MCPS closing/delaying on Monday?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:"Damage to school buildings, heating concerns, pipes"? It's barely below freezing and its just snow.

You people are ridiculous. Schools in the northeast don't have armies of facilities workers, either. They get it done because they're expected to get it done, and everyone accepts that the objective is "good enough" not "perfectly cleared of any evidence of snow".

You are severely underestimating the size of Montgomery County (and the attendant work) versus townships and towns in the NE.

And Montgomery County has correspondingly more resources.

Look at the large cities in the northeast. They don't shut down for several days for 6 inches of snow.

Because it happens more frequently, their infrastructure - including the roads, which have winter tarmac - is better, and it’s more cost effective to have everything on hand. In this area, it’s cheaper just to shut stuff down for a few days.

Except roads aren't the problem. Roads in Montgomery County are *usually* fine quickly after small to moderate snowfalls like we'll have tomorrow.

Which roads? All the roads that school buses throughout the county travel? Or just the ones near your house?

Did you know vehicles can drive on snow? Really, they can. Buses too!

School buses handle like cars on snow? Your kids must be on some fancy buses.

When did I say they handle like cars?

Ok, I understand now. This isn’t a real conversation. You are just bickering for the sake of it.

You're being pedantic. It's true large, rear-wheel drive buses handle differently than small front-wheel drive cars. But that doesn't mean either can't be driven in the snow.

There seems to be a belief herd that northern states have armies of snow-clearing equipment that clear all snow off all their roads, individual residential side streets.

They don't. People accept that they'll have to drive through snow. Carefully. That seems to be the major difference here.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Okay so the forecast looks pretty clear on sizeable snowfall starting late Sunday into Monday. This is a clearly going to have a snow day scenario IMO. When will MCPS announce that? This afternoon? This evening? Tomorrow morning?

They will call by 8pm tonight
Cancelled

Call at 8pm tomorrow night
Cancelled for Tues

Call at 5am Wed
Cancelled for Wednesday

Call at 5am Thurs
2hr delay on Thursday

lol. Sorry, you're going to have to go to work before that!

Not a teacher and I work from home. My youngest of 4 is a sophomore and I know MCPS. They won’t even begin to shovel out schools until mid day Tuesday and the school parking lots and walkways will not be done and treated by Wednesday morning. It will easily be 3 days off

Mid-day Tuesday leaves plenty of time to clear parking lots and walkways by Wednesday morning.

I think we'll find that last January's failure was a wake-up call to MCPS admin. It was very unusual for the county to publicly call out MCPS's BS about the response to that storm. As screwed up as MCPS is, they must have made changes after that. I don't think we'll see a repeat.

MCPS never makes changes and there has never been a storm of a foot of snow and ice where schools weren’t closed for 3 days. If it was ending early Monday, maybe but the warning ends 1am Tuesday. If you all think the county will have 200+ school parking lots, bus lots, and walkways all cleared and treated in less than 24hrs, you are delusional.

1am Tuesday to 7am Wednesday is more than 24 hours.

Also, why do think they won't start before 1am Tuesday? The county is going to be clearing roads as it snows.

You think MCPS pays their workers to work OT and off shift to shovel sidewalks and school stairs. Be real

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:"Damage to school buildings, heating concerns, pipes"? It's barely below freezing and its just snow.

You people are ridiculous. Schools in the northeast don't have armies of facilities workers, either. They get it done because they're expected to get it done, and everyone accepts that the objective is "good enough" not "perfectly cleared of any evidence of snow".

You are severely underestimating the size of Montgomery County (and the attendant work) versus townships and towns in the NE.

And Montgomery County has correspondingly more resources.

Look at the large cities in the northeast. They don't shut down for several days for 6 inches of snow.

Because it happens more frequently, their infrastructure - including the roads, which have winter tarmac - is better, and it’s more cost effective to have everything on hand. In this area, it’s cheaper just to shut stuff down for a few days.

Except roads aren't the problem. Roads in Montgomery County are *usually* fine quickly after small to moderate snowfalls like we'll have tomorrow.

Which roads? All the roads that school buses throughout the county travel? Or just the ones near your house?

Did you know vehicles can drive on snow? Really, they can. Buses too!

School buses handle like cars on snow? Your kids must be on some fancy buses.

When did I say they handle like cars?

Ok, I understand now. This isn’t a real conversation. You are just bickering for the sake of it.

You're being pedantic. It's true large, rear-wheel drive buses handle differently than small front-wheel drive cars. But that doesn't mean either can't be driven in the snow.

There seems to be a belief herd that northern states have armies of snow-clearing equipment that clear all snow off all their roads, individual residential side streets.

They don't. People accept that they'll have to drive through snow. Carefully. That seems to be the major difference here.

In my NE town, there are more snow plows per mile in the town than MC. They also plow to the pavement. But keep on fighting whatever it is you are fighting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s hope they announce by 6 pm this afternoon so we can move on from this pointless discussion

The question is what they'll say on Tuesday about Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Let’s hope they announce by 6 pm this afternoon so we can move on from this pointless discussion

The question is what they'll say on Tuesday about Wednesday.

Haha, I was just typing something to
that effect- the fight is when MCPS will reopen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Damage to school buildings, heating concerns, pipes"? It's barely below freezing and its just snow.

You people are ridiculous. Schools in the northeast don't have armies of facilities workers, either. They get it done because they're expected to get it done, and everyone accepts that the objective is "good enough" not "perfectly cleared of any evidence of snow".

Are you the same poster over and over, saying the work isn’t hard?

I can’t imagine there are tons of people this obtuse.

And yes, damage to school buildings. I’m a teacher. We didn’t get much snow last year, but one of those minor snow events actually caused a leak in my classroom. I had to relocate for days.

There are hundreds of school districts that demonstrate you're wrong. Despite what people here seem to think, they don't have larger staffs.

And if a leak was enough to close an office, my whole agency would have to shut down. Whether its after snow, rain, or causes unknown, we deal with those with a bucket for a few days until facilities can get to it. School worked the same way.

Why does MCPS think they have it so much harder than everyone else?

No, we have massive school districts, outdoor bus depots and a school staff of 2-3 people and minimal snow clear removal gear for each school. Not to mention to mention the amount of county roads and difference in snow totals from Poolesville to Bethesda. Andddd we have so many buses that go all over for magnet and speciality schools. And we have terrible traffic and zero underground public transportation. We are not like other school districts.

[Anonymous]

Wish they would just call it already

[Anonymous]

Dc is now closed but nothing from MD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Damage to school buildings, heating concerns, pipes"? It's barely below freezing and its just snow.

You people are ridiculous. Schools in the northeast don't have armies of facilities workers, either. They get it done because they're expected to get it done, and everyone accepts that the objective is "good enough" not "perfectly cleared of any evidence of snow".

You are severely underestimating the size of Montgomery County (and the attendant work) versus townships and towns in the NE.

And Montgomery County has correspondingly more resources.

Look at the large cities in the northeast. They don't shut down for several days for 6 inches of snow.

Because it happens more frequently, their infrastructure - including the roads, which have winter tarmac - is better, and it’s more cost effective to have everything on hand. In this area, it’s cheaper just to shut stuff down for a few days.

Except roads aren't the problem. Roads in Montgomery County are *usually* fine quickly after small to moderate snowfalls like we'll have tomorrow.

Which roads? All the roads that school buses throughout the county travel? Or just the ones near your house?

Did you know vehicles can drive on snow? Really, they can. Buses too!

School buses handle like cars on snow? Your kids must be on some fancy buses.

When did I say they handle like cars?

Ok, I understand now. This isn’t a real conversation. You are just bickering for the sake of it.

You're being pedantic. It's true large, rear-wheel drive buses handle differently than small front-wheel drive cars. But that doesn't mean either can't be driven in the snow.

There seems to be a belief herd that northern states have armies of snow-clearing equipment that clear all snow off all their roads, individual residential side streets.

They don't. People accept that they'll have to drive through snow. Carefully. That seems to be the major difference here.

In my NE town, there are more snow plows per mile in the town than MC. They also plow to the pavement. But keep on fighting whatever it is you are fighting!

If you're from NE, then you know they don't keep the schools closed after the roads are clear except for in some rural areas. They often wouldn't plow the gravel road I lived on for another day or two. Schools opened. A handful of kids might miss or day or two if they lived in a particularly challenging location. Those kids would often stay override at a friend's house in town, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wish they would just call it already

Why? You know they're calling tomorrow. They might be waiting to see if they want to preemptively call Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Damage to school buildings, heating concerns, pipes"? It's barely below freezing and its just snow.

You people are ridiculous. Schools in the northeast don't have armies of facilities workers, either. They get it done because they're expected to get it done, and everyone accepts that the objective is "good enough" not "perfectly cleared of any evidence of snow".

Are you the same poster over and over, saying the work isn’t hard?

I can’t imagine there are tons of people this obtuse.

And yes, damage to school buildings. I’m a teacher. We didn’t get much snow last year, but one of those minor snow events actually caused a leak in my classroom. I had to relocate for days.

There are hundreds of school districts that demonstrate you're wrong. Despite what people here seem to think, they don't have larger staffs.

And if a leak was enough to close an office, my whole agency would have to shut down. Whether its after snow, rain, or causes unknown, we deal with those with a bucket for a few days until facilities can get to it. School worked the same way.

Why does MCPS think they have it so much harder than everyone else?

No, we have massive school districts, outdoor bus depots and a school staff of 2-3 people and minimal snow clear removal gear for each school. Not to mention to mention the amount of county roads and difference in snow totals from Poolesville to Bethesda. Andddd we have so many buses that go all over for magnet and speciality schools. And we have terrible traffic and zero underground public transportation. We are not like other school districts.

Why does being a large school district matter when its a large school district with lots of resources? Yes, where I grew up each town often had their own district, but that also meant the district had far less resources overall.

And of course we had outdoor bus depots too. Does anyone have indoor school bus depots?

[Anonymous]

Would the 3 or 4 posters who insist on name-calling and sneering about everything, just stop? It is tiresome.

For those interested in serious discussion - what has been overlooked by some in this thread is that a major snowfall isn't just an MCPS problem. It is a county problem. Plowing the parking lots is sub-contracted out and there are a limited number of plows available in the county, especially when this is a region-wide storm. Other areas have more regular storms than we do, so they have a broader base of infrastructure to handle it. If MCPS and the county kept that amount of resources in reserve in case of an extra snowy season, the fiscal mismanagement hawks would be all over that, so they don't. Closing and delay decisions are also not made in isolation by MCPS. The county government (police, emergency services) also have input into whether or not it is safe to open schools.

The storm is going all Monday until ~10pm. Plows will be out during the day trying to keep up with roads and may run through parking lots during the day, but it won't be until Tuesday evening and through the night that they can clear parking lots. Building services for each school will most likely go in on Tuesday morning to assess and will spend the day clearing sidewalks and improving parking lots with their little plows. By the end of the day Tuesday MCPS will have an idea of whether or not the school grounds and immediate surrounding sidewalks are acceptable. But the real question will be whether all the neighborhood roads, sidewalks, and bus stops are clear by Tuesday evening. Based on history, this is unlikely.

Best case scenario is a delay on Wednesday, because they would want to asses in the morning if they hoped remaining trouble spots get cleared. If they close Wednesday, I wouldn't necessarily expect a delay Thursday. If county-side sidewalks and roads are clear of snow and ice by Wednesday evening, they should be fine in the morning since we are below freezing all week.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t imagine if MCPS suddenly does a code green on a Tuesday like they did last year. Honestly it just really confuses me about MCPS’ decisions.

What do you mean? Last year MCPS had ridiculous closures. I certainly can't remember a time when they opened when they shouldn't have.

There's going to be plenty of time to clear roads before school starts on Tuesday. There shouldn't be a need for a closure. And if they can get their act together, there shouldn't be a need for a delay.

You really think they're going to get the roads clear, everywhere in the whole county, in time for Tuesday morning? Isn't there a good chance it will still be snowing Monday afternoon and maybe even evening? I don't think the crews usually work overnight, do they?

Yes, they do. Not every single side road will be perfectly cleared, but the major roads will be fine to drive on, and the side roads will be drivable for anyone that isn't an idiot.

Sidewalks have to be safe for walkers.

And neighborhoods have to be safe for buses

The roads are almost always fine after snow. MCPS makes the county and municipalities look almost competent in comparison.

Does it really just come down to the building services staff not wanting to wake up early?

Depends on where you are. If you are in a rural part of the county, the roads most certainly are not fine.

You realize many, many people, like doctors, nurses, emergency services employees, government employees, and various infrastructure services employees regularly drive on roads to get to their jobs after, or while, it snows, right? Short of a Snowmeggedon event, people suck it up and deal with with a slow drive to work.

And isn’t that a heck of a lot easier when everybody else stays off the bad roads?

I have to go to work in snow. I’m grateful m so many others stay home so I can get where I need to be.

Yes, and so you and road and building crews can go in early to get roads, parking lots and sidewalks cleared, and then let things open up. This isn't hard.

me me me me me me me. Everyone should cater to me.

This is such a strange attitude. That's the job. When I lived in Minnesota I never heard anyone that worked in road or facility management complain when they'd have to get up early after a snow storm.

Honestly, outside of schools, I don't hear many people here complain about it either, whether they're in those support roles or someone like a doctor that needs to get into work.

What is so unreasonable about expecting school facilities staff in this area to start work a few hours early so schools can open?

I’m sure it seems so easy to you, as you sit in your warm kitchen drinking coffee and looking down your nose at everybody else.

I’ve actually been at our school before opening. I’ve seen the hard work put in by the facilities staff. They work HARD, and it’s more work than I suppose you can see from the comfort of that warm kitchen. I was only there for about an hour, but it was enough to see the scope of their work: parking lots, sidewalks, roadways. There were also a frozen pipe and some problems inside the school, as well.

Sitting down? No, I'm scrambling to find child care before having to drive to the hospital to start my shift.

Not everyone gets snow days off.

Does the hospital have recommendations for emergency childcare? Workplaces that have to be operational no matter what should do that...

Lol. No, most don't. Perhaps they should, but it wouldn't logistically work. Do you understand how many people working in health care have kids? And they're all dealing with this problem when things are shut down.

DP. I'm surprised they don't have a backup care service. I work for a nonprofit and even we contract with Bright Horizons for that -- we can get a babysitter to come for $4/hour if we need it to be able to work.

Regardless, I would suggest you reach out to your neighborhood listserv and ask if there is a high school student who could watch your kid(s) if school is closed. If closed, there should be plenty of kids with the abilityt to do so.

Good luck finding care.

I’m not the poster you’re replying to, but I have two daughters in high school and I don’t know any high school students who would be willing to get up early and babysit for 8+ hours on a snow day unless they desperately need money or the job is extremely lucrative. If pp lives in an upper middle class neighborhood, your suggestion is probably useless.

We live in Chevy Chase and we never have a problem finding kids to babysit on snow days.

[Anonymous]

People have unrealistic expectations and demands for how clear roads, sidewalks, and bus stops need to be of snow to only have two extra days built into the calendar. If you really think every residential street and neighborhood bus stops needs to be clear of snow and ice to open schools, then we should build in 5 extra days to minimize the very unpopular step of adding days during the year.

[Anonymous]

Amending my previous prediction for Monday and Tuesday called as snow days to include a Wednesday delay due to frostbite and 20 below temps.


A Cold Emergency Alert has been issued from 12 am Mon, 1/6 to 9 am Wed, 1/8. With wind chill values to be below 20 degrees and frostbite on exposed skin within 30 minutes and/or hypothermia.