Five days before the official beginning of Spring (Saturday, March 20) school districts across Nassau County were scrambling early Monday morning, March 15, to get the word out that school would be closed because of a snowstorm which hit the area overnight. While meteorologists on local broadcasts were predicting that by Thursday, March 18 the weather would be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit, residents in communities like Garden City were trying to clear their way to their cars in an attempt to make it to work on time. Employees of shops along Seventh Street, New Hyde Park Road, and Franklin Avenue could be seen shoveling the snow, which by 9:30 a.m. was already becoming a slushy mess.

Children of the Garden City Public School District and virtually every school district, with the notable exception of the Herricks School District, closed schools and were followed in turn by private schools and local preschools across the County. Phone chains were activated as parents notified one another that they could take it a little easier this morning or had better find someone quickly to watch the kids before they left for work. Lutheran Preschool of Resurrection Lutheran Church in Garden City, for example, follows the Garden City Public Schools in determining its own calendar and in deciding when to close school because of inclement weather. Teachers on Monday morning phoned one another and Director Christine Turner to verify that school would in fact be closed and then began calling class mothers to activate the parent phone chain to make sure that all parents were aware of the cancellation early.

Garden City Life contacted School Board President Linda Leone on Monday as this paper went to press to determine what effect the closure would have on the school calendar. Leone, after speaking with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lee Wilson, was able to announce that in fact the closing of schools will not affect the Spring Recess, which begins Monday, March 29 and ends on Friday, April 2 with school resuming Monday, April 5 (the day after Easter Sunday).

Rumors were circulating throughout the day March 15 that the closing meant that the first day of Spring Recess, Monday, March 29, would be lost and school would have to be open that day. The concern among parents was that they had already booked vacations and would be unable to change their plans to allow their children to attend school on that day should it be announced that it would be necessary. Of course changes in the school calendar not only affect the students and their parents, but all teachers and members of the staff must change their personal plans and make themselves available in these situations. Fortunately for parents and staff, as Board of Education President Leone confirmed, the calendar will not be affected and the Spring Recess can be enjoyed by all as originally planned.

This snowstorm, arriving late in the season, reminded Village residents of the unexpected spring snowstorm of 1998, which arrived on the first Sunday of Spring. It was in fact the first real opportunity for the Village's children to enjoy winter fun, building snowmen and making snow angels. Spring's wintery surprise last year caught road crews throughout Long Island by surprise as they scrambled to get the snowplows and sanders, which had rested comfortably throughout the Winter of 1998, out on the roads. While this Monday morning snow of 1999 was certainly not the first snowfall of the year, and perhaps not even the most significant, in arriving so close to the beginning of spring it reminds us, as did the surprising snowfall last year, that winter does not always depart on schedule.