Opinion: If D.C. can’t clear all roads, it shouldn’t send students to class

On January 25, D.C. woke up to a winter wonderland. We had just received a snowstorm the likes of which we hadn’t seen in quite some time. 

But our excitement dampened at the realization that our city was unprepared for this maelstrom of ice and snow. Although most major streets were fully cleared within a few days, piles of ice and snow still block pedestrians from getting off the sidewalk to cross the street or board a bus. Many side streets have yet to be plowed. 

I am a ninth grader at Jackson-Reed (formerly Woodrow Wilson) High School in Tenleytown, but I live on the other side of the park, in Columbia Heights. It usually takes me around 45 minutes to get to school on the bus. When DCPS schools reopened on Jan. 29, the trip took me and my sister (a sixth grader at Alice Deal Middle School, which is a few blocks from Jackson-Reed) an hour-and-a-half. 

Any DCPS student who commutes to school can tell you: the trek to school on the 29 and 30 included snowdrifts on curbs past our waists, unplowed streets, and buses running detours (or unable to stop because of the snowdrifts) — not to mention that every step you took on an unshoveled street could plunge you past your ankles in snow or cause you to slip and fall on the ice. 

I understand that it’s very hard for parents to have their kids home for extended periods of time, especially parents of young children. I also know Mayor Muriel Bowser has to balance competing priorities in deciding when to reopen schools. The mayor acknowledged we would need extra travel time, and started schools those days on a two-hour delay. But conditions were not safe for many students asked to attend class that day.

Students who live near their schools in an area with mostly shoveled sidewalks had an okay time getting there. But getting to school was much more complicated for students who use public transportation (especially buses), have unshoveled sidewalks along their usual routes, or are usually driven to school, since many cars are still stuck in the snow and ice. 

I don’t think anyone in the city wants students to be afraid on the way to school. But on the 29 and 30, I was seriously concerned that I would be injured on my way to school — as were many of my classmates. Many students weren’t able to come to class on those days, as evidenced by the half-empty classrooms across the school. One of my classes only had four students in it. 

Children are D.C. residents too, even if we don’t keep the economy humming (or vote) quite like our parents do. All I ask is that when the D.C. government is making decisions about our lives — such as whether or not we should go to school — they consider the effects on all of us before finalizing their decision.

Rayna Leibowitz Hampton is a ninth grader at Jackson-Reed High School.