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

[Anonymous]

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

We don’t have the number of trucks and amount of equipment to handle major snow events. We normally don’t need that much so they don’t buy it. It is expensive and then it has to be stored and maintained to be used maybe once every 5 years. The equipment that the county has handles a normal storm pretty well. The equipment needed to handle snowmagedden or this last mess would be very expensive to purchase.

They were clearing what they could, they just didn’t have enough of the right equipment to handle the icy mess that we got.

And the population didn’t help by not shoveling their sidewalks. VDOT is responsible for the streets, individuals and businesses are responsible for their sidewalks. People decided that it was too hard to dig out so they did their driveways and that is it. The cleanest driveways and the like in my neighborhood paid around $85 to get their driveways and sidewalks done. The people who did it on their own have ice shelfs at the end of the drive way and maybe half a sidewalk done.

I am annoyed that they have not busted out lots of sand to sand down the streets and the sidewalks but then that means the COunty has to buy the sand, I think they buy salt and that would take time and need storage spaces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op - you are comparing apples to oranges.

"A foot of snow in NE" is drastically different than 7 inches of snowcrete.
Mid Atlantic states don't have the resources. They just don't. NE states, given their consistent winter weather, do have endless parades of snow plows, dump trucks to haul away snow, a cavalry of workers and contractors.
The mid Atlantic, not so much.

Plus, ice is a different beast . I'd love to have a foot of snow instead like what NE gets.

and sometimes they simply suck it up.

There was one year where the snow in my parent's Boston suburb was so high you could barely see the stop signs. and, no, there were not magical workers out there shoveling and removing all the snow. Due to all the snow sidewalks could not be shoveled. Did they cancel school for a month, no. They accepted that risk it part of life and went about their school days.

Even last week after they got 18 inches of snow and, according to may family with school aged kids, did a terrible job plowing streets kids were still back in school by Wednesday and their neighborhood doesn't even have sidewalks.

[Anonymous]

My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

[Anonymous]

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.

Not every parent has a car, or they have multiple kids, or they have to be at work and cannot drive. There are plenty of reasons why parents cannot drive to school and the reality is the kids who need to be in school the most, because they are behind and need food, are the kids whose parents are the least available to take them to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

My money’s with you. Spot on my prediction as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

+1

FCPS will do the same. They do this EVERY TIME it snows. Close, make up some reason, magically reopen when there has been no change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

+1

FCPS will do the same. They do this EVERY TIME it snows. Close, make up some reason, magically reopen when there has been no change.

Managing to make both factions of the debate absolutely furious but on different days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

We don’t have the number of trucks and amount of equipment to handle major snow events. We normally don’t need that much so they don’t buy it. It is expensive and then it has to be stored and maintained to be used maybe once every 5 years. The equipment that the county has handles a normal storm pretty well. The equipment needed to handle snowmagedden or this last mess would be very expensive to purchase.

They were clearing what they could, they just didn’t have enough of the right equipment to handle the icy mess that we got.

And the population didn’t help by not shoveling their sidewalks. VDOT is responsible for the streets, individuals and businesses are responsible for their sidewalks. People decided that it was too hard to dig out so they did their driveways and that is it. The cleanest driveways and the like in my neighborhood paid around $85 to get their driveways and sidewalks done. The people who did it on their own have ice shelfs at the end of the drive way and maybe half a sidewalk done.

I am annoyed that they have not busted out lots of sand to sand down the streets and the sidewalks but then that means the COunty has to buy the sand, I think they buy salt and that would take time and need storage spaces.

They haven’t had plows out since early last week. Total clown behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

We don’t have the number of trucks and amount of equipment to handle major snow events. We normally don’t need that much so they don’t buy it. It is expensive and then it has to be stored and maintained to be used maybe once every 5 years. The equipment that the county has handles a normal storm pretty well. The equipment needed to handle snowmagedden or this last mess would be very expensive to purchase.

They were clearing what they could, they just didn’t have enough of the right equipment to handle the icy mess that we got.

And the population didn’t help by not shoveling their sidewalks. VDOT is responsible for the streets, individuals and businesses are responsible for their sidewalks. People decided that it was too hard to dig out so they did their driveways and that is it. The cleanest driveways and the like in my neighborhood paid around $85 to get their driveways and sidewalks done. The people who did it on their own have ice shelfs at the end of the drive way and maybe half a sidewalk done.

I am annoyed that they have not busted out lots of sand to sand down the streets and the sidewalks but then that means the COunty has to buy the sand, I think they buy salt and that would take time and need storage spaces.

They haven’t had plows out since early last week. Total clown behavior.

Plows don’t necessarily work on ice

[Anonymous]

Yep, well in the north we also require people to clear their sidewalks. So.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Who is they? Everyone but you?

VDOT for the roads and people who live in the area for the sidewalks. Totally ridiculous they were checking things out yesterday. They should have done that last Tuesday and come up with a plan instead of not educating 180,000 kids for over a week. Clowns.

So everyone but you.Might want to vote with your feet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op - you are comparing apples to oranges.

"A foot of snow in NE" is drastically different than 7 inches of snowcrete.
Mid Atlantic states don't have the resources. They just don't. NE states, given their consistent winter weather, do have endless parades of snow plows, dump trucks to haul away snow, a cavalry of workers and contractors.
The mid Atlantic, not so much.

Plus, ice is a different beast . I'd love to have a foot of snow instead like what NE gets.

and sometimes they simply suck it up.

There was one year where the snow in my parent's Boston suburb was so high you could barely see the stop signs. and, no, there were not magical workers out there shoveling and removing all the snow. Due to all the snow sidewalks could not be shoveled. Did they cancel school for a month, no. They accepted that risk it part of life and went about their school days.

Even last week after they got 18 inches of snow and, according to may family with school aged kids, did a terrible job plowing streets kids were still back in school by Wednesday and their neighborhood doesn't even have sidewalks.

DS didn't even get til Wednesday. He has Monday off and a 2 hr delay on Tuesday. Which I thought was crazy because there were definitely roads that were still slippery and areas where I had no idea how a bus would get to. Not to mention we also have no sidewalks in a lot of our small town. I also had to work and drove through the worst of the storm and dealt with horrible roads for a couple days. But we had snow, followed by some slippery compacted snow that got a little frozen over. Nothing like the mess of ice DC and other states are seeing. You really can't compare a lot snow (that wasn't particularly heavy) and ice.

[Anonymous]

I just worked on my sidewalk. That snowcrete is a major PITA. I was just hammering and hammering on it with a metal shovel until my arms couldn't take it anymore. Wednesday is my goal to have the entire thing done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

Yep. They don’t make decisions based on child welfare or risk assessment calculations. People don’t rise to the top of the education food chain without selling out their integrity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Who is they? Everyone but you?

VDOT for the roads and people who live in the area for the sidewalks. Totally ridiculous they were checking things out yesterday. They should have done that last Tuesday and come up with a plan instead of not educating 180,000 kids for over a week. Clowns.

So everyone but you.Might want to vote with your feet.

My area is clear. Fairfax county is clownish.