Thursday, January 5th was a snowy afternoon for the Southtowns in WNY. With a lake effect band moving through we saw snow fall at a high rate starting just around 2 pm. Many schools made the decision to cancel after school activities and have early dismissal. However, some schools in the West Seneca Central School District were unable to get the students home before the roads became impassable. This caused a couple stranded buses filled with students and many students stranded at their schools.  A neighbor of mine was one of the parents who's child was stranded at one of the elementary schools. He hadn't been able to connect with anyone at the school or the district through calling but luckily the teachers were actually texting the parents to let them know their kids were safe, warm, fed and watching movies. At one point he had attempted to drive to the school to get his child but had to turn around because he couldn't get anywhere near the school. As of 8 pm he said he was going to go out again and travel as far as he could and then he would get out and walk the rest of the way if he had to. I'm sure this story is not unique to many parents in West Seneca.

West Seneca CSD did start to post updates on their Facebook page as the day progressed into evening:

So why did West Seneca have such a problem? Many news outlets were covering the story and many parents were upset with how the schools handled the impending Lake Effect storm. Here is the statement made by the district about what and why it happened.

One thing that can be taken away from this is how the staff really pulled together to make sure the kids were safe, fed and occupied. I know that my neighbor said they were making sure the kids did their homework before they started the movie (probably a blast for the kids until that point lol). What could have been a dangerous situation turned into a frustration.

As a side note, West Seneca CSD did cancel school for Friday.

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