Smithtown Students Return To School On Regular Schedule After Snowy Mess

SMITHTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Suffolk County residents are still having to slog through plowed or barely plowed streets.

Abandoned cars can still be spotted and many residents continue to dig out.

But there was at least some return to normalcy.

On Tuesday, as schools reopened in Smithtown, many still want to know what went wrong after a scramble to clear campuses of a snowy mess.

"It was a headache, back and forth, it was a lot of snow to move around," Manny Ayala told CBS 2's Weijia Jiang.

Students finally went back to school on a regular schedule, though some buses ran late while having to navigate slushy streets.

"I think they'll be fine, they just need to go a little slower, be more aware of the snow that's around there," said parent Tina Fagan.

Other parents took their children to school because they were skeptical about road conditions.

"I personally wouldn't let her be at a bus stop this morning. There's not enough clearance, you can't see around the corners and it's definitely a hazardous situation," said parent Danielle Knecht.

Just a couple of miles away in Lake Ronkonkoma, families can't even think about going back to school. Their streets have yet to be plowed, and they've been trapped inside their homes since before the storm.

"We're all taxpayers, we all live in this community and it's just a shame," said Wayne West.

West's 9-year-old son is autistic. He is not only missing class, but therapy appointments too.

"He had to go to the Cody Center and we couldn't get out, so we had to cancel those visits," said West.

And as the snow melts, other problems are surfacing.

Heavy snow is causing roof collapses, including a massive crash at the Smithtown bowling alley.

It's another reminder things are far from normal, even if some routines are back on track.