Buses buried in snow cause GCSD to close 2nd day in a row

 

GUILDERLAND — In the seven years that Marie Wiles has been at the helm of the Guilderland schools, the district has never had back-to-back snow days. Until now.

The reason for cancelled classes on Tuesday was obvious: The forecasted blizzard, Stella, wound up depositing a record-breaking two feet of snow.

The reason for staying closed on Wednesday was “not so much the weather,” said Wiles. Rather, it was because the buses, parked outside at the bus garage on School Road, were “snow-drifted in,” Wiles said.

“We don’t have them all in a garage, so it makes a big difference” she added. “We had four-foot drifts behind them, and it was a terrible mess.”

On days like Tuesday or Wednesday, when a decision needs to be made, Wiles said, “I sleep in till about 3:30 a.m.”

She talks with Danielle Poirier, the district’s transportation supervisor. “She’s also up very early, and she’ll give me an assessment of the condition of the roads,” Wiles said. “We also have a couple of weather websites that we consult, to try to predict the future.

“Yesterday it was pretty conclusive,” she said, referring to Tuesday’s cancellation.

On Wednesday, she said, there was no way the district could send out its fleet of buses. The district owns 113.

“I’m not even sure they’re all free yet,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “They’ve been working all day on clearing it out.”

More Guilderland News

  • On May 7, the board voted, 4 to 1, to allow Jason Southwood to convert the former seasonally-operated Cone Zone at 2028 Western Ave. into a year-round retail dispensary.

  • The developers of the 72-unit affordable and workforce housing proposal on Mercy Care Lane met with the Guilderland’s Development Planning Committee in December, when no formal application had been submitted to the town. 

  • When the paid GEMS squad took over from the volunteer Western Turnpike Rescue Squad, McGaughnea said, “The ones that we originally bought, we bought from Western Turnpike and they don’t really fit the way we operate as an ALS ambulance,” he said of Advance Life Support.

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