MCPS - Is the Superintendent the one to actually make the decision to close schools for weather?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to know why Fairfax County can make a decision at a reasonable hour the day or night before, but MCPS has to wait until 4:34 am the day of to post closures. I think they love messing with us.

We moved to Montgomery County for so many reasons, and the schools were a huge draw for us. Sometimes I wonder if we'd been better off with Fairfax County schools. MCPS = SMH.

You do realize the Fairfax County and Montgomery County are not the same area -- correct?
Being that they are not the same exact area, the road conditions, driving conditions, school conditions are not the same.
So Fairfax Cty may have downed trees, slick roads on Sunday night that MOCO may not have.
Hmm...so maybe at 4:30am on Sunday a tree may have just gone down in MOCO or the temp dropped increasing the road hazards, etc.
This is not rocket science is it?

[Anonymous]

The weather conditions were more adverse in Montgomery County than Fairfax and DC. Yes, Fairfax and DC were more on the ball than MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Will be interesting to see what MCPS does this evening. WWA issued for 3-5 inches of snow predicted to start around sunrise tomorrow and continue till the early afternoon. Rush hour predicted to be a mess.

[Anonymous]

OP here - I'm not second-guessing the decision, I was just curious about who does what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Road inspections start at 3am. It's rare any jurisdiction in this area, where winters tend to be mild, are made the day before. So much can be cleaned up overnight with light snows and freezing rain. It may have seemed miserable yesterday, but fine this morning. Maybe Fairfax closed unnecessarily. You never know.

Plus, MCPS has 200+ schools it needs to clear, sidewalks and parking lots, to ensure people are safe. I drove into Rockville today and many sidewalks aren't cleared yet. Do you want your kids walking and slipping to school with already-crazy drivers speeding by?

And ice can be more time and labor consuming to remove. If they cleared it yesterday afternoon, they'd have to come back and do a repeat in the early morning anyway. That costs $$.

I'll add that unless you have driven on the back roads in the upper Montgomery County area, you might not understand that there are some rather rural areas of the county, where it would not be safe to operate buses when the weather is bad.

The people who make the decisions can't make everyone happy, but they try to do what is in the best interests and safety of the children, as should be the case. MCPS has rarely announced a school closure the night before as long as I have had kids in school, which has been about 15 years. A lot of you need to just get used to not knowing the decision until in the morning.

[Anonymous]

There are so many problems with this. Yes, its wrong for kids to tweet threats to anyone, including a public figure, and there should be consequences for kids that used any threats or racial comments.

However, it amazes me that Starr never took the opportunity to point out the larger problem with cyber bullying where kids in power use technology to hurt kids that are less powerful. This is truly harmful and a real problem in MCPS which MCPS does nothing to address. Is he so self absorbed that he only sees himself as a "parental figure" when kids in a less powerful position than he, act inappropriately toward him? He can't be bothered to do anything for kids who are real victims of constant bullying from those with more power then themselves?

There are have been several instances of sex offenders caught in MCPS on Starr's watch. Starr could have and should have sent a county-wide note about this..how to protect your children, what to watch for and how to talk to your child, apologizing that MCPS failed to act to protect these kids, and educating kids. Instead, Starr's PR team reacts to avoid or hope it doesn't get out. However if Starr is criticized then they fly into action scheduled press conferences and sending out county-wide email.

Its quite likely that the first post and quick "kudos to Starr" posts in fast succession are from his PR team. Everything he does aligns with the actions of someone who is more interested in self-promotion and establishing a name for himself than actually leading a large education system and serving students, parents and taxpayers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many problems with this. Yes, its wrong for kids to tweet threats to anyone, including a public figure, and there should be consequences for kids that used any threats or racial comments.

However, it amazes me that Starr never took the opportunity to point out the larger problem with cyber bullying where kids in power use technology to hurt kids that are less powerful. This is truly harmful and a real problem in MCPS which MCPS does nothing to address. Is he so self absorbed that he only sees himself as a "parental figure" when kids in a less powerful position than he, act inappropriately toward him? He can't be bothered to do anything for kids who are real victims of constant bullying from those with more power then themselves?

There are have been several instances of sex offenders caught in MCPS on Starr's watch. Starr could have and should have sent a county-wide note about this..how to protect your children, what to watch for and how to talk to your child, apologizing that MCPS failed to act to protect these kids, and educating kids. Instead, Starr's PR team reacts to avoid or hope it doesn't get out. However if Starr is criticized then they fly into action scheduled press conferences and sending out county-wide email.

Its quite likely that the first post and quick "kudos to Starr" posts in fast succession are from his PR team. Everything he does aligns with the actions of someone who is more interested in self-promotion and establishing a name for himself than actually leading a large education system and serving students, parents and taxpayers.

I see Janus is reading this thread. Now go back to YOUR little, rarely commented upon, self-promoting blog. Toodles!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also the highest parts of Montgomery County are about 800 feet higher than the lowest parts. So it might be raining in Bethesda and Potomac, but sleeting/snowing/icing in Damascus. And MCPS can't close just the schools at the higher elevations.

In the 1980's the county tried a color coded system for closing schools. The northern half of the county was coded (let's say blue) and the bottom half (green?). It was chaos because the parents were too stupid to know where they lived. It lasted one year and then they went back to making a decision on the entire county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also the highest parts of Montgomery County are about 800 feet higher than the lowest parts. So it might be raining in Bethesda and Potomac, but sleeting/snowing/icing in Damascus. And MCPS can't close just the schools at the higher elevations.[/quote]

Why not?

The stupidity of closing a whole school system of 140,000 kids because a few schools might have bad conditions is beyond words. No wonder nothing gets done in this county. So a few schools may have to make up a day or two of school. A little common sense would go a long way.

[Anonymous]

Well… because of magnet programs, etc. buses go all over the county just for one school.

That being said, that doesn't mean a creative answer can't be found

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also the highest parts of Montgomery County are about 800 feet higher than the lowest parts. So it might be raining in Bethesda and Potomac, but sleeting/snowing/icing in Damascus. And MCPS can't close just the schools at the higher elevations.[/

Why not?

The stupidity of closing a whole school system of 140,000 kids because a few schools might have bad conditions is beyond words. No wonder nothing gets done in this county. So a few schools may have to make up a day or two of school. A little common sense would go a long way.

What solution do you suggest, PP?

(154,000 kids.)

[Anonymous]

A number of school districts close only certain schools when the power goes out or something, not sure why weather could not be done similarly. Is there really a reason to close Bethesda schools just because there is ice in Poolesville?