By: JOSEPH KELLARD and ANDREW COEN
The decision to close Oceanside schools was mainly a question of safety and busing, said Sue Graham, president of the Oceanside Board of Education.
"We were very concerned because the streets weren't sufficiently plowed for the buses to get through," Graham said on Monday, in describing her phone conversation with Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown the evening before.
"There was a major concern with the buses having to make their wide turns on sharp corners on sidestreets, and we were concerned that they may get caught in snow drifts or snow banks with the kids in the buses. And in light of how I saw the roads this morning, it was a good decision."
Graham said that she suggested closing the schools to Superintendent Dr. Herb Brown in a phone conversation on Sunday evening, and said he agreed. When snowfall is heavy, Brown said he checks with surrounding schools and bus companies, and in this last storm he drove around himself to determine the conditions of the area.
"It's not a decision made lightly, and he likes to make it as early as possible so that the teachers can be notified," Graham said. "They have a phone chain so that they won't report to work unnecessarily."
Oceanside's school schedule includes a four-snow-day cushion before the district implements make-up days.
On Monday Oceanside students were supposed to begin taking mid-terms tests, which were rescheduled for later in the week.
"We've already posted on our Web site the schedule, and the high school kids were told Friday to check the Web site for the new schedule if we're closed," Brown said.
Island Park Schools' Superintendent Dr. Ed Price and School Board President Steven Foster were unavailable for comment on Monday.
In terms of the cleanup, Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback said that the storm was particularly difficult because of the volume of snow coupled with the wind.
"The county has done better jobs of plowing the roads," Toback said. Nassau County is responsible for plowing such main roads as Long Beach and Oceanside Roads and Atlantic Avenue and Lawson Boulevard in Oceanside.
The Town of Hempstead sanitation department, which is primarily responsible for plowing sidestreets, used 250 plows and sanders and 42 tons of salt to clean up the roads throughout the town, said Susan Trenkle, a town spokesperson.
Town Supervisor Kate Murray called a state of emergency for the town at around 1:30 p.m. Saturday and urged residents to remove their cars from the streets to make the plowers' jobs easier.
Plowers sanded the streets at around 9 a.m. Saturday in preparation for the storm and proceeded to plow a few times and then re-sand for the next two days, according to Trenkle.
