Snow day for Syracuse City School District students

While most people were sleeping soundly at 4:30 a.m. Monday, Syracuse City School District superintendent Daniel Lowengard and district Transportation Director Patricia Bailey were wide awake and making a tough decision: whether or not to close Syracuse city schools. Eventually though, unplowed side streets and a forecast that shows more snow forced Lowengard to officially close schools Monday, according to The Post-Standard.

The city school district does not delay classes by an hour or two on snowy days, unlike suburban districts. Lowengard must decide by 5:30 a.m. whether to close schools so that the food service program has time to prepare and buses can get on the street.

About 14,000 children ride buses to school in Syracuse and another 6,000 walk. One concern the district has is that kids who walk may end up walking in the street if sidewalks are not shoveled.

"Safety is number one," Lowengard said Monday morning,

The Skaneatles school district also cancelled class Monday. Many suburban school districts had only a 1 or 2 hour delay.