Due to the recent snowstorms and cold weather there have been days where school has been cancelled. While this gives students a break from school, a lot of preparation goes into deciding whether the Malden schools have school or not. In an interview with Malden Public Schools Superintendent John Oteri, he said that people such as the Police Chief, Mayor, Fire Chief, The Public Works Director and himself, along with others, get together and decide if they should cancel school or not. They base their decision on the most accurate forecast of the weather at the time and they take the safety of the students and staff at the schools into consideration. Depending on how severe the storm is, they decide if it is unsafe for students to walk to school. This most recent storm had over sixteen inches of snow, with freezing temperatures and fast blowing winds, so they decided to cancel school because they could not remove the snow to make travel safe for students.
Along with the mental preparation, the city also gathers the people and the most adequate equipment to clear the snow from the storm. Mr. Oteri said that “We use plows, snow blowers, and shoveling, along with salt to clear and melt the snow from the sidewalks to make transportation faster. We manage time well and do not send people to clear the snow at times where the snow is coming down the hardest.” The people they usually send to clear the snow include the custodial staff at the schools and the Public Facilities staff. They also hire contractors that have equipment they do not have.
The schools are clearly affected by the snow and cold outside of the building, however the schools are also affected internally. The Early Learning Center and Salemwood were the schools affected most by the weather. In an interview with Mayor Christenson he described the entire situation. He said that “The Early Learning Center had a water line that burst in the wall because of the extreme cold. There was only one burst pipe at this school, however since it occurred on the second floor, the teacher’s lounge was damaged since it was directly below it, however repairs has been made.” Meanwhile in Salemwood, there was a few more situations involving burst pipes. He explained that in the parking lot there is a sprinkler system and because of the cold the main line froze. This caused the space to fill with water and the ceiling to collapse. There has been repairs made to the system and failsafes are being implemented to make certain it does not happen again. The kitchen and the locker rooms also had burst pipes, however they have been dealt with as well.
While these situations indicate that there was a lot of damage, in reality, the damage was not as severe as it could have been. Most of the pipes burst in areas were it was unoccupied or on the ground floor, so less rooms were damaged. The snow and bitter cold has resulted in complications for some students and staff, however the city of Malden is always prepared to the best of their ability by the officials and staff.
