2 hour delay 1/31

So far they've cancelled two full days of school (early release + full day cancellation + AM delay) for 1/2 inch of snow and cold but not unprecedented temperatures. We don't live in Miami; it gets down below freezing every year. This is totally absurd.

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01/30/2019 22:25

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was actually really nice out today in DC. I walked my DS to school and saw like 2 puddles of ice? Then I went for a jog and bike ride and enjoyed the sunny morning.

This is MCPS, not DCPS.

https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/with-closure-school-year-will-be-extended-by-one-day/

I read that. It sounds like they went out of their way to find "icy spots" thirty miles away from Bethesda in the countryside.

Lol.

Is the "countryside" any less a part of the county? MCPS does not view the world through a Bethesda-centric lens.

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01/30/2019 22:26

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

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Anonymous

I went to school in Illinois in the great blizzard of 1996. We had school and we walked. I was frostbitten and I learned to wear ugly long johns, thermal gloves, ski jacket and mask and snow boots. It was not the time to be cute. I did live. Oh and I am a teacher who likes to teach. The kids and I need stability, not a topsy turvy schedule. My school handed out hats, gloves and scarves. The kids will be ok.

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01/30/2019 22:31

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in Illinois in the great blizzard of 1996. We had school and we walked. I was frostbitten and I learned to wear ugly long johns, thermal gloves, ski jacket and mask and snow boots. It was not the time to be cute. I did live. Oh and I am a teacher who likes to teach. The kids and I need stability, not a topsy turvy schedule. My school handed out hats, gloves and scarves. The kids will be ok.

+1

Among my favorite memories from childhood elementary schooldays are playing in the snow during recess and sometimes getting longer recess because of the snow. It’s ridiculous the way people are now afraid of the cold in winter, the heat in the summer, the sand on the beach, wet grass, door handles, bruised fruit... Anxious nation.

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01/30/2019 23:43

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in Illinois in the great blizzard of 1996. We had school and we walked. I was frostbitten and I learned to wear ugly long johns, thermal gloves, ski jacket and mask and snow boots. It was not the time to be cute. I did live. Oh and I am a teacher who likes to teach. The kids and I need stability, not a topsy turvy schedule. My school handed out hats, gloves and scarves. The kids will be ok.

That was over 20 years ago. Things have changed. I have family in IL and they close and delay a lot more now. Not nearly as much as here because they have an enormous fleet of snow plows(we don’t) to clear snow and busses with special features to deal with more extreme temperatures. I too want the kids in school learning but with every single county around us in MD and VA on a delay as well, times have changed!

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01/31/2019 06:47

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

quote

Anonymous

Delay is final now:

UPDATE: Montgomery County Public Schools will remain on a two-hour delay today, January 31, 2019, due to subzero wind chills. Administrative offices will open on time. Bus service will be provided on a two-hour-delayed schedule. Morning prekindergarten, morning half-day Head Start, other morning half-day programs and field trips are canceled. Other activities and programs that begin at 10:50 a.m. or earlier are canceled. Childcare programs in school buildings may remain open as scheduled.

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01/31/2019 07:21

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in Illinois in the great blizzard of 1996. We had school and we walked. I was frostbitten and I learned to wear ugly long johns, thermal gloves, ski jacket and mask and snow boots. It was not the time to be cute. I did live. Oh and I am a teacher who likes to teach. The kids and I need stability, not a topsy turvy schedule. My school handed out hats, gloves and scarves. The kids will be ok.

So, if you actually got frostbite vs. just being very cold, that actually isn't good. "I walked to school and got frostbite, but I lived" is probably not what most of us are aiming for.

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01/31/2019 07:34

Subject: 2 hour delay 1/31

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:We are new here and from New Jersey. Why don't they split up the county? It's way too big.

Oh, boy, PP. I also am from New Jersey (where school districts are rationally sized), have been here for 25 years, and the answer to this question still eludes me. A sampling of the answers you'll receive:

- Some nonsense about teacher contracts (as if its critically important that all teachers work not just the same number of days, but the same exact days).
- Some nonsense about bus scheduled (as if some 9th grader couldn't design an algorithm to control for any variances).
- Accusations that you are an elitist, because you obviously only want to strip needed funding from upcounty schools.
- Snarky comments about how school isn't daycare, and you should just plan for it (as if it isn't possible to both plan for something and be annoyed by it at the same time).
- Some parent whining about how if just one SN kid doesn't get to go to school when some of his classmates do, it will result in a FAPE violation and they will sue MoCo for 2 trillion dollars.

I'm sure there are others, but the simple fact it, the county schools could be split into several groups to address this - there just isn't the political willpower to do so.