What do we think will happen on Monday?

[Anonymous]

That email just caused more confusion. We are trying to reppen but we can’t stay closed forever but loan your neighbor a metal shovel to dig out the bus stop or you’re not going back to school but maybe we can make it work if you carpool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That email just caused more confusion. We are trying to reppen but we can’t stay closed forever but loan your neighbor a metal shovel to dig out the bus stop or you’re not going back to school but maybe we can make it work if you carpool.

You summed it up perfectly. That’s exactly what the email said! Confusing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That email just caused more confusion. We are trying to reppen but we can’t stay closed forever but loan your neighbor a metal shovel to dig out the bus stop or you’re not going back to school but maybe we can make it work if you carpool.

You summed it up perfectly. That’s exactly what the email said! Confusing!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from our elementary:

"Return to School
We are looking forward to having everyone back in the building on Monday. Snow and ice will still be on the sidewalks and corners as students arrive to and depart from school next week. Please talk to your students about how to safely walk to school or stand patiently at the bus stop. Many parents will be using Kiss & Ride, and we appreciate your patience as the line moves through. Students need to come to school with winter gear (coats, hats, gloves, and long pants) as it will be below freezing every morning next week."

My school had a principal like yours. We learned quickly that what she said was only what she wanted us to hear in order to manipulate us into doing what she wanted us to do. It’s a terrible management strategy, especially if a leader can safely assume the people who work for her are as or more intelligent than she is. I have no respect for liars and she was one. I thank God she’s gone.

Your principal is a liar and a manipulator. Of course you should be prepared to go back to school on Monday, but he should be honest and say that. This message was for YOU, to manipulate YOU. I doubt he thought you would be pasting and copying this message to a parent forum and that’s probably why he’s still an elementary school principal. If parents cancel childcare plans based on this information, you and he could be in hot water.

I’m a teacher and I don’t see what is so wrong with this email. It sets the stage for what’s to come- we have to get back and things will be frustrating and kids need to take some responsibility and be safe and parents need to be patient. I think my principal will send something similar once a decision has been made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from our elementary:

"Return to School
We are looking forward to having everyone back in the building on Monday. Snow and ice will still be on the sidewalks and corners as students arrive to and depart from school next week. Please talk to your students about how to safely walk to school or stand patiently at the bus stop. Many parents will be using Kiss & Ride, and we appreciate your patience as the line moves through. Students need to come to school with winter gear (coats, hats, gloves, and long pants) as it will be below freezing every morning next week."

Is that FCPS? Why would your school send a message like that if the county hasn’t publicized its decision yet?

I have friends in APS and they are getting these same types of messages from their principals. None of these districts need to announce anything. The assumption is school is open.

People who think school is closed on Monday are nuts.

Also many of you don't understand the meaning of equity but that's another issue.

Perhaps but there were FCPS board members arguing that all schools stay closed in the covid panic era while others said that areas with better health outcomes should be able to go back. (This was maybe November 2020 or early in 2021) Because it wasn't fair that some kids would get in-person while others had to stay remote.

Everyone had to be prevented from in-person school if there was any area that was getting higher impacts.

Respectfully, this is nothing like that.

This is more like The Great Garza Shutdown, where FCPS was closed for weeks in spite of 40 degree weather and dry roads, because Clifton back roads and Herndon sidewalks still had patches of ice.

She was doing that to get a pre-Labor Day opening for FCPS. That was back when a waiver from the state was needed to open before Labor Day, and a big part of getting the waiver was documentation that the district needed a large number of inclement weather days. There was an actual number of inclement weather days needed for the waiver. So for a little while, there were a lot of "snow" days in FCPS, even when it was just very cold and there was no snow in the forecast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from our elementary:

"Return to School
We are looking forward to having everyone back in the building on Monday. Snow and ice will still be on the sidewalks and corners as students arrive to and depart from school next week. Please talk to your students about how to safely walk to school or stand patiently at the bus stop. Many parents will be using Kiss & Ride, and we appreciate your patience as the line moves through. Students need to come to school with winter gear (coats, hats, gloves, and long pants) as it will be below freezing every morning next week."

Is that FCPS? Why would your school send a message like that if the county hasn’t publicized its decision yet?

I have friends in APS and they are getting these same types of messages from their principals. None of these districts need to announce anything. The assumption is school is open.

People who think school is closed on Monday are nuts.

Also many of you don't understand the meaning of equity but that's another issue.

Perhaps but there were FCPS board members arguing that all schools stay closed in the covid panic era while others said that areas with better health outcomes should be able to go back. (This was maybe November 2020 or early in 2021) Because it wasn't fair that some kids would get in-person while others had to stay remote.

Everyone had to be prevented from in-person school if there was any area that was getting higher impacts.

Respectfully, this is nothing like that.

This is more like The Great Garza Shutdown, where FCPS was closed for weeks in spite of 40 degree weather and dry roads, because Clifton back roads and Herndon sidewalks still had patches of ice.

She was doing that to get a pre-Labor Day opening for FCPS. That was back when a waiver from the state was needed to open before Labor Day, and a big part of getting the waiver was documentation that the district needed a large number of inclement weather days. There was an actual number of inclement weather days needed for the waiver. So for a little while, there were a lot of "snow" days in FCPS, even when it was just very cold and there was no snow in the forecast.

Interesting. She leaves a bad legacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get neighborhood streets - I think even the bus stops in those are fine, they’re residential 25 mph roads - but it’s the sidewalks along major roadways, buried under 2 feet of ice chunks, that are not in anyone’s neighborhood or property or HOA or whatever, along roads with 45 mph speed limits and 1.75 lanes, that are the problem for the walkers. And the special ed buses.

It's the same in any of the jurisdictions that have already opened this week.

It's not as if some people didn't get the cement like snow and have amazing and business owners who cleared everything.

Nobody else opened this week except DCPS which has multiple public transportation options that the Virginia suburbs do not. Arlington, Montgomery, Loudoun did not open.

[Anonymous]

It seems like bad optics to have buildings open for youth and school sports and activities/events but not for learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like bad optics to have buildings open for youth and school sports and activities/events but not for learning.

Nice try, but no. You cannot compare a few hundred kids getting to a school gym with their parents to over 180,000 kids going to schools via walking, cars and buses plus staff. No one sees the open gyms as bad optics.

This is not about the buildings being ready. They are. It’s about moving safely in and around the neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like bad optics to have buildings open for youth and school sports and activities/events but not for learning.

Nice try, but no. You cannot compare a few hundred kids getting to a school gym with their parents to over 180,000 kids going to schools via walking, cars and buses plus staff. No one sees the open gyms as bad optics.

This is not about the buildings being ready. They are. It’s about moving safely in and around the neighborhoods.

Ok teacher who wants another week off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like bad optics to have buildings open for youth and school sports and activities/events but not for learning.

Don’t forget SACC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get neighborhood streets - I think even the bus stops in those are fine, they’re residential 25 mph roads - but it’s the sidewalks along major roadways, buried under 2 feet of ice chunks, that are not in anyone’s neighborhood or property or HOA or whatever, along roads with 45 mph speed limits and 1.75 lanes, that are the problem for the walkers. And the special ed buses.

It's the same in any of the jurisdictions that have already opened this week.

It's not as if some people didn't get the cement like snow and have amazing and business owners who cleared everything.

Nobody else opened this week except DCPS which has multiple public transportation options that the Virginia suburbs do not. Arlington, Montgomery, Loudoun did not open.

Falls church opened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reid’s email. Sounds like she’s trying to open Monday but doesn’t sound confident about it.

She took until Friday to ask for help! How about the Principals sending out specifics on their school and what needs to be cleared. Gatehouse would share where major bus stops need clearing. Would buses not be cleared of ice by running them / maybe driving them around without students this last week? In snow storms in previous years I've seen plows come back and expand non-major roads - not this year. Not sure if any snow removal / road expansion is still underway from a state or county perspective.

I saw more plows out today than any day this week. I’m in Vienna.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get neighborhood streets - I think even the bus stops in those are fine, they’re residential 25 mph roads - but it’s the sidewalks along major roadways, buried under 2 feet of ice chunks, that are not in anyone’s neighborhood or property or HOA or whatever, along roads with 45 mph speed limits and 1.75 lanes, that are the problem for the walkers. And the special ed buses.

It's the same in any of the jurisdictions that have already opened this week.

It's not as if some people didn't get the cement like snow and have amazing and business owners who cleared everything.

Nobody else opened this week except DCPS which has multiple public transportation options that the Virginia suburbs do not. Arlington, Montgomery, Loudoun did not open.

Falls church opened.

They’re small

[Anonymous]

The temperatures will be freezing for the at least the next 10 days. There is no point to keeping them closed