Two hour school delay yet OPM status is normal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe school systems need to get in sync with OPM.

Agreed! I believe the school systems are doing it for teachers, not kids. Hell I couldn't convince my son to wear a coat or hoodie while playing outside yesterday. I strategically laid the coat outside just so other parents knew he owned a coat and just wouldn't wear it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ve never been in sync. Government workers are obnoxiously entitled. Take leave if you can’t make it in. That is what private sector does.

As the pp above explained it, feds cannot just take leave instantly. They need prior approval.

I work for government most supervisors are not jerks about this. Call out sick then. Figure it out. Jesus the whining. Never mind all the non-office job workers who show up everywhere they are supposed to before during and after minor weather events.

[Anonymous]

The problem arises that you can't throw money at it- there are no camps or childcare open for a delay. And the Feds with younger children who need care are likely younger, less experienced, have less leave available to take on these days. For example, I am just under 3 years so I only get 4 hours leave per pay period which is about 2.5 weeks per year. If we get a really nasty January storm, I could easily blow through a week of leave right there due to school closures. Nevermind all the other random days off and early releases. Luckily my spouse's job provides more flexibilty so I am not in that scenario but a lot of people in my office do run out of leave to take and have to take LWOP. There's also the general idea of missed productivity for the government itself, so a telework option would actually be mutually beneficial if max productivity was the goal but.. I will stop there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private sector and since we have equipment to work from home, there is never a delay or day off for weather. Take your paid leave, find a neighbor to help, or make sure you have a drop-in contract with before/after care if your kids are in elementary. People have been figuring this out for years. You do not need OPM to gift you 2 free hours.

Many jobs are no longer work from home. My spouse was work from home long before covid and this year was required to return to office. And, all the new jobs were all in person as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The indifference and cruelty of the situation is just absurd. This is not only a safety issue for all who drive on slippery and icy roads. But parents and caregivers in the area who are already struggling need OPM to be in sync with school delays to make life work.

Thank MAGA cult of stupids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take PTO.

+1

Care of a child. That’s what it’s for.

[Anonymous]

Take 2 hours of leave. Good grief.

[Anonymous]

What the heck? DH is a fed and I’m a former fed so I’m generally sympathetic but this is too far.

I never get a late start at work because of the local school system. I can’t conceive of that being a reasonable request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What the heck? DH is a fed and I’m a former fed so I’m generally sympathetic but this is too far.

I never get a late start at work because of the local school system. I can’t conceive of that being a reasonable request.

i'm a current fed in MoCo with kids in MCPS. OPM is right on this one. MCPS was ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take 2 hours of leave. Good grief.

I agree, but want to point out that for a lot of us it's a full day because the ridiculous locations and parking restrictions for many fed buildings require you to come in by vanpool or by a shuttle that doesn't run all day. So it's take the whole day off vs. maybe cobble together some other transportation plus Lyft for the last segment.

Not saying OPM should close, just explaining that fed workplaces are often hard to get to and that's part of the leave calculation. The majority of us don't work in those pretty buildings on the Mall.

[Anonymous]

OPM used to offer unscheduled telework all the time for weather. This is a big struggle for me too, OP. This is the 2nd time already this year when MCPS has a two-hour delay and OPM isn't offering unscheduled telework. This seems like a huge shift in policy to me too and it's creating a fair amount of stress and uncertainty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ve never been in sync. Government workers are obnoxiously entitled. Take leave if you can’t make it in. That is what private sector does.

As the pp above explained it, feds cannot just take leave instantly. They need prior approval.

What happens if you call in at the last minute? That must happen sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have they always been in synch in the past? Is that a norm or standard?

Some local school systems would follow OPM in the past. So like if OPM announced a fed government closure, it should influence DCPS and some of the close in districts to close as well. It was an easier call to make if the government was closing because you figure a lot of parents are employed by the feds, and also the feds are using similar metrics regarding commutes and safety.

I can't think of any situation where schools announced delays or closures and then OPM followed suit. There have definitely been times when schools had a 2 hour delay and I still had to work (and used leave or had to make arrangements with my spouse or a fellow family). But before Trump2, it was easier to flex to a different schedule or get permission to work from home that day even if not already scheduled.

I think a lot of people have forgotten how things worked prior to Covid. The swing from Covid (everyone teleworking all the time, lots of deference to agencies and individual teams to figure out what works) to Trump2 (no telework at all and no leeway and just general hostility towards all feds) has been so dramatic that people don't remember the middle ground we used to have that was actually pretty reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:most Feds are not expected to walk the sideways stand outside waiting for a bus. Almost all students are.

But like half of feds have kids at home.

A huge amount of feds are on public transportation. It's subsidized. They do wait for the bus/train.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have they always been in synch in the past? Is that a norm or standard?

Some local school systems would follow OPM in the past. So like if OPM announced a fed government closure, it should influence DCPS and some of the close in districts to close as well. It was an easier call to make if the government was closing because you figure a lot of parents are employed by the feds, and also the feds are using similar metrics regarding commutes and safety.

I can't think of any situation where schools announced delays or closures and then OPM followed suit. There have definitely been times when schools had a 2 hour delay and I still had to work (and used leave or had to make arrangements with my spouse or a fellow family). But before Trump2, it was easier to flex to a different schedule or get permission to work from home that day even if not already scheduled.

I think a lot of people have forgotten how things worked prior to Covid. The swing from Covid (everyone teleworking all the time, lots of deference to agencies and individual teams to figure out what works) to Trump2 (no telework at all and no leeway and just general hostility towards all feds) has been so dramatic that people don't remember the middle ground we used to have that was actually pretty reasonable.

I've been a fed for a long time and had kids pre-covid. OPM used to be way more flexible, pre-covid, about situational telework on bad weather days. Even before my agency offered telework at all and in-office full time was mandatory (until about 2012), we would have had a 2-hour delayed opening for this kind of extreme cold. So, what we are dealing with now seems unprecedented to me.