MCPS closed tomorrow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad schools are closed. I think they made the right call. I am going hang my holiday lights outside while my kiddos sleep in.

Enjoy your paid day off. But understand this isn’t how MCPS rebuilds trust with parents. That’s going to come back to bite you as more and more parents realize they can’t count on the public school system.

There is a door. Walk through it and do what half of us did and go private. Put up or shut up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

Is the bolded a serious question? MCPS was closed for a year, well past the time when most school systems in the country were back open. Many parents are still dealing with the impacts those closures had on their kids. Proximally, kids basically had last week off, since nothing was done on the two half days.

So, yeah.

DP I totally agree that the pandemic closures were horrible for kids.

I'm not sure what that has to do with MCPS's decision today. It makes no sense for MCPS to determine safety-related closure decisions based on how much school kids have missed recently. It's a little bit childish to think that they would do that. Maybe you think today's closure is BS. In that case, it would still be BS even if the pandemic had not happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

Is the bolded a serious question? MCPS was closed for a year, well past the time when most school systems in the country were back open. Many parents are still dealing with the impacts those closures had on their kids. Proximally, kids basically had last week off, since nothing was done on the two half days.

So, yeah.

DP I totally agree that the pandemic closures were horrible for kids.

I'm not sure what that has to do with MCPS's decision today. It makes no sense for MCPS to determine safety-related closure decisions based on how much school kids have missed recently. It's a little bit childish to think that they would do that. Maybe you think today's closure is BS. In that case, it would still be BS even if the pandemic had not happened.

My point is that many kids are still behind, many parents are still burnt out, so a BS closure *in that context* feels even harder. Especially after kids have been home for the past, what, five days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

Is the bolded a serious question? MCPS was closed for a year, well past the time when most school systems in the country were back open. Many parents are still dealing with the impacts those closures had on their kids. Proximally, kids basically had last week off, since nothing was done on the two half days.

So, yeah.

DP I totally agree that the pandemic closures were horrible for kids.

I'm not sure what that has to do with MCPS's decision today. It makes no sense for MCPS to determine safety-related closure decisions based on how much school kids have missed recently. It's a little bit childish to think that they would do that. Maybe you think today's closure is BS. In that case, it would still be BS even if the pandemic had not happened.

My point is that many kids are still behind, many parents are still burnt out, so a BS closure *in that context* feels even harder. Especially after kids have been home for the past, what, five days?

Oh noes.

[Anonymous]

Kids need to be in school. It's like you don't value education. I don't need a break. I can handle my kids, but I want them to get an education. Model resilience and maturity for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Oh be quiet. All you are doing is pushing more teachers out and bringing in unqualified subs. Keep complaining parents and yes figure out why you have zero interest in spending time with your kids. You are clearly the problem!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

What safety? All power was back on at 1 AM. What bus runs at midnight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids need to be in school. It's like you don't value education. I don't need a break. I can handle my kids, but I want them to get an education. Model resilience and maturity for your kids.

I'm modeling those things by not whining about a one day school closure on the Internet. We'll also spend part of today working on school work, because education is important.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Good ol' DCUM managing overnight to create a 7 page snarky thread mostly full of troll comments and people replying to them.

1. Please use the report button in lower right for off-topic and troll comments, rather than replying to them.

2. No the teacher's union doesn't make or influence these decisions. Nor is this decision made just to give teachers an extra day off. It's a big disruption to everyone's plans. People suggesting such a thing are trolling. Report those comments.

3. Power outages affect buildings, and it takes time to go and assess that the HVAC, internet, phones, safety (fire alarms and PA) and security systems are functioning properly. I've been in a school that had a power fluctuation in the area. The area came back up, but the building did not. After 1 hour trying to resolve, they dismissed the school early.

4. I'm surprised they actually decided to close the evening before. They could have said 2 hour delay with reassess in morning. While the message about updating in the morning may have been unclear, they won't reverse a system closure. What they were checking is to see if buildings could open for daycare and if offices could be open. Since they remained closed, that says that a lot of buildings were not ready this morning.

5. It's not just buildings. The state of the roads and traffic signals matters in order to run the buses safely. Montgomery County government (including police and fire dept.) will have a say in whether or not they want MCPS to be running buses. A closure decision is not made in isolation by MCPS.

6. It's not just buildings and roads. There are other support services that are critical to the functioning of the system. They mentioned that food services lost power and they needed to assess impact. If the main servers are down and the system has no internet, it's hard to be effective. Etc.

7. They can't just close schools in part of the system and keep other schools open. There are too many students (~15% in choice programs, not sure how many in SPED programs) that attend school other than their home school. The bus network transporting students covers a significant area.

8. Be prepared. This is the exact same conversation that is going to happen when there is some sort of iffy weather event. No need to rehash the stupid comments. Just recognize how the system works and have back-up plans in place so you can adapt.

I agree with most of this except #7. That's a dangerous argument to make. Families know which school their child attends. Each school has a principal and staff that know who attends their school should be able to communicate with parents. I hear that there are other reasons why they needed to close all the schools but this should not be one of them.

Yes, this. Especially when they have closed small groups of schools in the past due to power outages, water main breaks, etc. For future reference, I would like them to specify the threshold of how many schools need to affected by a situation like this in order for them to decide to close all 210 schools.

Nice “I want to speak to the manager NOW vibes”

Take a xanny.

It's a legitimate question. If the threshold is 25% of schools affected, it would be helpful to know that.

THIS

44 schools were affected. There are over 200 schools in MCPS.

So, maybe about 20% of the schools lost power. Why can’t the rest of the schools stay open?

Makes zero sense. And I can’t believe parents are just fine with this nonsense in such a supposedly ‘well-educated’ county.

Do you think each school is its own independent entity? Literally everything is controlled centrally, even heating systems and internet, not to mention buses and lunches.

Why have previous power outages only shut down the affected schools?

Just guessing here, but because previous power outages didn’t involve 44 schools and a freak accident and middle of the night uncertainty.

You don’t think there have been any power outages going until 1am before? Really?

Are you new to the area?

This is childish. I’ve lived here for 20 years. This was a freak accident. Stop blaming “admin” or teachers or the union or whatever conspiracy people are imagining.

But it's so much easier to point fingers!

[Anonymous]

Classroom teacher here. We ALL could use this ordained-opportunity not to gripe and groan about a most unfortunate and potentially, catastrophic incident; but to offer Grace and Grow. Even if it's not in the curriculum or the parent handbook, everyday we are faced with "Pivot and Turn" moments. This is one of them. For those folks who are so quick to move on from "Giving Thanks" Thursday:

1. Make a moment to check in with a family member
2. Prepare a meal for one of families in Gaithersburg who are still seeking shelter. PTA?? Boosters???
3. Gather some neighborhood kids and rake an elderly person's yard.
4. Create a learning pod for 2 of your kids friends
5. Library visit anyone?
6. Watch a neighbor's kids for 1 hr so they can go to the grocery store or pick up a prescription or even Go To Work.

Or how about unplug, decompress and just go outside an Breathe ......release from this whirlwind season and allow Our children to be THEIR BEST for the rest of this week?....just a thought. SEL starts at home, we're here to enhance what the children already know.

1 Father = 100 Teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Good ol' DCUM managing overnight to create a 7 page snarky thread mostly full of troll comments and people replying to them.

1. Please use the report button in lower right for off-topic and troll comments, rather than replying to them.

2. No the teacher's union doesn't make or influence these decisions. Nor is this decision made just to give teachers an extra day off. It's a big disruption to everyone's plans. People suggesting such a thing are trolling. Report those comments.

3. Power outages affect buildings, and it takes time to go and assess that the HVAC, internet, phones, safety (fire alarms and PA) and security systems are functioning properly. I've been in a school that had a power fluctuation in the area. The area came back up, but the building did not. After 1 hour trying to resolve, they dismissed the school early.

4. I'm surprised they actually decided to close the evening before. They could have said 2 hour delay with reassess in morning. While the message about updating in the morning may have been unclear, they won't reverse a system closure. What they were checking is to see if buildings could open for daycare and if offices could be open. Since they remained closed, that says that a lot of buildings were not ready this morning.

5. It's not just buildings. The state of the roads and traffic signals matters in order to run the buses safely. Montgomery County government (including police and fire dept.) will have a say in whether or not they want MCPS to be running buses. A closure decision is not made in isolation by MCPS.

6. It's not just buildings and roads. There are other support services that are critical to the functioning of the system. They mentioned that food services lost power and they needed to assess impact. If the main servers are down and the system has no internet, it's hard to be effective. Etc.

7. They can't just close schools in part of the system and keep other schools open. There are too many students (~15% in choice programs, not sure how many in SPED programs) that attend school other than their home school. The bus network transporting students covers a significant area.

8. Be prepared. This is the exact same conversation that is going to happen when there is some sort of iffy weather event. No need to rehash the stupid comments. Just recognize how the system works and have back-up plans in place so you can adapt.

I agree with most of this except #7. That's a dangerous argument to make. Families know which school their child attends. Each school has a principal and staff that know who attends their school should be able to communicate with parents. I hear that there are other reasons why they needed to close all the schools but this should not be one of them.

Yes, this. Especially when they have closed small groups of schools in the past due to power outages, water main breaks, etc. For future reference, I would like them to specify the threshold of how many schools need to affected by a situation like this in order for them to decide to close all 210 schools.

Nice “I want to speak to the manager NOW vibes”

Take a xanny.

It's a legitimate question. If the threshold is 25% of schools affected, it would be helpful to know that.

THIS

44 schools were affected. There are over 200 schools in MCPS.

So, maybe about 20% of the schools lost power. Why can’t the rest of the schools stay open?

Makes zero sense. And I can’t believe parents are just fine with this nonsense in such a supposedly ‘well-educated’ county.

Do you think each school is its own independent entity? Literally everything is controlled centrally, even heating systems and internet, not to mention buses and lunches.

Why have previous power outages only shut down the affected schools?

It’s apples to oranges. These aren’t typical power lines from a snowstorm buddy.

Which is relevant to Pepco, not MCPS. Pepco got the power back on to schools with plenty of time to reopen this morning.

Actually, it is. They don’t make decisions in isolation. Other agencies help determine if it’s safe to open ragrdinf transportation, etc.

Is any other business/school not open? Privates are open. I only know of one pool that can't open today because it's systems need more time to run filters. Please explain why only MCPS must close.

Name another operation in MoCo that runs on over 200 campuses involving 200K people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

Is the bolded a serious question? MCPS was closed for a year, well past the time when most school systems in the country were back open. Many parents are still dealing with the impacts those closures had on their kids. Proximally, kids basically had last week off, since nothing was done on the two half days.

So, yeah.

The fact that people are linking a pandemic closure to a freak one day accident says a lot about the general mindset of these parents

+10000

It's like they have PTSD from dealing with their own children.

For real!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this inconvenience hard for people to accept? It is for the safety of children. If something were to happen because traffic lights were down for the bus or their kid couldn't get a hot lunch, then Im certain people would still be here complaining with a lawyer in tow.

What safety? All power was back on at 1 AM. What bus runs at midnight?

Wow. Critical thinking skills are not your strong point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids need to be in school. It's like you don't value education. I don't need a break. I can handle my kids, but I want them to get an education. Model resilience and maturity for your kids.

We have two emergency closure days built into the schedule. Take a breath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh be quiet. All you are doing is pushing more teachers out and bringing in unqualified subs. Keep complaining parents and yes figure out why you have zero interest in spending time with your kids. You are cliearly the problem!

So silly. I taught school for 18 years. Questioning a superintendents poor decision is not a situation that would cause me to quit. Teachers are smarter than that and the issues are far larger. Maybe look into it more?