Snow emergency, but schools will be open: staff are emergency personnel

ALERT! SCHOOLS ARE ACTUALLY CLOSED.
NY1 reported that this is only the sixth time that schools have closed since 1970.
But be sure to protest the permanent school closings at City Hall today at 4:30 PM.
Bloomberg's hands were tied with this one. He ordered all cars off the street. It would be hard to insist that school staff try to drive in, while every other driver was told to stay off the roads. Furthermore, these lines at the least have been partially or entirely suspended: D, J and 6 lines are on this list. All buses are suspended.
Notice!: 5:00 PM today, 311 says that the mayor has declared a weather emergency. He has advised against all travel. And owners cars parked on certain thoroughfares will face penalties.
The mayor is urging people to stay off roads tonight and in the morning. As NY 1 announced, "the mayojavascript:void(0)r hopes to have schools open" tomorrow.

The Bronx and the northern suburbs will get hit the heaviest. But have no fear, Queens and Nassau will be grazed, by comparison.

Click here for an authoritative satellite map.

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A very thoughtful commenter to one of my last blog posts offered the suggestion that the New York City schools and the teachers are a day care service. Is this out of concern for the parents? Not entirely. For, if we were to expect the city to care for its parents, it would push for social services to alleviate the crushing poverty that a huge percentage of families experience; it would push for more services in the schools: more special education placement of students that are special ed, instead of pushing them into regular ed classes --and the same for English Language Learner. And the city would overturn its apparent no-textbooks-at-homes policy apparently in place in schools across the city. The city would shelve its counterproductive constructivist math that leaves our students unprepared for CUNY classes. The city would have junked all consultants and would have made a top priority of capping classes at 34 students.
No, the city does not care about the education of the city's youth. The calling of a snow day would inconvenience many working parents who might feel compelled to stay at home. The city's worry? -it would be like a strike among the working parents, fewer nannies, fewer doormen, fewer corporate support staff, fewer other help whose services the city's wealthy would dearly miss.
Like hospital staff and police and fire fighters, public school staff are not merely teachers and associated staff, but are essential emergency workers.

Alas, the mayor, who cherishes cost-efficiency, will be blind to another wasted school day tomorrow.
Get up early, drivers, and shovel early. Transit users, start off QUITE early.

PS, don't forget to log in tomorrow night with the percentage of your students that attended school on Thursday, the 27th, on the poll at the right.