Cell Phone Coverage During Sandy Inhibits Communication

In addition to the widespread damage, floods and fires in the New York area caused by Superstorm Sandy, the loss of cell phone service during the hurricane raised concern for the parents of many students at The New School. Students who live in lower Manhattan, and many others spread throughout all five boroughs, lost power the evening of Monday, October 29, and were unable to contact their parents. All of the dorms and the majority of New School buildings lost power that night due to the massive power outage.

“Tuesday afternoon  [October 30] was the first time I contacted my parents after the storm,” said Sabrina Gibson, 19, a second year Parsons student from Delray Beach, Florida. “My mom stayed calm and wanted to know if I was warm and had food. She was on speakerphone in front of my grandparents so I think she tried to stay calm.”

If students were intrepid enough to walk uptown or find a way to leave the city, they were usually able to find a better signal and contact their family and friends. But most of the students downtown were out of luck unless they made a trip to Union Square where the service was slightly stronger. For most of the week, students in lower Manhattan were unreachable.

“I would get service sporadically because I was moving around and I finally got it back on Friday when the power came back,” said Carlo Mantuano, 20, a sophomore at Lang from Chicago, Illinois.

As a result of the loss of cell phone service and an initial lack of New School updates, many parents were left to rely on news reports, which were often hyperbolic and covered the worst-hit areas.

“Many parents wished we had reached out earlier and that’s a lesson we learned, we should have sent out emails to the parents earlier instead of assuming parents were seeing the group notifications on the website and communal emails that were sent,” said Linda Reimer, the Senior Vice President of Student Services at The New School.

According to Reimer, only on Monday , October 6, did an email go out specifically to the parents of students regarding what happened during the storm.

“Our phone system didn’t work for a while and I couldn’t get into my office, but we were posting status announcements on the website and we were hoping parents would go and look at that,” said Reimer in regards to how The New School was working on notifying students, parents and professors.

No matter how much cell phone coverage students had, parents worried throughout the week, especially when all five residences lost power. Parents who live in areas that are not usually hit with hurricanes, showed much concern.

“I believe that West Coast parents who haven’t experienced a hurricane are more easily influenced by over-sensationalized news reports. I think West Coast parents are intimidated by what they see on the news, and East Coast parents probably have a better understanding that those images are the worst of the worst, not standard conditions,” said Gibson.

“My first reaction was thoughts about last year’s hurricane and whether this would be a similar storm. I was very nervous and worried,” said Alicia Gonzales, mother of second year Parsons student Sophia Gonzales, 19, from Alameda, California.

Sophia Gonzales was barely able to contact her parents in California during and in the aftermath of Sandy.

“My parents seemed calm but my mom told me later that she was crying and not sleeping,” Gonzales said about her first phone call with her parents after the storm had hit on Tuesday.

“I have been in touch with numerous parents, some of whom were very, very grateful and others were still anxious, particularly those parents with students at Stuyvesant and William Street dorms,” said Reimer.

“We had housing staff and student support staff, some of whom stayed overnight and some in the dorms, so that wherever the students were there were staff there and security of course,” said Reimer. According to Reimer, the school had purchased space heaters for Stuyvesant and William Street dorms, because the power was out for the longest in those two buildings.

It was not until power was restored for most of Manhattan, along with cell phone service, and students were safely back in the classroom, that most New School parents were finally given relief.