Wednesday, Feb 03, 2010 2:02am | COMMENTS (20)
But you already knew that. Take a look at this slide show of the pretty snowfall in the middle of the night. And how lovely it would be if the phone didn’t ring us out of deep sleep with the news that we could sleep late. Yes, delayed openings in Glen Ridge, Bloomfield and Montclair. Check Barista Kids for all delay information.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
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Bloomfield just robo-called it’s residents with a delayed opening notice.
Delayed in Cifton too!
Bloomfield called my house at 5:55 AM. In a delivery that would have made both Gary Cooper and E.B. White proud of its pithiness, a voice announced that “school openings would be delayed.” Now, we do not have any school age kids, but you might think that such an announcement would have included some information on how long the openings would be delayed. Like “…for two hours” or “until 10:00 AM.” Nope. Nuttin’. I recall that being a parent often required use of ESP and other psychic phenomena, but this left me hanging. What? Are they going to call back and announce that the schools are open?
I understand a little snow on the ground could mess up the morning commute of a bus…. but Glen Ridge doesn’t use a bus system. Why do they get a delayed opening? BMW and SUVS are 4WD vehichles
“BMW and SUVS are 4WD vehichles.”
Driven by inexperienced multitaskers, they are also weapons of mass destruction.
I’m looking forward to Saturday’s snow (if predictions prove correct)..No stress of having to get to work…I can stretch out on the couch under a warm comforter with a good book.
I second Conan’s emotion. Any other towns decide it was worth waking everyone? Usually, when my phone rings that early it means someone died. Isn’t there a hotline for parents to call?
Bloomfield even called me and I don’t live in Bloomfield.
The reverse 911 in Bloomfield is a God-send.
Back in the day, I remember when I would listen for the fire alarms to sound-off – but nowadays the naysayers would likely comment “tax dollars being spent to alert everyone with an ALARMING SOUND meant for something horrific like fires”…
There will always be the dissatisfied…
@Conan – unfortunately, all levels of schools (elementary vs. middle vs. high) start at different times, so they cannot state the ‘opening time’. However, it is defined in the student handbooks, that all delays will be 90 minutes unless otherwise stated.
@Jimmytown – if students were the only ones accessing the schools, ur comment would be 100% appropriate. Alas, the teachers may be traveling from other areas, and therefore, may need the extra travel time, given their commute.
@ Geoff – there were phone chains, which are only as reliable as the person making the call. And if you were ever a parent to receive the call at 4:00 am to begin the phone chain, and then called someone who preferred not to get the call, it could be confrontational. The closings/delays are always noted on the district website, the TV, and announced on the radio. There is also a recording on the school phone, if you follow the prompts to emergency messages, which was a bit much for the first year or so.
Also – if parents/students are taking advantage of MYHOMEWORKNOW.com, which is gr8!, they receive texts or emails, to update them on classroom activities, homework and projects AND school announcements such as these.
As soon as I received the ‘vague’ phone call, I received an immediate text from myhomeworknow.com stating the HS specific information, including a comment about mid-terms!
@ Debbie – we, in Bloomfield, know you care about us, so we decided we’d keep you in the loop!
“unfortunately, all levels of schools (elementary vs. middle vs. high) start at different times, so they cannot state the ‘opening time’. However, it is defined in the student handbooks, that all delays will be 90 minutes unless otherwise stated.”
I guess that’s why a statement like “today the schools will have a delayed opening of 90 minutes” would be so difficult to comprehend. Obviously everyone has read the student handbook.
The 5:55 am phone call damned near gave me a heart attack. I was afraid something was wrong with my 85 yo mother. She didn’t appreciate the shock either.
Seriously, someone needs to rethink using something like that at that hour of the day. Not all of us have kids in school and some of us panic when the phone rings and it’s still dark.
Bloomfield has been calling me, too, for the last year or so with school closings, missing persons alerts, etc. But I don’t live there and never have.
I spoke to someone in Bloomfield town hall over the summer who said my number would be removed from their list — they had no clue why it was placed on it — but seems like that hasn’t happened.
It’s pretty crazy that Bloomfield is waking up some of their Montclair neighbors and their own residents who don’t have school age kids just because school are opening late…
“I guess that’s why a statement like “today the schools will have a delayed opening of 90 minutes” would be so difficult to comprehend.”
Doh! That would be too easy, RoC. And, I wonder which cousin of which influential Bloomfield politician’s brother-in-law actually wrote the “Student Handbook.” We wouldn’t want him or her out of a job, would we? All these new students, all those update regulations — a book a year is not bad by anyone’s standards.
I would like to report an outrageous event that happened to me in Montclair last night. I frequently visit a friend in town and stay overnight, so I make sure that I always have plenty of the overnight permits on hand. Last night, I parked my car at about 9:30 PM on Walnut street, scratched off the appropriate date on the permit and hung it on the rearview mirror. It was snowing heavily, which lasted all night. I walked up to my car in the morning and to my amazement and utter annoyance, there was a ticket tucked in the car’s door, for the violation of overnight parking. The accumulated snow on the car has not been touched, giving away the fact that whoever wrote this ticket did not even bother to peak inside the car for the displayed permit – the ticket was written at 2 AM.
I immediately went to the police station to complain to the officer on duty and came away with nothing. I heard a lot of “I understand your frustration” and some other management techniques used to calm down agitated citizens, but have been firmly told that the only way to contest the ticket will be in court.
Here are a couple of points:
• I made an effort to purchase the permit, which cost me money
• I made sure I displayed it in the window, as instructed on the back of the permit
• Slapping the public with tickets for “Just in case”, as it appears to be the case here, is abusive
• I will have to waste a day to travel back to Montclair to contest it in court
• It will cost me even more money, wasted time and aggravation
• Is the Montclair police mean, stupid, or both?
Hmm. Can’t wait to hear all the blog-house lawyers jump in on this one. If the law states that the permit must be visibly displayed, that might mean it is your responsibility to leave your toasty bed every 12 minutes to clean the snow off the windshield. Or, it might mean that they will amend the law to read “No parking any time, permit or not, when it is snowing out.” Either way, the old system of just calling the police on the non-emergency line to beg pardon for overnight parking is a thing of the past. And Lord knows the Towmnships need both the permit and the ticket revenue (which in your case might be both!). As your attorney, I advise you find a friend in Bloomfield, where on-street parking is strictly encouraged.
I knew of former parents receiving calls, because their numbers were ‘in the system’.
I didn’t realize there were numbers that were being called that were to non-parent households.
I know that Glen Ridge shares the Bloomfield exchange of 743, so it wouldn’t surprise me that Deb may have received a call, if the list was being created based on phone number. However, Montclair? I would assume that the Montclair resident above has a Montclair exchange (744 or 746).
My previous endeavors in Corporate America were involving list production for the telecommunications industry. It is very easy to write a program that is starts with an Excel spreadsheet with Macros that will eliminate and include just those who need the call.
Of course, it would be something that someone needs to maintain.
What I would wonder – is how many households in Bloomfield (%age) have a school-aged child? Is is worth the elimination, given that they may be added within the year.
Are there child-less households that have a job that requires them to know that there is a school closing or delayed opening?
Yes, my exchange is 746 — so it is really a mystery why Bloomfield has added my number to their notification system.
It seems that the Montclair schools this year may be doing robocalls to the phone numbers they have for all students’ parents — when I checked my voicemail in my office yesterday, I even had one there!
“• Is the Montclair police mean, stupid, or both? ”
The parking permits are not valid during “snow emergencies”.
The parking permits are not valid during “snow emergencies”
To find out if there is a snow emergency, move to Bloomfield and they will call you at 5:00 AM to let you know the schools have a delayed opening. Then hie yourself back to Montclair and clean the snow off your windshield so the gendarmes can see your overnight permit.
Ah, the hoops through which they make us jump…
you could also make the commonsense assumption that if you are parking on the street when its snowing heavily that you run the risk of a ticket.