Delayed opening Tuesday Feb 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

I mean, what is untrue about this? The county did an embarrassing and lazy job of plowing.

+1. If the lack of communication/ division of labor re: snow removal between the county and MCPS, as discussed on the other thread, is accurate, this will be a (recurring) problem. Not sure who is responsible, Erlich? County Council? MCPS Board? But if everyone forgets, this is just going to happen again with the next weird weather event in 2027.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

That's fair. Schools don't plow the streets.

The County's priorities are not the same as MCPS. County just wants to ensure car access and therefore plows roads in a rough fashion. Sidewalks are an afterthought. They don't care at all about prioritizing the snow removal on school bus routes, school bus stops, and access around school properties.

Therefore... it actually is the job of the Superintendent to make a deal with the County when there's a snow emergency, so that somewhere down the list of priorities, there's a spot for school bus routes, and all things school related.

So yes, MCPS has some responsibility here and cannot blame this all on residents and the county not shoveling to school-safe standards, since those are not the standards used by anyone except MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

I mean, what is untrue about this? The county did an embarrassing and lazy job of plowing.

+1. If the lack of communication/ division of labor re: snow removal between the county and MCPS, as discussed on the other thread, is accurate, this will be a (recurring) problem. Not sure who is responsible, Erlich? County Council? MCPS Board? But if everyone forgets, this is just going to happen again with the next weird weather event in 2027.

Yup. There’s only one snow day budgeted in next year’s MCpS calendar too. Cause they never learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

That's fair. Schools don't plow the streets.

The County's priorities are not the same as MCPS. County just wants to ensure car access and therefore plows roads in a rough fashion. Sidewalks are an afterthought. They don't care at all about prioritizing the snow removal on school bus routes, school bus stops, and access around school properties.

Therefore... it actually is the job of the Superintendent to make a deal with the County when there's a snow emergency, so that somewhere down the list of priorities, there's a spot for school bus routes, and all things school related.

So yes, MCPS has some responsibility here and cannot blame this all on residents and the county not shoveling to school-safe standards, since those are not the standards used by anyone except MCPS.

The plowing was unacceptable, even for car access. It would be one thing if they obstructed all the sidewalks while successfully clearing the roads, but they did neither. Lanes disappear suddenly and without warning, or are only half a lane wide and non-functional. Huge mounds have been left at intersections, obstructing all sight lines. Two-lane roads have become one lane and cars can't pass at the same time. Turn lanes are unusable. They haven't bothered to plow merge lanes so drivers are dumped into speeding traffic with no room to accelerate. The plowing is lazy and low effort. It all looks like "meh, good enough, who cares." It is making traffic a mess. People should be demanding answers from the council.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

That's fair. Schools don't plow the streets.

The County's priorities are not the same as MCPS. County just wants to ensure car access and therefore plows roads in a rough fashion. Sidewalks are an afterthought. They don't care at all about prioritizing the snow removal on school bus routes, school bus stops, and access around school properties.

Therefore... it actually is the job of the Superintendent to make a deal with the County when there's a snow emergency, so that somewhere down the list of priorities, there's a spot for school bus routes, and all things school related.

So yes, MCPS has some responsibility here and cannot blame this all on residents and the county not shoveling to school-safe standards, since those are not the standards used by anyone except MCPS.

The plowing was unacceptable, even for car access. It would be one thing if they obstructed all the sidewalks while successfully clearing the roads, but they did neither. Lanes disappear suddenly and without warning, or are only half a lane wide and non-functional. Huge mounds have been left at intersections, obstructing all sight lines. Two-lane roads have become one lane and cars can't pass at the same time. Turn lanes are unusable. They haven't bothered to plow merge lanes so drivers are dumped into speeding traffic with no room to accelerate. The plowing is lazy and low effort. It all looks like "meh, good enough, who cares." It is making traffic a mess. People should be demanding answers from the council.

It is definitely making traffic a mess. A simple 5 min trip from downtown bethesda to our house is taking 40 mins now. Tomorrow will be a mess when schools open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

That's fair. Schools don't plow the streets.

The County's priorities are not the same as MCPS. County just wants to ensure car access and therefore plows roads in a rough fashion. Sidewalks are an afterthought. They don't care at all about prioritizing the snow removal on school bus routes, school bus stops, and access around school properties.

Therefore... it actually is the job of the Superintendent to make a deal with the County when there's a snow emergency, so that somewhere down the list of priorities, there's a spot for school bus routes, and all things school related.

So yes, MCPS has some responsibility here and cannot blame this all on residents and the county not shoveling to school-safe standards, since those are not the standards used by anyone except MCPS.

The plowing was unacceptable, even for car access. It would be one thing if they obstructed all the sidewalks while successfully clearing the roads, but they did neither. Lanes disappear suddenly and without warning, or are only half a lane wide and non-functional. Huge mounds have been left at intersections, obstructing all sight lines. Two-lane roads have become one lane and cars can't pass at the same time. Turn lanes are unusable. They haven't bothered to plow merge lanes so drivers are dumped into speeding traffic with no room to accelerate. The plowing is lazy and low effort. It all looks like "meh, good enough, who cares." It is making traffic a mess. People should be demanding answers from the council.

It is definitely making traffic a mess. A simple 5 min trip from downtown bethesda to our house is taking 40 mins now. Tomorrow will be a mess when schools open.

There’s a 2 hr delay built in for that reason. Sometimes life is messy but it’s better than staying home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Notice in the message that if the bus doesn't reach your kid, it will be squarely the fault of county and private residents.

That's fair. Schools don't plow the streets.

The County's priorities are not the same as MCPS. County just wants to ensure car access and therefore plows roads in a rough fashion. Sidewalks are an afterthought. They don't care at all about prioritizing the snow removal on school bus routes, school bus stops, and access around school properties.

Therefore... it actually is the job of the Superintendent to make a deal with the County when there's a snow emergency, so that somewhere down the list of priorities, there's a spot for school bus routes, and all things school related.

So yes, MCPS has some responsibility here and cannot blame this all on residents and the county not shoveling to school-safe standards, since those are not the standards used by anyone except MCPS.

The plowing was unacceptable, even for car access. It would be one thing if they obstructed all the sidewalks while successfully clearing the roads, but they did neither. Lanes disappear suddenly and without warning, or are only half a lane wide and non-functional. Huge mounds have been left at intersections, obstructing all sight lines. Two-lane roads have become one lane and cars can't pass at the same time. Turn lanes are unusable. They haven't bothered to plow merge lanes so drivers are dumped into speeding traffic with no room to accelerate. The plowing is lazy and low effort. It all looks like "meh, good enough, who cares." It is making traffic a mess. People should be demanding answers from the council.

"Good enough" is, by definition, good enough.

I think the county did well. Making a broader areas of places passable is more important than making every place perfectly clear. I live on a narrow side street and we were plowed out by 7am on Monday. We could have it out 6pm Sunday if we really needed to. Driving around on Monday midday was fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the 2 hour delay only for students? Not teachers?

The phrasing is odd.

Just worry about getting your kid to school. Leave teachers alone. They will figure it out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the 2 hour delay only for students? Not teachers?

The phrasing is odd.

There is nothing odd about the phrasing

[Anonymous]

What WILL you all b!!tch about after tomorrow morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What WILL you all b!!tch about after tomorrow morning?

Probably about the way MCPS chooses to replace the 4 snow days. Let’s hope it’s not 3 half days in June again.

[Anonymous]

So no explanation about why they couldn’t have done a 2 hour delay today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So no explanation about why they couldn’t have done a 2 hour delay today.

I thought their email was pretty comprehensive. It made sense. They literally spelled it out for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What WILL you all b!!tch about after tomorrow morning?

Don't think you want to know on this forum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So no explanation about why they couldn’t have done a 2 hour delay today.

None that makes sense, PP. Of course they should have opened today.