One Million New York City Students Head Back To School Monday
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - New York City schools will be open Monday morning after a week off due to superstorm Sandy.
School officials have been busy reworking bus routes and finding empty seats for students who live in areas where the schools cannot re-open right away.
1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reports
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"Monday we'll be opening for one million students and then on Wednesday, we'll be opening school for those students who were displaced from their buildings as a result of structural damage or their schools are serving as evacuation sites. So we're working very hard to identify new schools, we've identified those schools. We're putting on new routing systems in place for buses," New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott told WCBS 880.
Out of all 1,700 New York City public schools, all but 57 will be open on Monday.
At a Sunday morning news conference, Mayor Bloomberg warned that some families may not be happy with the reworked routes, noting some students may have to travel far to a new school.
But the mayor said the top priority is getting students back to class after an unprecedented week off.
"Children are going to be moved from school to school. This is a massive undertaking, this is not an easy thing and the impact on the children is something we're going to have to be very, very aware of and let's try to figure out how we're going to meet those challenges," United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria.
At least 30,000 kids may not have school until Wednesday. All city schools are closed on Tuesday for Election Day.
Among the problems school officials are facing is that dozens of schools were flooded in the storm and are not usable. Other schools are being used as shelters for people who lost their homes in the storm.
Parents should call 1-800-963-6715 to find out if their school has been affected.
