buses a day.
“The volume of snow that is here and the inability to move some of the snow,” is an issue, she said.
In addition to Barnstable Schools cancelling school for Friday, cancellations also came in from Falmouth School District, Mashpee School District, Dennis-Yarmouth School District, Sandwich School District, Falmouth Academy, Sturgis East and West Charter Public Schools, Trinity Christian Academy, Wareham Public Schools, Upper Cape Regional Technical High School in Bourne, and Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich.
Schools will be open Friday in the Bourne School District, Monomoy School District and Nauset School District.
Cape Cod Community College is also open on Friday.
