Friday's "snow?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

Luck plays some role in that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

If you refuse to accept any risk of accidents, then you'd never be able to leave your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

As we learned during covid, for some people, homeschooling is going to be the only thing that's an acceptable level of risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

Most before care providers are located at the school they serve. So, if your kids attend public school their childcare will be close to home, not their parent’s work.

Teaching has pros and cons due to schedule. One pro is that they are generally understanding when people can’t work early. One con is that people just can’t “reschedule meetings” when those meetings are classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

You have no idea how school-based child care providers work, do you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

If you refuse to accept any risk of accidents, then you'd never be able to leave your house.

Nobody’s talking about zero risk; we’re talking about avoiding a known increase in risk a few days out of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

Most before care providers are located at the school they serve. So, if your kids attend public school their childcare will be close to home, not their parent’s work.

Teaching has pros and cons due to schedule. One pro is that they are generally understanding when people can’t work early. One con is that people just can’t “reschedule meetings” when those meetings are classes.

Having a snow day is a way to reschedule or cancel classes. It happens every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

Most before care providers are located at the school they serve. So, if your kids attend public school their childcare will be close to home, not their parent’s work.

Teaching has pros and cons due to schedule. One pro is that they are generally understanding when people can’t work early. One con is that people just can’t “reschedule meetings” when those meetings are classes.

If you have a long commute between your child's school and where you work such that you have little extra time, then this certainly wasn't the only time you had to deal with it. There are often programs that start earlier than Bar-T with shuttles or buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety was NOT of upmost importance in making the decision Friday

Of course it was. Road safety just wasn't the *only* issue considered. If it was, then we'd never open.

No it wasnt and you know it.

I drove on the roads in the morning. They were fine and it was obvious they would be fine. Things went reasonably smoothly and there weren't majors accidents resulting in serious injuries. It went well.

Except the bus that did have an accident and another that got stuck

No serious injuries. Minor accidents happen all the time. And serious accidents can happen on warm, nice days.

My friend’s son’s bus ended up in a ditch. Another at that school crashed. I don’t consider that minor.

Just because you drove a few roads doesn’t mean you had the big picture of the rest of the county.

My young grandchildren’s bus got stuck on a Damascus residential street and they were finally taken to school by a neighbor parent. They said most of the young kids on the bus were scared and crying.

It's good for children to encounter slight adversity even if they are scared at the time.

MCPS got lucky that nothing serious happened. I don’t want them gambling when they make future decisions based on one lucky morning.

All evidence indicates otherwise. The actual experience from opening. The experience from all the other school districts that regularly open under similar conditions. And the overall data for traffic incidents showing much lower rates of serious injuries and fatalities in accidents that occur in snowy or icy conditions.

So the goal is not avoiding an increase in total incidents, but rather avoiding only serious injuries and fatalities?

If you refuse to accept any risk of accidents, then you'd never be able to leave your house.

Nobody’s talking about zero risk; we’re talking about avoiding a known increase in risk a few days out of the year.

There are known risks every day. Are you unfamiliar with the history of injuries and fatalities in MCPS? Should we start cancelling school when heavy rain is predicted, too? Or are you willing to drive in that and accept those risks?

You have an irrational fear of snow that is causing you to have an exaggerated perception of the risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove my kid to school Friday and it was slippery even on the main roads (I’m in the DCC). But I drove more slowly and kept a longer following distance and we got there fine. It just took 5-10 minutes longer than normal. I did slide a couple of times when I was turning a little too quickly.

I would have preferred a delay and that would have been more consistent with Tuesday but I don’t think this was a disaster.

This thread demonstrates that there are a lot of people that don't think they should ever have to drive slower. Earlier in the thread some teachers were saying they wouldn't leave home earlier than their normal time, despite knowing that it would (or should) take longer than usual.

If MCPS doesn’t make the call the night before, you have to wake up to find out what their decision is. Historically, they would have a delay when there’s wintry mix during morning rush hour. I can understand why people didn’t set their alarms extra early. If you didn’t get up earlier than usual, how much earlier could you leave?

I managed to order snow boots three days earlier and woke up early on Friday because I knew my kid would be excited to play in the snow before we drove very slowly to school. You don't need to have a crystal ball to plan ahead a little bit. But I guess it's different for me because I don't associate a chance of 1 inch of snow with getting to go to work late or not having to work at all. It often means scrambling in the morning to figure out child care coverage with my DH and reschedule meetings if needed.

I am really confused. You often have to scramble to figure out childcare on snowy mornings, and often do so by rescheduling meetings, because you don’t plan ahead for weather.

But a teacher who didn’t have childcare arranged that let them leave early should have predicted and planned in advance?

I have been in education, or parenting schoolage kids, or both in this area for 20+ years. Based on those years I went to sleep assuming that either the predicted snow would turn to rain, or that the would call a delay. If I still had little kids, I wouldn’t have planned for too much snow to get from daycare to school on time, because that hasn’t been the pattern before. I also didn’t plan for having to cover colleagues who didn’t make it on time due to similar reasons.

Most things were open like normal on Friday. You didn't need to do much other than wake up a little early.

If your child care arrangements only work for ideal weather conditions, without leaving any soon for longer driving times for any reason, then you should already have backup plans.

There isn't an underground workforce of women ready to care for other people's children on a snowy day. Normal people know this and acknowledge that parents have to miss work when their regular childcare arrangements get canceled, unless they have family in the area that can do this.

Snow isn't the only thing that comes up that might require you to leave home 30 minutes early. So you probably factored that in when you selected child care. For instance, it is common to pick child care locations that are close to work, rather than being close to home. If you didn't do that, then you probably had back up plans.

The idea that people couldn't leave home early is absurd.

Most before care providers are located at the school they serve. So, if your kids attend public school their childcare will be close to home, not their parent’s work.

Teaching has pros and cons due to schedule. One pro is that they are generally understanding when people can’t work early. One con is that people just can’t “reschedule meetings” when those meetings are classes.

If you have a long commute between your child's school and where you work such that you have little extra time, then this certainly wasn't the only time you had to deal with it. There are often programs that start earlier than Bar-T with shuttles or buses.

Most high school teachers need care very early in the morning. Even the programs that have shuttles and buses often don’t start early enough so people find home childcare arrangements that specifically care for teachers kids. But they still can’t drop off even earlier.

[Anonymous]

School based child care providers offer before and aftercare (some do all day care for younger kids too). Combined with the school day it is typically 11-12 hours of care. Our provider is super flexible so if you need beforecare on any given day but not usually you can just pay for a drop in. So if a parent has to go into work a little early it is fine (for shift workers it is obviously a different story). Unless of course MCPS prohibits them from operating on any given day.