School closed 1/20/22

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

+1

They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. I don't envy the decision makers in this instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think they will start considering having school on 2/1 now?

They should not count on a waiver, and it doesn´t help HS students at all to tack on a day at the end of June.

I think they would say it's too late to make that change now, but they should have considered it at the last board meeting when we already had two known days to make up (now we have three).

I agree they will say it’s too late, although it really isn’t. I also suspect they privately weighed whether to use it to make up a day and got pushback bc it’s Lunar New Year. At the board meeting for next year there was discussion of whether a day off was needed for Lunar New Year next year even though next year it is observed on a weekend day. They determined a day off was not needed in that case, but I bet there were stakeholder discussions about this year.

I wrote to the Board this morning asking them to consider using 2/1 as a makeup day.

Or how about 1/24? Monday is off too

Or spring break and summer. No days off bc I’m mad!

PP who wrote to the board. I think today's call was difficult for the school system and I don't blame them for closing based on the information they had.
1/24 is an end-of-marking-period teacher workday that seems important for teachers, especially those who switch classes between semesters.
2/1 is the next identified opportunity for a makeup. The ones after that are in April (spring break and another teacher workday). I think they should take advantage of the opportunity to make up a day now, given that we might pile up even more snow days over the next month of winter weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

+1

They're damned if they do, damned if they don't. I don't envy the decision makers in this instance.

Can you even imagine all the email they will receive from fellow DCUMers ranting on about which days should be used for makeups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Closed due to rain. More proof that MCPS is eff'd up. We need to break up MCPS into 3 or 4 smaller districts.

Yeah, except that this time it was rain across all of the "3-4 smaller districts"!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

Even at the worst version of the forecast, it was only 1-2 inches of accumulation with all of it melting before the end of the school day. I'm not usually a conspiracy person, but I think MCPS is definitely looking for excuses to close.

As for the first PP who says we should tell the kids to curl up on the couch with a good book... they are 6 and 8, not 68! This buys us like an hour! It's not easy for DH and me to juggle these snow days, and the school's aftercare is at a different school today, so we weren't comfortable doing a drop in somewhere else. I don't mind scrambling when there is a need, but I think MCPS threw in the towel early on purpose and shifted the burden to the parents.

Me too and I’d hardly categorize myself as a conspiracy theorist. The contempt that MCPS clearly has for families and, ultimately, students is awful. Imagine those many people who, because it is raining and not snowing, are still having to show up for work. Only in the bizarro world of MCPS and DCUM are all parents working from home with employers who don’t care if they actually work or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cannot blame MCPS for this weather mess. I blame them for a lot of things but not this.

Is there any bad decision that MCPS makes that you are willing to hold them accountable for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closed due to rain. More proof that MCPS is eff'd up. We need to break up MCPS into 3 or 4 smaller districts.

Yeah, except that this time it was rain across all of the "3-4 smaller districts"!

Since when is school supposed to close for rain?

[Anonymous]

I agree. MCPS made a decision based on the forecast. Cannot fault them for that. There is no conspiracy, as all local public school systems have closed today...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

But we have already used the allotted snow days, so today will be taken from another day off or be an added day at the end of the year.

Whatever! Does it really matter in the big scheme of things. There is a lot of wasted time in school

I take it your kids don’t go to any of the 27 schools sentenced to virtual instruction.

I don’t see your point. Most people it seemed (at least the vocal ones) have been against virtual. The governor said virtual is useless. In retrospect, perhaps a virtual January would have been more productive. But hard to predict ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Change of plans - school is back on (with a 2-hour delay)!

Are you a Kindergarten parent? Early elementary parent? Do you really think MCPS would call for a day off school then an hour later switch it to a 2 hour delay? You don't realize that text was sent out by mistake?

I'm glad one of my HS DD's teacher emailed her students and said she will still hold a test for them today from 1-2.

This is also why I'm okay with MCPS calling snow days/delays at 5 am instead of the night before.

WTF? How is the teacher allowed to do that?

That sounds more like an opportunity. Some kids need the last assessments that were planned to improve their grades. Holding the test today allows some to not have multiple things in other classes all happening tomorrow.

Yep - the teacher even says in her email "In an effort to help you from having a lot of tests tomorrow, you will have the opportunity today to take it."

That might be fine and all but she will also have to offer it tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think they will start considering having school on 2/1 now?

They should not count on a waiver, and it doesn´t help HS students at all to tack on a day at the end of June.

I think they would say it's too late to make that change now, but they should have considered it at the last board meeting when we already had two known days to make up (now we have three).

I agree they will say it’s too late, although it really isn’t. I also suspect they privately weighed whether to use it to make up a day and got pushback bc it’s Lunar New Year. At the board meeting for next year there was discussion of whether a day off was needed for Lunar New Year next year even though next year it is observed on a weekend day. They determined a day off was not needed in that case, but I bet there were stakeholder discussions about this year.

I wrote to the Board this morning asking them to consider using 2/1 as a makeup day.

And staying open at all is pandering to the likes of you. So quit griping.

Thank you! I’m going to do the same - this is ridiculous, and while we had snow days pre-COVID I too believe snow days like today is pandering to those wanting virtual bc of COVID. I also do not understand why MoCo - which used to be one of the best school districts in the country, does not have today as virtual like PG and Fairfax.

Probably because a lot of teachers do not have childcare for the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

But we have already used the allotted snow days, so today will be taken from another day off or be an added day at the end of the year.

Whatever! Does it really matter in the big scheme of things. There is a lot of wasted time in school

I take it your kids don’t go to any of the 27 schools sentenced to virtual instruction.

I don’t see your point. Most people it seemed (at least the vocal ones) have been against virtual. The governor said virtual is useless. In retrospect, perhaps a virtual January would have been more productive. But hard to predict ahead of time.

My point was that virtual has been deemed useless, so for all the kids who were virtual the first two weeks of January, canceling in-person today does matter in the big scheme of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

Even at the worst version of the forecast, it was only 1-2 inches of accumulation with all of it melting before the end of the school day. I'm not usually a conspiracy person, but I think MCPS is definitely looking for excuses to close.

As for the first PP who says we should tell the kids to curl up on the couch with a good book... they are 6 and 8, not 68! This buys us like an hour! It's not easy for DH and me to juggle these snow days, and the school's aftercare is at a different school today, so we weren't comfortable doing a drop in somewhere else. I don't mind scrambling when there is a need, but I think MCPS threw in the towel early on purpose and shifted the burden to the parents.

Life ain’t easy pumpkin. Chill out a little. 6 and 8 year old kids should not need constant entertainment. Let them read for a couple hours. Watch tv for a couple hours. Play for a couple hours. You will survive and so will they

DP.. you must be a sahp or a troll.

When there were school closures prevcovid, and I was wfh, it was still tough to manage kids and try to get work done.

6 and 8 yr olds still need supervision, especially getting them to turn off the electronics and do something else. That something else could mean make a mess, fight, etc.. I tell my kids to not bother me when I'm in meetings (and I have a lot of them) unless there is a lot of blood or a broken bone. That means a lot of unsupervised time.

Not a troll or a SAHM parent. Just less type A than you I guess. Kids in the US are micro managed too much. I’m from a country with more laissez faire parenting. I’m around to check on the kids, give them lunch, redirect them but otherwise they can manage pretty well. Yes, they will watch more tv than they should but it’s ok. I remember the joys of childhood when school would be closed unexpectedly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Calm down people! Your kids will be fine. They are learning that life is unpredictable and that is a good lesson. Encourage them to curl up on the couch with a good book for at least a couple hours.

I agree. As much as it frustrates me since it's just raining, the forecast did call for accumulating snow right when the buses would be out running, kids walking and driving to school. The school systems can only rely on what the forecasters are calling for, and one kid in an accident is front page news.

Snow days are built into the calendar, and if they don't use them, they're out earlier in the summer. So they're going to be off one way or the other.

But we have already used the allotted snow days, so today will be taken from another day off or be an added day at the end of the year.

Whatever! Does it really matter in the big scheme of things. There is a lot of wasted time in school

I take it your kids don’t go to any of the 27 schools sentenced to virtual instruction.

I don’t see your point. Most people it seemed (at least the vocal ones) have been against virtual. The governor said virtual is useless. In retrospect, perhaps a virtual January would have been more productive. But hard to predict ahead of time.

Kid in elementary here. No way. Attending even 50% of January in person for me is better than a full January online. That’s just pure misery.

[Anonymous]

I remember going to school in the snow. The buses would slide, sometimes even get stuck but we all made it out alive aaand became educated citizens.