NORTHAMPTON — Distraught by the sight of young students walking in the street to get to school, Northampton science teacher Kate Parrot stopped during her morning commute to shovel the sidewalk.
“Instead of complaining, I just wanted to get it done and make it safe for kids,” Parrot said.
She noticed some of the sidewalks on Bridge Road were covered with snow around 7:30 Friday morning as students walked to Jackson Street School.
“Bridge Road in Northampton is crazy busy in the morning,” Parrot said. “Everyone cuts through there to get to 91.”
Parrot works as a seventh-grade science teacher for JFK Middle School in Florence. After dropping off her child at Jackson Street, she was driving to work when she noticed students walking in the street, underdressed, on the slippery road.
Borrowing a shovel from a friend who lived nearby, she spent about a half hour clearing parts of the sidewalk on Bridge Road that had not been shoveled. She said that many of her students come to school in the snow without proper footwear or clothing to trek through the snow.
“It’s unbelievable when you meet these unsung heroes,” said Desiree Jarosz, an assistant special education teacher who works with Parrot. “There was no one to call because it was almost time for school to begin, so she just did it.”
In Northampton, a city ordinance requires residents and commercial property owners to clear their section of the sidewalk of snow within 24 hours after the conclusion of a snowstorm. Failure to remove the snow can result in fines from the Northampton Police Department.
Still within the 24-hour time period, nobody was breaking any rules Friday morning by not clearing their sidewalks. Parrot said she thinks the excessive wind may have covered the sidewalks in more snow as well.
On Thursday night, Parrot said, Northampton Schools Superintendent John Provost announced there would be a two-hour delay to allow more time for a safer commute, Parrot said.
“I think he made a good call,” Parrot said. “A two-hour delay seems like enough time for people to get to school safely.”
Parrot wondered who clears the sidewalks for elderly residents, or when someone is away, and pondered if the city could find a solution so no one has to walk in the streets. Perhaps a hotline for the disabled, or a for-hire team of sidewalk sitters could do the job, she said.
“We’re living through difficult times,” said Jarosz. “And yet if we all get together we can accomplish things; we can correct things.”