Another snow day!

[Anonymous]

DCUM right now: https://youtu.be/tl16cdiDox8?si=zS_Pj6-cm5WCLskX

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, but this is a total joke. “Persistent difficulties with ice removal”? They had the entire day yesterday to remove the 4-5 inches of snow. If it’s now persistent ice it’s because they failed to remove it yesterday and froze overnight. We walked up to our ES yesterday and it was plowed to the pavement.

Breaking news: this is a huge county. Conditions might be different in other places. The world doesn’t revolve around you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great.

Damnit it’s clear. Get these kids back in school. The learning loss is scandalous.

Who should do this? The weather?

The county: responsible for competent snow removal. Time for some training from northern areas who do this well.

MCPS: responsible for learning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax isn’t closed. Why is our system so incompetent that they can’t clean up, but other area schools can? I expect resignations.

You started tippling early today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove by our middle school at 5:50 a.m. and wondered why it was a sheet of ice. Drove back by at 7 am and knew they would close out of their sheer incompetence to get 3 inches of snow cleared with a day and a half to do so. All the roads and commercial parking lots are clear. What are the dangerous conditions if everything else is cleared and all the other school systems managed to do it?

Aside from the other school systems that are closed, of course.

Also aside from the sidewalks that are not clear.

Crickey, teach your kids some resilience already. Or get sone yak trax.

But yeah, I guess we should have known since Howard county closed. Gotta always follow Howard.

Howard had a half day scheduled so a 2 hr delay didn't make sense

[Anonymous]

They called it too late but, based on my 54 years of living in MoCo, I would have bet big money on schools being closed todays. When I saw they were planning for a two-hour delay last night, I knew that wouldn't stand. This is a county that closes for rain and wind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove by our middle school at 5:50 a.m. and wondered why it was a sheet of ice. Drove back by at 7 am and knew they would close out of their sheer incompetence to get 3 inches of snow cleared with a day and a half to do so. All the roads and commercial parking lots are clear. What are the dangerous conditions if everything else is cleared and all the other school systems managed to do it?

Aside from the other school systems that are closed, of course.

Also aside from the sidewalks that are not clear.

The other largest school system is open on delay as are all those in this area besides Anne Arundel.

MCPS alert says they closed because of persistent difficulties in ice removal. MCPS is responsible for their properties not public sidewalks in neighborhoods. They (MCPS) stated they couldn’t clear their properties - yet other schools systems managed to do it in time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, but this is a total joke. “Persistent difficulties with ice removal”? They had the entire day yesterday to remove the 4-5 inches of snow. If it’s now persistent ice it’s because they failed to remove it yesterday and froze overnight. We walked up to our ES yesterday and it was plowed to the pavement.

Breaking news: this is a huge county. Conditions might be different in other places. The world doesn’t revolve around you.

Of course conditions may vary. The point is though that other areas can and do manage to mitigate those conditions in a way that permits life to continue and schools to be open.

[Anonymous]

Did MCPS decide to sell off all their snow removal equipment after we went a year a without snowfall? I can't think of any other reason why they wouldn't have things cleared for school today.

[Anonymous]

Closing schools at the drop of a hat are an indicator of MCPS’s culture of safetyism, which becomes the de facto operating model when a bureaucracy reaches end stage bloat. Add enough administrators, and not only does bold decision making become impossible, people forget what their main objective actually is. Instead, organizations move out of collective local risk minimization. Put another way, CYA. I’m sure there will be endless rationalization, but the bottom line is that kids need to be in school, and that this will never be risk free. This is the same kind of behavior we saw during Covid, and should surprise no one. The only way to fix this broken org is to break it up and start over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great.

Damnit it’s clear. Get these kids back in school. The learning loss is scandalous.

Essentially missing this entire week due to snow related closures is not scandalous.

Especially if they go to school tomorrow, I wouldn't be suprised if they prepare the kids for virtual learning Friday. Will you complain about that too?

[Anonymous]

One more snow day means the county will need to extend the school year. If they choose to extend it an additional day at the end of the year to June 19, that will potentially conflict with Eid Al-Adha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be school. Since it is canceled it is time to cancel some of the contingency days and add back meaningful instruction time. No adding days in June after AP tests. Add them earlier. People who have plans can have excused absences.

They are going to claw back some spring break days

There’s built in days. We aren’t there yet and they aren’t going to do it for Spring Break. Too many staff members would be out. The kids will be fine. The sky is falling crowd because kids missed 2 days of school is wild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how people flock to DCUM to complain about "they" and "them" and "Dr. McKnight" without acknowledging that the people who are doing the hard, dangerous work and walking in hard, dangerous conditions are by and large poor, black and brown workers and families.

Get some perspective and hand the kids one of your iPads. If you're genuinely suffering because of the closure, I am sorry. But "I expect resignations" is just a nuts thing to say. FWIW my school and area seems fine.

And many of them live outside of MoCo and take public transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more snow day means the county will need to extend the school year. If they choose to extend it an additional day at the end of the year to June 19, that will potentially conflict with Eid Al-Adha.

June 19 is also Juneteenth.