Should school be closed when it's too cold

[Anonymous]

Is this just an issue typically for the middle school runs which are so early?

[Anonymous]

Graduated high school in 2004 in a suburb outside Boston. My high school had an open campus layout. 5 separate buildings with a central quad. No way to go between buildings except to go outside. Had 3 days canceled during my senior year due to wind chills going into the negative double digits. Most schools closed around us. Otherwise we just brought our gloves, scarves, and jackets and hustled like hell between classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the schools are heated and over 50% of the buses run, then schools should be open. If you kid's bus doesn't run and school is open, then either your kid gets a day off or you find or your kid finds another way to get to school. Good that you are thinking about this now so you have time to plan for the contingency.

Are you on the school board? Are you the new superintendent?

That's not FCPS policy. If you're in charge, then you can change the policy.

In the original post, OP did not ask what policy is. He or she asked whether schools should close because it's cold. It's an opinion question. The above is one opinion. What's yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the schools are heated and over 50% of the buses run, then schools should be open. If you kid's bus doesn't run and school is open, then either your kid gets a day off or you find or your kid finds another way to get to school. Good that you are thinking about this now so you have time to plan for the contingency.

Are you on the school board? Are you the new superintendent?

That's not FCPS policy. If you're in charge, then you can change the policy.

In the original post, OP did not ask what policy is. He or she asked whether schools should close because it's cold. It's an opinion question. The above is one opinion. What's yours?

My opinion is, in the past 7 years (since DS was in preschool and when I noticed these things), they've closed once or twice purely for cold temperatures and once or twice because the buses wouldn't start. They've also closed because of ice, which can be only a localized problem that makes lots of people irrationally angry. IOW, I'm fine with the current policy, which is to only close when it seems like a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Should school be closed when it's too cold? . If yes, what it's "Too cold?

Are you from the south?

[Anonymous]

I spent the last two years in Ann Arbor. Schools closed for cold one time, and that was when temperatures dropped below 0F. The kids also went outside for recess if it was above 20F.

One problem with closing schools in DC (and other places) is, as a PP mentioned, that it's the only place that many children get meals. They also may not have heat in their homes. School is their safe space--not meant in any political sense of the word.

[Anonymous]

Assuming no other bad conditions (mainly ice), maybe if it gets down below zero.

Who knows - which all of this wacky climate change weather we might start to have cold winters here eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If kids are too stupid to ride a bus when it's that cold, then they need to learn a slightly painful lesson. I walked to school in the 6:30 a.m. time frame when it was single digits or less in the midwest. My sinuses would freeze and I would have frost on my eyelashes. There was no bus for me. I literally had to cross scary railroad tracks with roaming dogs. I'm not saying kids should have danger in their walk to school, but I'm pretty sure these kids' parents can find coats and scarves at clothing closets that give it away free. And if they don't take the bus, ... live and learn.

5 degrees isn't going to kill them for 20 min.

+ 1000. No sympathy for fifth graders who are too cool for the bus.

[Anonymous]

I also grew up in a cold climate (Alaska), but I don't think that's a fair comparison.

People in cold climates - individual families and communities - invest in cold-weather preparation because it is needed frequently. Engine block heaters, enclosed bus stop shelters, good coats/hats/boots. You know that life will shut down for three months every year if you don't.

Here, those things are "needed" maybe once or twice a year. Some years, not at all. Should FCPS really spend money on engine block heaters that'll be used once a year? I'd be first to call that a waste of money in this climate.

And by the way, none of our buildings in Alaska had air conditioning. People complained when the temperature exceeded 75 degrees. But even though we complained, nobody bothered to install A/C, because it just isn't worth it for the one or two occasions per year that it would be turned on. Here, I have A/C because I'd be miserable all summer without it. Different equipment for different circumstances.


Anyway, my personal philosophy for THIS region is that I'd support a 2-hour delay when it's really cold, simply so that you don't have lots of kids waiting in the dark for buses that may not show up. But most importantly, whatever the policy is, I wish it were a standard, published, objective policy. Something like "when actual low temperatures over the county average 10 F or less", or "when the NWS forecasts 5 F of lower for a majority of the county, including windchill", so that families and schools can plan for it. The only really annoying thing is not having any idea what they'll decide to do on any given super-cold day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my title one school 35 percent of my kids walk. It rises to about 75 percent as we reach 5th grade because the bus becomes "uncool". So I have lots of kids walking 4 and 5 miles instead of the normal 1 or 2. These kids also don't have proper winter attire. I had one student about 3 years ago who got frost bite on the bottom of his nostril. His snot froze and 35 minutes later when he got to school it starting "burning" and "pricking" him. Im not sure of a cut off temp but I dont think its an absurd concept at least at my school. No one is giving these kids rides either. No one in their household will go "man its super cold today we better take Larla".

Too uncool to to take the bus? If its cold enough kids will ride the bus. I grew up dirt poor in a snow belt in PA. We had buses. We rode the bus.


How cold does it have to get before a bus won't start? I haven't seen temps in MoCo or FCPS get low enough that they couldn't start.

Buses seem to have trouble starting when it gets into low teens and single digits. It's apparently not an issue of engine block heaters or parking the buses outside but is due more to the age of the bus fleet. Fairfax has lots of buses that are 15 years old and older.

It isn't due to the age of the fleet, but rather due to the type of fuel and antifreeze. We could make our fleet handle the weather better but at significant cost (and largely unnecessary since it just isn't that cold that often).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spent the last two years in Ann Arbor. Schools closed for cold one time, and that was when temperatures dropped below 0F. The kids also went outside for recess if it was above 20F.

One problem with closing schools in DC (and other places) is, as a PP mentioned, that it's the only place that many children get meals. They also may not have heat in their homes. School is their safe space--not meant in any political sense of the word.

I'm in FCPS. We take the kids outside for recess if it is above 20F.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In order to fix the issue with the buses - they would have to buy engine block heaters. That's a pretty sizable expense and it doesn't make sense to buy equipment like that for the buses for something that happens once every 4 or 5 years. Suck it up and deal with the kids being off school for a day.

ASE recommends block heaters when the ambient temperature is below -25F. It just doesn't get that cold around here.

The "buses won't start" is a re-direction, and a poor one at that, they start in DC weather unless maintenance (particularly of the batteries) is below par.

I maintain a fleet of revenue buses, they start every morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to fix the issue with the buses - they would have to buy engine block heaters. That's a pretty sizable expense and it doesn't make sense to buy equipment like that for the buses for something that happens once every 4 or 5 years. Suck it up and deal with the kids being off school for a day.

ASE recommends block heaters when the ambient temperature is below -25F. It just doesn't get that cold around here.

The "buses won't start" is a re-direction, and a poor one at that, they start in DC weather unless maintenance (particularly of the batteries) is below par.

I maintain a fleet of revenue buses, they start every morning.

It might be poor maintenance, I don't know. Fairfax has 1600 buses and 80 mechanics. Anyway, school buses in Fairfax and all around the country have issues with starting in cold weather, for whatever reason. Parents gripe about it all over the internet.

http://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2017/08/ready-to-roll-fast-facts-on-fairfax-co-school-buses/slide/1/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to fix the issue with the buses - they would have to buy engine block heaters. That's a pretty sizable expense and it doesn't make sense to buy equipment like that for the buses for something that happens once every 4 or 5 years. Suck it up and deal with the kids being off school for a day.

ASE recommends block heaters when the ambient temperature is below -25F. It just doesn't get that cold around here.

The "buses won't start" is a re-direction, and a poor one at that, they start in DC weather unless maintenance (particularly of the batteries) is below par.

I maintain a fleet of revenue buses, they start every morning.

Are your buses all, or mostly all in one location or are they parked all over the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to fix the issue with the buses - they would have to buy engine block heaters. That's a pretty sizable expense and it doesn't make sense to buy equipment like that for the buses for something that happens once every 4 or 5 years. Suck it up and deal with the kids being off school for a day.

ASE recommends block heaters when the ambient temperature is below -25F. It just doesn't get that cold around here.

The "buses won't start" is a re-direction, and a poor one at that, they start in DC weather unless maintenance (particularly of the batteries) is below par.

I maintain a fleet of revenue buses, they start every morning.

Are your buses all, or mostly all in one location or are they parked all over the county?

All around the DMV. They come to one of 2 maintenance facilities for services. Drivers don't get paid if they don't start so the dispatch rate is important to them and they become part of the solution. I understand FCPS drives get paid whether they pick up kids or not.