Wed no school or 2hr delay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG county just announced closed until Friday at earliest. MCPS will probably be the same.

That’s really dumb

Not really. The writing is on the wall with temps this week and it allows people to plan. Taking it day by day is dumb.

It’s Monday. Cancelling for the rest of the week is just stupid. Especially because now if everything is fine to say open on Thursday-they can’t take it back and it’s a wasted day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtually all elementary schools are classroom carts only. So kids don’t have them.

Our school has classroom carts, but a couple years ago (back when virtual snow days were on the table) they sent out a form saying that anyone who wouldn't have a computer available for their kids on snow days was welcome to request a personal one to take home. We requested and got one. Obviously none of this works for this week, but it's doable for the future if they wanted to figure out how to make it work.

We had that sweet pandemic slush fund then and now we don’t.

Last May, my school collected every pandemic era loaner and issued obligations if the student couldn’t find it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD is closed tomorrow. If they can’t clear their lots and/or don’t expect adults to be able to make it in, it’s logical that nearby school systems will also close.

MCPS already announced it was closed Tuesday back on Sunday. This isn’t news.

Clearly you don’t live in this area if you don’t know the difference between UMD and MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Even if snow is cleared, if roads are slick and icy they will just cancel. Ice patches are the danger.

[Anonymous]

I just got finished shoveling out some of my students families cars in Germantown. Going to swing by my school and see what i can accomplish

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to get into a whole virtual learning debate, but using the example of the pandemic where virtual learning was used exclusively for a year is entirely different from considering using virtual learning for a day or a few days to bridge a gap. It’s a moot point because it’s not allowed by the MD dept of Ed. right now. But there is an argument to be made for having secondary students do virtual instruction (could be synchronous, webinar or asynch) and for younger students to have packets and videos sent home.

Virtual would be worthless for elementary kids. Packets wouldn't work because the worksheets themselves don't have the lessons included on them. Parents would have no clue what to do.

You can't just suddenly shift to virtual. Even for the ideal set of students who don't need the supports available in a classroom, you need to have lessons that work in a virtual setting. Those need to be prepared ahead of time.

My daughter had a COVID quarantine closure in fall 2021 in kindergarten and the teacher did an amazing job of engaging and teaching a bunch of 5 year olds a lot of content over the course of the 1.5 weeks... it absolutely can be done. And by upper elementary they are not much different than middle schoolers-- same kid now in 4th would have no problem paying attention to and learning from virtual lessons almost as well as in-person. (Again, remember, the benchmark here is "would they learn more than if the day gets made up as a half-day on June 22 where half the kids don't go and the other half watch movies all day?" not "would they learn as much as if it were a normal day?" In other words, *any* learning at all through virtual means they learn more than the zero they will learn if they're summer make-up days instead.) And yes, the lessons would need to be prepared ahead of time-- the idea would be if there's a week of closure, virtual classes would begin on day 2 or 3 so the teachers have the first couple days to plan.

Honestly, pass. We should maintain the line that school is not just eductional, but a social and community experience. Closing for a storm is fine. They should play in the snow and experience that vs. be watching a screen.

[Anonymous]

MLK Middle in Germantown has not been touched by a plow. The entire parking lot and sidewalk system is pristine untouched snow

[Anonymous]

Lake Seneca ES in Germantown had a plow come through but there is still no exposed concrete

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate to get into a whole virtual learning debate, but using the example of the pandemic where virtual learning was used exclusively for a year is entirely different from considering using virtual learning for a day or a few days to bridge a gap. It’s a moot point because it’s not allowed by the MD dept of Ed. right now. But there is an argument to be made for having secondary students do virtual instruction (could be synchronous, webinar or asynch) and for younger students to have packets and videos sent home.

Virtual would be worthless for elementary kids. Packets wouldn't work because the worksheets themselves don't have the lessons included on them. Parents would have no clue what to do.

You can't just suddenly shift to virtual. Even for the ideal set of students who don't need the supports available in a classroom, you need to have lessons that work in a virtual setting. Those need to be prepared ahead of time.

My daughter had a COVID quarantine closure in fall 2021 in kindergarten and the teacher did an amazing job of engaging and teaching a bunch of 5 year olds a lot of content over the course of the 1.5 weeks... it absolutely can be done. And by upper elementary they are not much different than middle schoolers-- same kid now in 4th would have no problem paying attention to and learning from virtual lessons almost as well as in-person. (Again, remember, the benchmark here is "would they learn more than if the day gets made up as a half-day on June 22 where half the kids don't go and the other half watch movies all day?" not "would they learn as much as if it were a normal day?" In other words, *any* learning at all through virtual means they learn more than the zero they will learn if they're summer make-up days instead.) And yes, the lessons would need to be prepared ahead of time-- the idea would be if there's a week of closure, virtual classes would begin on day 2 or 3 so the teachers have the first couple days to plan.

Honestly, pass. We should maintain the line that school is not just eductional, but a social and community experience. Closing for a storm is fine. They should play in the snow and experience that vs. be watching a screen.

+1 most MCPS parents cannot support virtual learning for young children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Roads will probably all be cleared today.

MOCO snow plow report estimates completion tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6pm. But a few hours ago, it said Tuesday @ 10:00am. Who knows.

Link?

[Anonymous]

No school Wednesday.

Our side road has not even had one pass of the plow and our driveway that we shoveled snow from now has 3 inches of solid ice on it. Temps are supposed to be in the single digits later on this week, and aren't supposed to go above freezing at all.

[Anonymous]

Seneca Valley HS untouched

[Anonymous]

I just look at forecast, are we going to have another snowstorm this Friday to Sunday?

[Anonymous]

Seeing lots of geniuses clearing out their cars on side roads and dumping the snow back into road

[Anonymous]

Live in North Potomac and the snowplows came through our neighborhood about an hour ago. Right now the side streets are just wet with some slush. They may have also put down sand or salt because what they didn't plow is melting with the sun now. Originally the county system said we'd be plowed by tomorrow afternoon so it's not really accurate. Maybe open with a delayed opening on Wednesday?