Last Boston students got home from school at 11:30 p.m.

(Globe file photo)
Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson, shown above in a file photo, said today in an interview that they did not anticipate the gridlock caused by Thursday's snowstorm.

By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The last two of the 56,000 students in Boston public schools finally got home Thursday at 11:30 p.m., after waiting some eight hours while their parents were trapped on clogged roads.

The district’s 600 buses dropped off its last few students at about the same time, ending an epic day in which hundreds of elementary and middle schoolers were stuck in classrooms well into the evening.

"I don't think any of us in the city anticipated the gridlock," Schools Superintendent Carol R. Johnson said today in an interview. "Unfortunately, that first group of buses had a very difficult time getting through the traffic."

Unlike many other districts across the state, Boston did not dismiss class early, although parents were encouraged to pick up their children before school ended. Officials are still tabulating the exact number of pupils that spent an extended amount of time waiting to go home.

"We were very reluctant to release students early because most parents work," Johnson said. "If we let them go early, they could have no supervision at home. We believe that the right decision is that they stay in school until we can dismiss them in a safe manner."

Boston canceled classes today. The superintendent plans to sit down with school transportation officials today to determine how the response could be improved. While Johnson said some things -- such as traffic -- were beyond their control, there were things that could have been done differently.

"In the future we would try to monitor how far backed up the bus situation is," Johnson said. "I think the most important thing is that parents want to know how long it is going to be. Unfortunately our normal estimates didn’t prove to be accurate."

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