It was Tuesday morning, and the never-ending line of cars seemed to crawl along the road. The sea of red was unlike any kind of traffic this year, and some of the students missed first period entirely.

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, October 26, and asked that New Jersey residents be careful in flooded areas. Many schools preemptively closed, and roads were blocked. In fact, many Wayne Hills students expected the school to be canceled as well.

“I honestly thought school was going to be closed because every other district around us was shutting down. I expected a delayed opening, at the very least,” said Mary Puglisi, a sophomore at Hills.

The students were even more shocked to discover that going into the school meant at least 20 minutes of traffic.

“From the turn at Macy’s to the school took me about 25 minutes because everyone was trying to make the turn at the light,” said Mr. Fleissner, an English teacher at Hills. “I didn’t get to the building until 8:35”

School activities were delayed because of the traffic because there were many teachers who waited for more students to arrive. There was an announcement asking that students should not be marked late until at least 8:50. By 7:20, there were about 10 kids in each classroom. The chill seemed extra prominent that morning.

“It was a torrential downpour that affected the roads. It took us directing traffic for about 40 minutes instead of 20,” said Officer Foster, who directed traffic on the very wet day. While he was largely unaffected going into the school, he noticed that many students were inching forward in the rain.

“I was stuck in traffic for so long that I was considering going home,” said Moksha Madupuru, a sophomore at Hills.

Thankfully, the situation was handled in time for students to all return to their second-period class, but the traffic concerns (both before and after school) have not been resolved. One problem, in particular, is the driving habits of the seniors. Hopefully, Tuesday’s fiasco will not be a repeating problem.