“The events this morning were not a trivial matter. As elected officials, and as parents and grandparents of Philadelphia public school students, we were extremely frustrated and disappointed at the District's mishandling of this morning's two-hour delay of school openings in response to widespread flooding. Like caregivers across the District, we received a notification at 8:40 a.m. that schools would be delayed by two hours. Start times vary across the district, with some starting at 7:30 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., and others at 9 a.m. This notification came not only after many schools had already started, but after many families had dropped their children off at school and gone to work. This flagrant disregard for caregivers — many of whom are already juggling multiple schedules, school start-times, and jobs — unnecessarily threw so many lives into further chaos during an already difficult time. “This last-minute decision made by the District is just one example of a pattern of disrespect for our school communities, poor planning, and poor communication with families across the city. This gross mishandling of a natural disaster comes on the heels of the District’s attempt to send students back into SLA Beeber, where active asbestos remediation efforts posed serious health risks to children and active construction would have required students to use portable, outdoor toilets. While SLA Beeber families organized and won a plan for a Read more