Friday, February 14, 2014

Open For Business

It's 10:05 AM, do you know where your town workers are?  Working


The Amherst Regional Public Schools on the other hand ...

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Completely misleading. The issue is school bus safety. All the area schools are closed, including Holyoke and Springfield.

Larry Kelley said...

So those big yellow school buses (even easier to see against a white background) are more accident prone than are the vehicles driven by individual town workers?

Anonymous said...

Those vehicles don't have our children in them. The other issue is children standing out in the road waiting for buses. Hadley made the same smart decision. Better to be safe than sorry.

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, I'm sure the kids will thank you come late June.

Anonymous said...

If they are in school in late-June then they will be in the same boat as Belchertown, Hadley, Greenfield. etc.

Larry Kelley said...

Don't forget the High School has that extra day for the Facebook threat episode.

And the other towns didn't have a day off because of "slippery floors".

Walter Graff said...

Ha. NYC Mayor got blasted yesterday for not calling off school during a major NYC storm. The school canceler even had the audacity to say the weather is beautiful out on live TV as snow was falling an inch an hour. Al Roker blasted the mayor on Twitter. Today Amherst gets blasted for not having school after major snowfall with uncertainty as to the condition this morning. And then again, maybe the superintendent justs needs a day to regroup and figure out what she's doing so wrong.

Anonymous said...

Come on: there was nothing preventing a 2 hour delay in start time today. The sun is out, for God's sake.

Whatever happened to the hardy New Englander?

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:40 is correct, a 2 hour delay would've been sufficient. Hopefully the overpaid school administrators (a.k.a. the bloated Geryk clan) are in earning at least a portion of their pay. But I'm inclined to think not. All the while the rest of the town's workers are on the job. But hey, this is all perfectly OK, it's Amherst!

Anonymous said...

My streets in north Amherst didn't get plowed until after 10:00. Wouldn't have made it off the hill if it were a two hour delay. I think they will take away spring break before adding days in June.

Anonymous said...

The Hardy New Englander is dead.

Anonymous said...

Those buses are equipped with four wheel drive, right?

Anonymous said...

As others have pointed out, Amherst is not the only school district to cancel school today. All the surrounding towns also cancelled school.
The Maria haters (including Larry) on this blog will find any excuse to enjoy their favorite past-time - bashing Maria Geryk. Most reasonable people read these blog postings and take them for what their worth - not much.

Larry Kelley said...

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous said...

Larry just woke up this morning in axe-grinding mode. If a kid had been hit by a car waiting at a bus stop he would have been proclaiming the foolhardiness of having opened the schools.

Larry Kelley said...

I'm sure you're going to say that about my next post.

Anonymous said...

All depends on whether your next post has even a semblance of journalistic objectivity.

Larry Kelley said...

As Detective Joe Friday would say, "Just the facts." That, and a little snark too.

Anonymous said...

Larry, would it be possible to find out which of the $85K + salaried ARPS administrators went to work today?

Larry Kelley said...

No. That would be considered an internal document.

I have trouble enough getting public documents out of them.

Anonymous said...

Yup, and at 10:00 a.m. a plow driver for the D.P.W. had already plowing for 24 hours!

Larry Kelley said...

More than one.

Anonymous said...

Because of days off in Jan/Feb (holidays,teacher work days, snow days) school districts in CT have permanently done away with Feb vacation week
They have a long weekend (both Mon and Tues off)


Anonymous said...

I agree with the closing of the schools. Town workers had a day off on Thursday and a delayed opening on Friday. It's possible that a delayed opening is problematic for the schools -- maybe it's easier to make up a full day at the end ... ?

According to contracts, if there is a building closing, only essential personnel (fire, police, DPW, and some custodians) must report to work. Parking lots and streets cannot be plowed if office workers must report to work.

And who do you think does the work that has piled up during a snow day? That same employee who had a snow day. So while they got to sleep in one day, they have to do two days' worth of work in one day.

Dr. Ed said...

Yup, and at 10:00 a.m. a plow driver for the D.P.W. had already plowing for 24 hours!

Larry

That's dangerous! Dangerous for the driver, dangerous for everyone else. That's how poles come down.

ANYONE will start hallucinating at that point, worse at night. The US ARmy did a nice study and put together a nice book on this.

Anonymous said...

Dr Ed... Yes 24hrs awake is dangerous... however our Firefighters and Medics work 24 hr shifts....Most without sleep due to call volume and inadaquate staffing but yet seem to operate just fine... with enough preperation and rest ahead of time.. 24hrs is doable...

Larry Kelley said...

And I know some people who pull 24 hours shifts trolling Internet web sites.

Anonymous said...

I believe D.O.T. regs for over the road or short haul is 11 hours max, followed by 10 off duty. Not just out of the truck, but actually out of work. Municipalities are exempt.

Anonymous said...

You all best start throwing a shit fit that the Amherst fire dept. works 24 hour shifts. Yes, they respond on your ambulance calls, and, no, you cant blame all of their call volume on the students.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:59, are you aware of how often our firefighters are called in off duty? Rest ahead of time, yeah.

Anonymous said...

The schools lowest paid workers are all required in, someone has to clean those walkways...

Anonymous said...

however our Firefighters and Medics work 24 hr shifts....Most without sleep due to call volume and inadaquate staffing but yet seem to operate just fine
That's debatable.