Another snow day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems like everyone should be staying home then to allow the crews to clear the roads. Don't drive your kids around to different sledding hills and activities, let them play in the backyard.

*sigh*

It's meant to keep staff members who live outside of the county and have to commute safe. It's to keep children safe who are in areas that haven't been cleared yet. Stop being angry at people who want to protect your children and their staff. Grow up.

Decisions are generally made more in terms of keeping young children safe- e.g., can they walk to school, can the buses safely get through the neighborhoods, are the school parking lots cleared, etc. Not whether staff in other counties can drive in 36 hrs after the minor storm has concluded. Workers with long commutes need to come up with a plan about how they will get to work under less than perfect conditions. Usually it involves shoveling out your car before it freezes over and leaving earlier. My DH is a shift worker and if there is any doubt about whether our side street will be plowed, he moves his car to a street that will more likely be cleared.

Shouldn't employers take everyone's safety into account? Including their employees'?

MCPS does not generally care about employees. It is probably about the school buses getting to school safely and kids walking to school. Staff can always take a personal day if they cannot make it in safely

Stop speculating when you have no real idea. Staff *can't* just take personal days-they must be pre-approved by the principal. I'm glad you're so up to date on MCPS policies though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know how there wasn't enough time to plow the lots.

Can you FOIA the plowing records

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know how there wasn't enough time to plow the lots.

Budget cuts and inexperience due to lack of real snow in several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17 pages on this so far. Never change, DCUM. It’s going to be a very long winter.

Some of you are completely insufferable. I want to be mad at MCPS but then I look at this cesspool of a forum and feel like they should just completely ignore parents because there’s no winning or rationality anyway.

+1000....I generally don't agree with most of MCPS decisions, but then I look at the kind of people they have to deal with and feel very sorry for them. No matter what call they made, the majority of DCUM insufferables would have been mad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17 pages on this so far. Never change, DCUM. It’s going to be a very long winter.

Some of you are completely insufferable. I want to be mad at MCPS but then I look at this cesspool of a forum and feel like they should just completely ignore parents because there’s no winning or rationality anyway.

Cool story, bro

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17 pages on this so far. Never change, DCUM. It’s going to be a very long winter.

Some of you are completely insufferable. I want to be mad at MCPS but then I look at this cesspool of a forum and feel like they should just completely ignore parents because there’s no winning or rationality anyway.

Why do you read DCUM? I think you might feel better if you stop. IME DCUM is not remotely representative of parents IRL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know how there wasn't enough time to plow the lots.

Budget cuts and inexperience due to lack of real snow in several years.

Are you really saying that 24 hours isn't enough time to plow?

If MCPS's incompetence has risen to that level, then we're in a world of hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Why would they close schools today? I really don't understand. I live upcounty and the roads are fine. Do they really think people can't drive when it's below 32 degrees?

Read?

Again, the roads are fine. Why close schools? They can plenty of time to clear sidewalks around the schools.

You clearly haven’t been on my street. Afraid to drive up any of the icy hills needed to get to the clear roads. I’m in 20906 so not even in the areas of the county that got 5” of snow.

Also, they didn’t say where they were having difficulties removing ice. Ice on the busses? And did all of them start in the cold this morning?

Eventually we will find out too many buses would not start.

It was 15 degrees. That's not cold enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know how there wasn't enough time to plow the lots.

Can you FOIA the plowing records

https://www.facebook.com/moderatelymoco/posts/pfbid02Zs7dr43V2EDrz5XLMsWULSs253pBfZ3stbz1ffVZdqjWHWzH9e2iJoN99SxZsmcLl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Snow/ice removal comes down to equipment and labor. Who’s willing to have their property taxes increased to cover these costs?

Have they cut the budget for these services over time? Obviously this place has never been western NY in terms of snow removal but I grew up around here and IMO the ability to handle minor snow events has declined over time. Either that or the tolerance for anything other than completely ice/snow free sidewalks and roads.

But anyway, I thought it was a bit odd that central office was giving itself a 2hr delay today when there was no similar OPM call. Clearly someone there was scared about having to drive to work.

I think it's both. And we're raising the next generation to believe that any snow or lingering ice warrants a snow day, like in the deep south.

It's mostly a tolerance thing. Are there patches of snow/ice on some roads and sidewalks? Sure, but not enough to shut things down.

Have we trained people to think that if things are open, then it must be safe to drive full speed? I just don't understand how anyone could think it's reasonable to shut things down under these conditions. I'm not talking about the whether-- I mean the conditions of the roads and sidewalks. States in the north would have to shut down all winter if the current roads weren't acceptable.

States up North get snow and ice every winter — and they budget, plan, and tax accordingly. We haven’t had an accumulation of snow like this in several years. Reasonable people get this.

You clearly have never lived anywhere with a winter. The roads and sidewalks here were as clear as they would have been in the north. You can't expect to clear every road perfectly.

Yes, there are situations where we're either caught off guard or the conditions overwhelm our resources. This wasn't one of them. The snowfall happened more than 24 hours ago, and there wasn't that much of it. They had all day yesterday to clear roads, and all night to treat them for ice.

Yes but kids up there have boots and are used to walking on ice. Plus more people have AWD vehicles.

It was four inches of snow, two days ago. You don't need a specially equipped vehicle to drive today anywhere in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Snow/ice removal comes down to equipment and labor. Who’s willing to have their property taxes increased to cover these costs?

Have they cut the budget for these services over time? Obviously this place has never been western NY in terms of snow removal but I grew up around here and IMO the ability to handle minor snow events has declined over time. Either that or the tolerance for anything other than completely ice/snow free sidewalks and roads.

But anyway, I thought it was a bit odd that central office was giving itself a 2hr delay today when there was no similar OPM call. Clearly someone there was scared about having to drive to work.

I think it's both. And we're raising the next generation to believe that any snow or lingering ice warrants a snow day, like in the deep south.

It's mostly a tolerance thing. Are there patches of snow/ice on some roads and sidewalks? Sure, but not enough to shut things down.

Have we trained people to think that if things are open, then it must be safe to drive full speed? I just don't understand how anyone could think it's reasonable to shut things down under these conditions. I'm not talking about the whether-- I mean the conditions of the roads and sidewalks. States in the north would have to shut down all winter if the current roads weren't acceptable.

States up North get snow and ice every winter — and they budget, plan, and tax accordingly. We haven’t had an accumulation of snow like this in several years. Reasonable people get this.

You clearly have never lived anywhere with a winter. The roads and sidewalks here were as clear as they would have been in the north. You can't expect to clear every road perfectly.

Yes, there are situations where we're either caught off guard or the conditions overwhelm our resources. This wasn't one of them. The snowfall happened more than 24 hours ago, and there wasn't that much of it. They had all day yesterday to clear roads, and all night to treat them for ice.

Yes but kids up there have boots and are used to walking on ice. Plus more people have AWD vehicles.

It was four inches of snow, two days ago. You don't need a specially equipped vehicle to drive today anywhere in MoCo.

That's interesting, because a tree truck just got stuck in my neighbor's driveway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know how there wasn't enough time to plow the lots.

Budget cuts and inexperience due to lack of real snow in several years.

Are you really saying that 24 hours isn't enough time to plow?

If MCPS's incompetence has risen to that level, then we're in a world of hurt.

MCPS has pretty much admitted that, haven't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Snow/ice removal comes down to equipment and labor. Who’s willing to have their property taxes increased to cover these costs?

Have they cut the budget for these services over time? Obviously this place has never been western NY in terms of snow removal but I grew up around here and IMO the ability to handle minor snow events has declined over time. Either that or the tolerance for anything other than completely ice/snow free sidewalks and roads.

But anyway, I thought it was a bit odd that central office was giving itself a 2hr delay today when there was no similar OPM call. Clearly someone there was scared about having to drive to work.

I think it's both. And we're raising the next generation to believe that any snow or lingering ice warrants a snow day, like in the deep south.

It's mostly a tolerance thing. Are there patches of snow/ice on some roads and sidewalks? Sure, but not enough to shut things down.

Have we trained people to think that if things are open, then it must be safe to drive full speed? I just don't understand how anyone could think it's reasonable to shut things down under these conditions. I'm not talking about the whether-- I mean the conditions of the roads and sidewalks. States in the north would have to shut down all winter if the current roads weren't acceptable.

States up North get snow and ice every winter — and they budget, plan, and tax accordingly. We haven’t had an accumulation of snow like this in several years. Reasonable people get this.

You clearly have never lived anywhere with a winter. The roads and sidewalks here were as clear as they would have been in the north. You can't expect to clear every road perfectly.

Yes, there are situations where we're either caught off guard or the conditions overwhelm our resources. This wasn't one of them. The snowfall happened more than 24 hours ago, and there wasn't that much of it. They had all day yesterday to clear roads, and all night to treat them for ice.

Yes but kids up there have boots and are used to walking on ice. Plus more people have AWD vehicles.

It was four inches of snow, two days ago. You don't need a specially equipped vehicle to drive today anywhere in MoCo.

That's interesting, because a tree truck just got stuck in my neighbor's driveway.

Well then shame on the trucks owner for driving a truck made out of trees.

[Anonymous]

I just received an email to update my zoom link for a possible virtual day. No specifics about if/when.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just received an email to update my zoom link for a possible virtual day. No specifics about if/when.

Judging from the meal pick up email my guess is Friday bc didn’t someone post something bout needing to be in school the day bf to distribute chromebooks.