So frustrated! Either follow fairfax county or don't!

[Anonymous]

My dd attends a private school that "follows fairfax county" for inclement weather. Except, for whatever reason, they seem to have stopped doing so this year. This is now the THIRD aberration from what ffx has done, and it's the beginning of January! The season has barely started.

I'm just frustrated. It really messes up our planning when some of my kids start on time and some don't. And I completely understand that ffx is silly to open late tomorrow- I absolutely agree it's just ridiculous. But the whole point of following ffx is to defer to their decisions. And is that is not going to work for the axhool anymore, then change policy. Because if I start making arrangements for my kids one more time and then find out a half hour later that her axhool is starting on time after all, I'm going to scream.

[Anonymous]

You just have me a headache.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You just have me a headache.

*gave

[Anonymous]

Well if you're talking about SSSAS, they shouldn't be following FCPS anyway. The school is in Alexandria City, as are most of the students.
I much prefer they use their independent judgement based on the location of our school, not a huge county that extends many, many miles into more rural areas. So I support their decision to deviate, and hope they do it more often!
In fact, I think many parents would support SSSAS going to an independent system. Or maybe follow ACPS? That makes way more sense.

[Anonymous]

Agree. Kid goes to private and they sent an email saying they're not following FFX tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

It's not about whether they should follow them or not, it's about the fact that if your policy is that you follow FCPS then follow them or rewrite the policy into something that says you will use your own discretion. That's the purpose of a policy! If this is Oakcrest I am with you on being very annoyed with this decision and it seems to be happening more this year than previous years. I think it's the dean that is being a pain.

[Anonymous]

Have you complained to the school?

[Anonymous]

Not yet. This is the second time this year that it has happened so I will be complaining very soon.

[Anonymous]

Well cold isn't inclement weather. It is just cold so it would be stupid to close or start late because FCPS is making poor judgement. Honestly, more and more these "snow" days are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I don't get what the problem is. Did they notify you in advance that they were making their own call on closures and then provide suffient advance warning of their intentions? What's the problem?

[Anonymous]

I was told that privates are required to select a local public jurisdiction to follow for closures as part of their licensing. Ours has deviated this week from FCPS and I was surprised (but it was the right decision). I'd prefer them to not close because of the cold, since that means we won't have to make-up the days later. But I understand why FCPS closed - they have tons of kids who have to stand outside waiting for buses, and many probably don't have appropriate clothes for this type of cold.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that they tell us not to check the school site and make a big deal that they will always follow fcps- and then they don't do that! I really think the correct thing to do here is to publicize their own announcement in every incident of inclement weather if they do not want to be tied to a large school system.

Last time this happened, we all went back to sleep after seeing the fcps announcement only to find out hours later that school opened on time after all and DD was late. We were supposed to get a call about the deviation from fcps and didn't. Of course if the policy was that the school made their own decision, then we would have not gone back to sleep. It's just getting really frustrating because you never know what is going on.

[Anonymous]

I still can't believe SSSAS closed today, ACDS and Burgundy were both open. I was told by parents today of students at both schools that these schools make their own closing decisions and do NOT follow any other public school jurisdiction. It is beyond ridiculous that they follow FCPS.

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of the rule that a school has to pick a local jurisdiction to follow. That must be a Virgiinia thing. I don't want my school to follow the county for closures - if they did they should follow it for start of school and end of school dates also - not just the snow closing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well if you're talking about SSSAS, they shouldn't be following FCPS anyway. The school is in Alexandria City, as are most of the students.
I much prefer they use their independent judgement based on the location of our school, not a huge county that extends many, many miles into more rural areas. So I support their decision to deviate, and hope they do it more often!
In fact, I think many parents would support SSSAS going to an independent system. Or maybe follow ACPS? That makes way more sense.

The written SSSAS policy is that the school follows FCPS for the first two days and then makes an independent decision on the third. They sent out an email on Tuesday at 6:35 pm saying that they would not follow FCPS on Wednesday and that school would open on time (which was the right decision). I don't know what's so hard about this -- just wait for the email from the school. Don't know what time FCPS announced their decision, but it sounds like it SSSAS made theirs within half an hour.

While SSSAS is in the City of Alexandria, only a fraction of the students live there -- many are from Fairfax County or beyond. I think it makes sense to follow FCPS, but reserve the right to exercise independent judgment. FCPS is likely to have better info about conditions across the county, which would include, or at least be closer to, most of the student bodies' homes.