Icy Cold, a Little Snow Disrupt Region's Schools

"One section of the school is like Panama in August, and another section is like Finland," Graham said before leading reporters to a cold hallway in the building. If the Fenty proposal is approved, he added, "you'd get the boiler people out, and they would fix it."

Board of Education President Robert C. Bobb commended Janey for taking swift action to address heating problems in the schools. But he said school leaders need to get out of crisis management and to plan for such problems.

"You don't want to put yourself in a situation where you're scrambling at the last minute. You want to plan events you know will ultimately occur," Bobb said. "That's the mind-set I want the operations people to get into. That's what I want to help them with."

Yesterday, students were transported from Woodson to the former Evans school building in Northeast; from Ludlow-Taylor to Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Northeast and Moten Elementary in Southeast; from Johnson to Malcolm X and Turner elementary schools in Southeast; and from Simon to the P.R. Harris Educational Center in Southeast.

Slippery roads kept schools closed yesterday in many area jurisdictions. School was canceled in Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia and in Anne Arundel, Charles, Calvert, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties in Maryland.

In Fairfax, six school employees drove through neighborhoods about 3 a.m. and found that many roads and sidewalks were slick. Just before 4 a.m., school officials asked county police to check with patrol officers, who reported that conditions remained slippery.

"I felt confident the buses could drive safely," said Dean Tistadt, head of facilities and transportation services for Fairfax schools. "What we're really worried about is the kids who drive themselves and the kids who walk to the bus stops or walk to school. We thought the neighborhoods were simply going to be too slippery and the sidewalks too icy."

In Prince George's, authorities made the decision to close at the last minute, right before 5 a.m. Spokesman John White said the decision might have taken longer because the superintendent, John E. Deasy, is a native of New England and not impressed by an inch of snow.

"Obviously, his inclination is to have school," White said.

The relentless cold has been disrupting more than the region's public school systems.

George Washington University had three leaks in or near buildings Tuesday, and a pipe broke yesterday in a university-owned townhouse in the 2000 block of G Street NW, sending water into the first floor and basement common areas.

Workers in the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg were evacuated yesterday morning after a sprinkler pipe burst in the entryway, partially flooding the lobby.

Meanwhile, in Potomac, power was restored yesterday to most of about 600 households that lost heat Tuesday when Washington Gas had a mechanical problem.

Staff writers Michael Allison Chandler, Maria Glod, Nelson Hernandez, Susan Kinzie, Miranda S. Spivack and William Wan contributed to this report.