1st weather delay of the season this Thursday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

The state approved 3 asynchronous virtual days for inclement weather and MCPS has said nothing. Other counties already released their plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

At my school, all Chromebooks are now housed in a cart in the classroom. Students don’t take Chromebooks home. There are no cases to protect them and the chargers are wired into the cart. We can’t simply send Chromebooks home without cases and chargers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

At my school, all Chromebooks are now housed in a cart in the classroom. Students don’t take Chromebooks home. There are no cases to protect them and the chargers are wired into the cart. We can’t simply send Chromebooks home without cases and chargers.

Didn’t they save the cases and chargers from last year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't it exhaust weather days after the power outage closure?

I heard from our school's secretary that the airplane power outage wouldn't count as a snow day. I'm not sure how they pulled that off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

At my school, all Chromebooks are now housed in a cart in the classroom. Students don’t take Chromebooks home. There are no cases to protect them and the chargers are wired into the cart. We can’t simply send Chromebooks home without cases and chargers.

Didn’t they save the cases and chargers from last year?

Chargers, yes - they're mounted in the cases with zipties and such. Sorry for the teacher that has to undo then redo it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

For schools who use the cart model, kids leave laptops at schools, so I don't think MCPS will be able to implement distance learning unless they make all kids bring them home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

For schools who use the cart model, kids leave laptops at schools, so I don't think MCPS will be able to implement distance learning unless they make all kids bring them home.

Then allow schools who are prepared to do it. Why should the rest of us have make up days when our kids can do virtual?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

The state approved 3 asynchronous virtual days for inclement weather and MCPS has said nothing. Other counties already released their plans.

The ability to pivot to asynchronous is harder for MCPS. It is the largest school district and most diverse in terms of the technology available. Even teachers do not all have the same devices and software.

[Anonymous]

Any update on the forecast? Looking like sleet / freezing rain from what I saw on WTOP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any update on the forecast? Looking like sleet / freezing rain from what I saw on WTOP.

Here is the latest from MoCoSnow

https://mocoshow.com/blog/winter-weather-possible-later-this-week/

[Anonymous]

I just got a note from our school, which uses the cart model, that if your student doesn't have a home computer that you should request a chromebook from MCPS using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDNdqO31soXKLffjcEzgVQ9C2Z2koPm6ifKm7-K77e44ZhAg/viewform

So it sounds like they are planning on having virtual school for snow days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

For schools who use the cart model, kids leave laptops at schools, so I don't think MCPS will be able to implement distance learning unless they make all kids bring them home.

Then allow schools who are prepared to do it. Why should the rest of us have make up days when our kids can do virtual?

Lots of reasons:
For one, when there is a makeup day, teachers and other staff are not paid for it. Teachers were already paid for the emergency day and paras are not paid. Except if that day is made asynchronous, paras would have to be paid. There are staff who are paras part time at multiple schools. It would be a payroll nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

The state approved 3 asynchronous virtual days for inclement weather and MCPS has said nothing. Other counties already released their plans.

The ability to pivot to asynchronous is harder for MCPS. It is the largest school district and most diverse in terms of the technology available. Even teachers do not all have the same devices and software.

Asynchronous means you can plan in advance. Send home/post meaningful lessons BEFORE the inclement weather days. We don't need to go backwards when we have the ability to plan ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all have laptops now, right? Just do distance learning. There’s no reason for snow days anymore.

The state approved 3 asynchronous virtual days for inclement weather and MCPS has said nothing. Other counties already released their plans.

The ability to pivot to asynchronous is harder for MCPS. It is the largest school district and most diverse in terms of the technology available. Even teachers do not all have the same devices and software.

Asynchronous means you can plan in advance. Send home/post meaningful lessons BEFORE the inclement weather days. We don't need to go backwards when we have the ability to plan ahead.

That might work for K or even first grade, but most grades don’t have meaningful generic lessons that can be done at any time. Instead, the curriculum has progressive skills or content that needs to be taught in sequence. Teachers could post three days of busy work if you really want that. Or if parents complain enough, MCPS will purchase three more days of a canned socioemotional learning curriculum to plop on Canvas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any update on the forecast? Looking like sleet / freezing rain from what I saw on WTOP.

Here is the latest from MoCoSnow

https://mocoshow.com/blog/winter-weather-possible-later-this-week/

haha, freudian slip. It's MocoShow.