MCPS closed for the day!

[Anonymous]

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+1 MoCo is too big to be manageable. It's not fair that 100% of students stay home and don't learn when adverse weather conditions affect a small part of the county.

Which parts of the county did today's weather conditions affect, and how do you know that?

Not my part of the county (BCC area). Barely any snow and no ice. But enjoy your day off teachers!

Oh, well, if it didn't affect Bethesda and Chevy Chase, then it obviously affected only a small part of the county!

BCC is one of the most populous parts of MoCo. But I guess, if your kid can't learn because there's an inch of snow on the ground-no one's kid should! #Everychildleftbehind

Actually most people in Montgomery County don't live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. And most of the Montgomery County land area is not in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. But it is evidently easy to believe otherwise, if you live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase.

I'm in Rockville and it's fine here too. Don't understand why there wasn't just a two hour delay this morning. I'm at a indoor playspace and there are a gazillion kids here. Hardly blizzard conditions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

+1 MoCo is too big to be manageable. It's not fair that 100% of students stay home and don't learn when adverse weather conditions affect a small part of the county.

Which parts of the county did today's weather conditions affect, and how do you know that?

Not my part of the county (BCC area). Barely any snow and no ice. But enjoy your day off teachers!

Oh, well, if it didn't affect Bethesda and Chevy Chase, then it obviously affected only a small part of the county!

BCC is one of the most populous parts of MoCo. But I guess, if your kid can't learn because there's an inch of snow on the ground-no one's kid should! #Everychildleftbehind

Actually most people in Montgomery County don't live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. And most of the Montgomery County land area is not in Bethesda or Chevy Chase. But it is evidently easy to believe otherwise, if you live in Bethesda or Chevy Chase.

I'm in Rockville and it's fine here too. Don't understand why there wasn't just a two hour delay this morning. I'm at a indoor playspace and there are a gazillion kids here. Hardly blizzard conditions.

+1 If this county can't handle less than an inch of snow a lot of people need to be looking for other jobs.

[Anonymous]

Even the whimps from Fairfax County only went with a 2 hour delay and they always cancel.

[Anonymous]

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Yes, which is why I pointed out that you could have a sub-county decision mechanism (ex: by clusters). My NY friends can't believe that my kid's school keeps closing when there's less than an inch of snow of the ground.

What do you mean, they can't believe it? They think you're not telling them the truth?

A school district has to make decisions based on what's appropriate for that school district, not on what different school districts elsewhere, with different relevant characteristics, may decide is appropriate for those school districts. The MCPS decision should be appropriate for characteristics and conditions in Montgomery County, not a school district in New York or Boston or North Dakota or Nizhny Novgorod.

Translation: Just because another school system has a more efficient way to make decisions, we will not ever consider adopting that mechanism.

Translation: [School district] in [location] only closes for [weather conditions], therefore MCPS's decision today was wrong!

So you're saying: if [School district] in [location] has a decentralized way of making decisions on [weather conditions] that parents and teachers are happy with, MCPS would never consider that.

Can someone link to this mythical large school system that makes this decision in a decentralized way? It's not in NY or New England, since their school systems are by town and not by county.

All of Nassau and Suffolk County in Long Island make closing decisions at the district level. Wouldn't make sense to close schools in a centralized way in an island that takes 3 hours to drive across.

But Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island have many different school districts - it is organized by town. So the above poster's statement is correct - in NY and New England, the school districts are organized by town and not by county.

[Anonymous]

People, it is not the snow that is the issue - it was the icy road conditions at the time when the buses and students who drive would have been out on the road.

The delay would have been ideal but I would rather the district be safe now than sorry later. I know some of you are put out. MCPS always catches hell for not protecting students in other contexts, but it gets as much hell when it does something to protect them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even the whimps from Fairfax County only went with a 2 hour delay and they always cancel.

Maybe the road and weather conditions in Fairfax County were different from the road and weather conditions in Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Yes, which is why I pointed out that you could have a sub-county decision mechanism (ex: by clusters). My NY friends can't believe that my kid's school keeps closing when there's less than an inch of snow of the ground.

What do you mean, they can't believe it? They think you're not telling them the truth?

A school district has to make decisions based on what's appropriate for that school district, not on what different school districts elsewhere, with different relevant characteristics, may decide is appropriate for those school districts. The MCPS decision should be appropriate for characteristics and conditions in Montgomery County, not a school district in New York or Boston or North Dakota or Nizhny Novgorod.

Translation: Just because another school system has a more efficient way to make decisions, we will not ever consider adopting that mechanism.

Translation: [School district] in [location] only closes for [weather conditions], therefore MCPS's decision today was wrong!

So you're saying: if [School district] in [location] has a decentralized way of making decisions on [weather conditions] that parents and teachers are happy with, MCPS would never consider that.

Can someone link to this mythical large school system that makes this decision in a decentralized way? It's not in NY or New England, since their school systems are by town and not by county.

All of Nassau and Suffolk County in Long Island make closing decisions at the district level. Wouldn't make sense to close schools in a centralized way in an island that takes 3 hours to drive across.

But Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island have many different school districts - it is organized by town. So the above poster's statement is correct - in NY and New England, the school districts are organized by town and not by county.

Right...I do not understand how people do not get that MCPS is one school district - so the decision WAS made at the district level. The same was one in PG and HoCo. Made on district level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, which is why I pointed out that you could have a sub-county decision mechanism (ex: by clusters). My NY friends can't believe that my kid's school keeps closing when there's less than an inch of snow of the ground.

What do you mean, they can't believe it? They think you're not telling them the truth?

A school district has to make decisions based on what's appropriate for that school district, not on what different school districts elsewhere, with different relevant characteristics, may decide is appropriate for those school districts. The MCPS decision should be appropriate for characteristics and conditions in Montgomery County, not a school district in New York or Boston or North Dakota or Nizhny Novgorod.

Translation: Just because another school system has a more efficient way to make decisions, we will not ever consider adopting that mechanism.

Translation: [School district] in [location] only closes for [weather conditions], therefore MCPS's decision today was wrong!

So you're saying: if [School district] in [location] has a decentralized way of making decisions on [weather conditions] that parents and teachers are happy with, MCPS would never consider that.

Can someone link to this mythical large school system that makes this decision in a decentralized way? It's not in NY or New England, since their school systems are by town and not by county.

All of Nassau and Suffolk County in Long Island make closing decisions at the district level. Wouldn't make sense to close schools in a centralized way in an island that takes 3 hours to drive across.

But Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island have many different school districts - it is organized by town. So the above poster's statement is correct - in NY and New England, the school districts are organized by town and not by county.

That is not my understanding of Long Island and I have multiple family members with kids there. But in any case. Long Island doesn't have decision making on snow days at the County level because the counties are too big (like MoCo).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People, it is not the snow that is the issue - it was the icy road conditions at the time when the buses and students who drive would have been out on the road.

The delay would have been ideal but I would rather the district be safe now than sorry later. I know some of you are put out. MCPS always catches hell for not protecting students in other contexts, but it gets as much hell when it does something to protect them.

Whatever. It's not icy here in Silver Spring. Other posters say it's not icy in the BCC area. That's a lot of students who could be learning today, but aren't. And a lot of their parents are going to go to work anyway because OPM and others don't call this a snow day, so you have a lot of kids home alone (this is not super-safe).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, which is why I pointed out that you could have a sub-county decision mechanism (ex: by clusters). My NY friends can't believe that my kid's school keeps closing when there's less than an inch of snow of the ground.

What do you mean, they can't believe it? They think you're not telling them the truth?

A school district has to make decisions based on what's appropriate for that school district, not on what different school districts elsewhere, with different relevant characteristics, may decide is appropriate for those school districts. The MCPS decision should be appropriate for characteristics and conditions in Montgomery County, not a school district in New York or Boston or North Dakota or Nizhny Novgorod.

Translation: Just because another school system has a more efficient way to make decisions, we will not ever consider adopting that mechanism.

Translation: [School district] in [location] only closes for [weather conditions], therefore MCPS's decision today was wrong!

So you're saying: if [School district] in [location] has a decentralized way of making decisions on [weather conditions] that parents and teachers are happy with, MCPS would never consider that.

Can someone link to this mythical large school system that makes this decision in a decentralized way? It's not in NY or New England, since their school systems are by town and not by county.

All of Nassau and Suffolk County in Long Island make closing decisions at the district level. Wouldn't make sense to close schools in a centralized way in an island that takes 3 hours to drive across.

But Nassau and Suffolk Counties in Long Island have many different school districts - it is organized by town. So the above poster's statement is correct - in NY and New England, the school districts are organized by town and not by county.

Right...I do not understand how people do not get that MCPS is one school district - so the decision WAS made at the district level. The same was one in PG and HoCo. Made on district level.

MoCo is so much bigger than HoCo and PG Counties. Lumping it all together as one district makes much less sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That is not my understanding of Long Island and I have multiple family members with kids there. But in any case. Long Island doesn't have decision making on snow days at the County level because the counties are too big (like MoCo).

Long Island doesn't have decision making on snow days at the County level because New York State does not organize schools districts by county. But other states (including Maryland) do.

[Anonymous]

email about the closure just came out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

MoCo is so much bigger than HoCo and PG Counties. Lumping it all together as one district makes much less sense.

Montgomery County: 507 sq mi (1,310 km2)
Prince George's County: 499 sq mi (1,292 km2)
Howard County: 253 sq mi (655 km2)

(Numbers from Wikipedia.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Whatever. It's not icy here in Silver Spring. Other posters say it's not icy in the BCC area. That's a lot of students who could be learning today, but aren't. And a lot of their parents are going to go to work anyway because OPM and others don't call this a snow day, so you have a lot of kids home alone (this is not super-safe).

How old are your children?

[Anonymous]

MoCo needs to step up its salting and plowing operation. This is happening too frequently for people to complain "MoCo isn't set up for snow events." Kids shouldn't be losing a day of schooling to a tiny bit of snow and ice.