There will be no school all week - Here is why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Why can't parents drive kids if they can't walk?? It seems my options are to either take off an entire day of work and stay home with my kids, or drive them to school. I think all working parents will choose #2.

I get that school isn't childcare, but schools need to understand that parents have to work.

Longfellow Middle School has almost 1600 kids. Not possible for 1600 cars to be dropping off kids. Now, imagine ALL the schools doing that... Also, not all parents have cars. Fairfax is 405 square miles.

Sure they could. They could stagger the times. That everyone throws their hands up in the air and refuses to educate kids is awful.

You must not have any concept of common sense. Post a schedule of how 1600 students can be dropped off at a school that can barely even handle the NORMAL drop off rate on a regular day?

I'll give you a probable answer. If it takes just 30 seconds for each car to pull in and drop off their kid and the cars were perfectly lined up with no downtime it would take 13 hours.

You think each car has to do it one at a time? Ha ha. This area is so clownish.

It's clownish to think that parents would follow a staggered schedule.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe a neighbor is out of town, or is sick, dealing with cancer, doesn't have a shovel to chop the ice, or elderly (Principal admits it's a sheet of ice), etc. The comment "chose" heavily implies that the neighbors had a choice to clear but didn't because they don't feel like it.

Our neighbor chose to shovel his driveway but not the sidewalk that houses the bus stop. It was a choice. It’s ok to acknowledge that some people are a%*holes.

THIS! There isnt a single house with the sidewalks not shoveled that also doesnt have a driveway shoveled. Not a single one.

Probably because those people need their driveway and don’t need their sidewalk. It’s not realistic to rely on residents for this. You can say how it should be all you want but it’s just not realistic.

I chose not to shovel my sidewalk and my neighbors did the same. Everyone is just walking on top of the snow without issue. We don't need sidewalks cleared.

What I also chose to do last night was submit a complaint with VDOT about the entrance to my neighborhood because there's no way a school bus could turn right without the merge lane being plowed. Right now the plow tracker shows a VDOT plow at that same spot I complained about.

We need to submit targeted complaints about the issues in our own neighborhoods so VDOT can prioritize it. There are a lot of plows in the southern part of the state right now and not very many in NOVA. Get online and tell them what's preventing the buses from getting into your respective neighborhoods.

So you're one of the POS who are too lazy to shovel the sidewalk. Wow. People don't choose to walk on the ice. They have to. People like you are trash and the reason society is so screwed up. My street on Sunday and Monday...EVERYONE was outside shoveling and people helped others with their sidewalks and driveways. Funny enough, the ONLY HOUSE that still does not have their sidewalk shoveled was the ONLY house with half a dozen Trump signs in their lawn a year ago.

LOL, my MAGA next door neighbor is one of two houses on my street that did not shovel if you exclude the old people (and neighbors shoveled for them). The other house is a young couple with kids too young for school. Their sidewalk is a bus stop but another parent went and shoveled it this weekend since it was clear they were not getting to it.

[Anonymous]

It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

+100
Buses have been making "turns" just fine for sports teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

This is exactly the perspective that folks in this area need to hear. You are not valuing "safety" over other considerations and cannot hide behind "safety first" on every topic. You are objectively exercising poor judgement and decision making skills. Rest of the world/other school districts are not "reckless". They just do not need their life/world to be 100% easy or risk mitigated to make it work. Look inward and find some courage - at least for your kid's sake.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

Short buses.

And pick up and drop off are in large parking lots.

And no private school is juggling walkers, bus riders strewn across 450 miles of Ffx Co., and the general 180k students including SN and handicapped.

So the private schools will continue on, and you’re just fine with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

+100
Buses have been making "turns" just fine for sports teams.

I don’t understand this post. I still have to get my kid to practice. Buses don’t come to my house or drop off after practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have been working on this all of last week. Clown behavior.

Who is they? Everyone but you?

VDOT is literally employed to do this work. So "they" = the team responsible = VDOT, not all of us personally.

[Anonymous]

I agree many neighbors are jerks or lazy about the snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

Short buses.

And pick up and drop off are in large parking lots.

And no private school is juggling walkers, bus riders strewn across 450 miles of Ffx Co., and the general 180k students including SN and handicapped.

So the private schools will continue on, and you’re just fine with that?

I'm a DP, but yes, I am. However, many (all?) of the private schools I can think of in our area have 1) walkers and 2) pull from large areas, so the issues aren't as simple as it might seem just because many of these schools do not use buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

I honestly don’t believe you guys understand at all what it means to value education. I have traveled all over the world as well and have been to places where school occurs for a half day for six months out of the year, those families still value education it’s just doesn’t occur on a schedule that a “westerner” would understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's this type of thing - Closing schools for over a week but letting sports and other activities continue - that is either a symptom or a cause of America's downfall. I've lived all over the world and I have never seen schools close for more than 1 day for snow or any other reason. It's clear that we do not value education anymore.

This is exactly the perspective that folks in this area need to hear. You are not valuing "safety" over other considerations and cannot hide behind "safety first" on every topic. You are objectively exercising poor judgement and decision making skills. Rest of the world/other school districts are not "reckless". They just do not need their life/world to be 100% easy or risk mitigated to make it work. Look inward and find some courage - at least for your kid's sake.

Sports and other after-school activities are optional. Very different calculus and risk profile.

[Anonymous]

Neighborhood roads are fine. Bus stops and sidewalks--not so much and our elementary is mostly walkers.

Bus stop on my corner--middle school --is a mess.
And, FWIW, the owner is from a warm country and likely does not know that he is responsible for the sidewalk.

Fairfax County needs to do a better job of explaining that to residents. I think a lot of people do not realize the responsibility for the sidewalk.

Another concern: I remember a year when people were great about shoveling sidewalks. Then the snow melted, water stood up on sidewalks and we had a deep freeze. It was weeks before we could walk to school.

[Anonymous]

cont. drove by the elementary school. Not sure there is enough parking for teachers. Don't understand how the pool parking lot (maintained by homeowners) can be cleared perfectly, but the school parking lot is not.

Kiss and Ride is going to be a mess--the main road by the school is going to have a hard time allowing two lanes.

[Anonymous]

i hope this is true.