As snow piles up, so do complaints

With 7 inches of snow and counting coming down in a worse-than-expected snowstorm today, complaints from Gazette readers are also piling up, especially about the City’s decision to keep Boston Public Schools open.

By early this morning, many side streets had not been plowed since last night. Driving was treacherous, many sidewalks were unshoveled, and MBTA buses were running significantly late. Snow continued to fall at a heavy pace.

The Mayor’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision to keep the schools open.

BPS spokesperson Lee McGuire referred the Gazette to a press release that did not mention or explain BPS’s decision to keep schools open. The release reported that BPS students who stayed home today will not be counted as absent, and that all BPS extracurricular activities have been canceled.

Among those expressing concern to the Gazette was former Mayor Raymond Flynn, a South Boston resident who coincidentally had agreed to read to children at his grandson’s school this morning.

“I thought school would be canceled,” Flynn said, adding that he forged ahead and did the reading. But, he said, parents there expressed concern about the schools being open and about the announcement coming relatively late in the morning.

“This is their children and this is their livelihood. People had no idea,” Flynn said. “[Parents were] kind of left in this twilight zone.”

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