While most were tucked inside their homes Sunday, watching snow fall inch by inch from behind the safety of a window, the Poughkeepsie City School District’s maintenance and custodial staff were outside each school beginning their Sisyphean task of clearing sidewalks, steps and parking spaces.
Students returned to classrooms Wednesday following an enormous effort from district and citywide staff to clear roughly 20 inches of snow.
“This was a monumental storm,” Interim Director of Facilities George Prine said. “Guys were out there a long time moving a lot of snow.”
After about eight hours of work Sunday, the staff worked through the day Monday and early Tuesday morning to ensure the school properties themselves were ready to reopen.
After the initial closure Monday, the district announced a delayed opening for Tuesday morning. However, upon seeing the city needed more time to continue clearing out the sidewalks and streets needed for students to arrive to school safely, the district made the call to remain closed Tuesday and ultimately begin Wednesday on a delay, as well.
Superintendent of Schools Gregory Mott thanked the district’s staff for its efforts, as well as district families for their understanding as the school closures and delays were called.
"We understand that the timing of Tuesday’s closure was challenging for many families, and we truly appreciate your patience,” Mott said. “As conditions continued to change, we needed to take additional time to ensure that roads, sidewalks and walkways were safe for students and staff. While our teams worked tirelessly to prepare our buildings, safe travel to and from school had to be our priority. These decisions are always made with the well-being and safety of our children and families at the center.”
The maintenance staff of about 12 traveled from building to building plowing out city sidewalks and handling the major shoveling on the properties. In addition to about a half-dozen plow trucks, the district has two smaller Kubota-style plows, a skid steer tractor and snowblowers at their disposal for these tasks.
Custodial staff within each building handled the finer cleanup areas, such as stairwells.
“It’s a credit to our guys that we were prepared to open,” Prine said, noting their own travel conditions to get to buildings “weren’t great. Going home Sunday was challenging and then they had to come back the next morning.”
Prine noted, the cleanup effort is continuing even as classes have resumed. The district is working with an outside agency with larger equipment to push back the massive piles of snow in each parking lot to clear out more parking, especially as there is the potential for more snow in the forecast this weekend.
“It’s just going to be an ongoing effort,” he said. “We’re trying to open up more spaces and be prepared for the next one.”