Expect another manic Monday.
At least 57 city schools won’t open their doors tomorrow because of damage from Hurricane Sandy — leaving thousands of parents and students at a loss over what they’ll do.
Many students whose schools were flooded will be relocated to other public schools starting Wednesday — a requirement that has both parents and teachers perplexed.
“Our school is getting relocated to a school in Crown Heights,” said a mom whose son attends PS 253 in Brighton Beach. “It’s horrible. A lot of the parents are low-income and immigrants — how will they get their kids to school on top of being displaced?”
Mayor Bloomberg announced that the “vast majority” of the city’s 1,715 schools would open tomorrow.
“A lot of schools that won’t be open Monday will be open on Wednesday,” he said, adding that “65 schools won’t be able to open” at the beginning of the week.
But that number differed from what Department of Education spokeswoman Erin Hughes put it at late Friday night.
“The list of 65 schools that are relocating is now down to 57,” she said. “We have had facilities people in the field day and night assessing buildings.”
Eight schools that are being used as emergency storm shelters will not open until Wednesday.
Teachers at schools throughout the city voiced frustration yesterday over what they described as inconsistent messages from the Department of Education.
“I get that we have to get back to school and give our students some stability, but it is crazy to think that overcrowding schools is the answer,” said one fed-up Manhattan high school teacher.
“Overcrowding, mixing schools, and possibly causing conflicts between students may not be the best learning environment for anyone.”
Busing could also pose a logistical problem for parents, students and the DOE.
“We expect 96 percent of buses to be running Monday morning,” Bloomberg said.
According to one source, close to 100 school buses in the Atlantic Express fleet were rendered inoperable by the storm.
Parents can check the city’s Web site for more information on their school.