What about Tuesday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With tonight's parent backlash, MCPS and FCPS and the others will open Tuesday 2 hrs late, and ignore all the stuff they said today about wanting shoveled sidewalks, re-plowed side streets and needing the special ed buses to be able to access students exactly at their doorstep (I have a kid who rode one of those and he got picked up on the main street, not my tiny side street, for 3 years!).

Huh? MCPS didn’t say that. They said they will *likely* open Tuesday. Just like last Friday MCPS said it would likely open tomorrow Monday with a 2 hour delay.

Yet MCPS is fully closed tomorrow Monday.

PP you replied to. I know they didn't say that, but their plan to wait until all the snow is magically cleared by the county and private residents is absurd. It's not going to happen until the sun melts it naturally. No one who hasn't shoveled yet is going to suddenly get up their arse now and shovel before Tuesday. MCPS has the gall to request that everyone shovel better. They are foisting the burden on everyone else except them.

So there's going to be a backlash. And then they will be forced to open, with icy sidewalks and snowplow walls, etc, and pretend like they meant to do that all along.

That's how school systems roll, PP...

That's the norm for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With tonight's parent backlash, MCPS and FCPS and the others will open Tuesday 2 hrs late, and ignore all the stuff they said today about wanting shoveled sidewalks, re-plowed side streets and needing the special ed buses to be able to access students exactly at their doorstep (I have a kid who rode one of those and he got picked up on the main street, not my tiny side street, for 3 years!).

Huh? MCPS didn’t say that. They said they will *likely* open Tuesday. Just like last Friday MCPS said it would likely open tomorrow Monday with a 2 hour delay.

Yet MCPS is fully closed tomorrow Monday.

PP you replied to. I know they didn't say that, but their plan to wait until all the snow is magically cleared by the county and private residents is absurd. It's not going to happen until the sun melts it naturally. No one who hasn't shoveled yet is going to suddenly get up their arse now and shovel before Tuesday. MCPS has the gall to request that everyone shovel better. They are foisting the burden on everyone else except them.

So there's going to be a backlash. And then they will be forced to open, with icy sidewalks and snowplow walls, etc, and pretend like they meant to do that all along.

That's how school systems roll, PP...

Nobody is forcing mcps to do anything. And they will in fact do the minimum possible as the teacher’s union recommends.

McPS will seek a waiver of the required 180 days saying that it was impossible that they open physically or provide virtual learning even though other school districts nearby did so.

And if the waiver isn’t granted, McPS will add some half days at the end of June and encourage students not to come.

In all these situations, your MCPS kids are missing out relative to the rest of the country.

MCPS, like other school districts, is receptive to public backlash. Last week everyone was busy digging out and workplaces allowed some telework. This week workplaces want to see bums in seats, parents cannot continue to burn leave, and pressure will grow on public schools to open, regardless of weather conditions.

These are the economic realities of the situation.

[Anonymous]

Mcps continues to be a shitshow.
No surprise here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mcps continues to be a shitshow.
No surprise here.

+1

[Anonymous]

If DCPS can open why not MCPS?

How will they get these days back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't they using Code Orange, but referring to a 'non instructional day" which on the MCPS calendar is "no school for students and teachers"?

They sent out a follow up message to staff saying it is a Code Orange day:

Dear MCPS Employees,

This message clarifies MCPS operations for Monday, February 2, 2026. Under contract provisions and long-standing practice for similar situations, operations will proceed as follows:

CODE ORANGE - SCHOOLS CLOSED AND OFFICES OPEN On Time for Monday February 2.
All schools are closed
School offices and central offices are open on time
Emergency personnel report as directed
MCPS sponsored school and community activities are canceled including athletic practices and events
Childcare programs may operate as scheduled, families are encouraged to contact their childcare provider
Please note: All grades will be due by the end of the first day schools re-open, likely on Tuesday, February 3.

MCPS is moronic for keeping Cram and Essie in charge of comms and operations. These people don't know what they're doing.

They are so incompetent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS can open why not MCPS?

How will they get these days back?

They won’t. They will apply to a waiver to the state of Maryland to provide 177 days of instruction rather than the required 180 days and those 177 days will include a bunch of half days that get tacked on at the end of June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS can open why not MCPS?

How will they get these days back?

DCPS regularly is open when MCPS is closed. Lots of differences, once of which is that they don’t have buses.

[Anonymous]

Oh cmon- what do you think of reason 3 on the list of Why We Can’t Open? I hadn’t thought about that but some kids with IEPs are legally entitled to door to door transportation. Saying that we open for all but the kids with disabilities is the definition of inequitable. Right? That’s not fair! So yeah, lots of kids COULD get to school, but if I had a kid in a wheelchair and they were just left behind… or had some “separate but equal “ crappy solution? I’d be pissed.

Overall I have appreciated the messaging from central office lately- it’s clear, they’re trying to be reasonable. This level of cold and ice is pretty unusual. I say- YES, we all think kids need to be in school. Saying I want my kid in school doesn’t mean I’m a lazy parent. BUT, this weather is pretty gnarly AND the point about kids with disabilities is a legitimate one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh cmon- what do you think of reason 3 on the list of Why We Can’t Open? I hadn’t thought about that but some kids with IEPs are legally entitled to door to door transportation. Saying that we open for all but the kids with disabilities is the definition of inequitable. Right? That’s not fair! So yeah, lots of kids COULD get to school, but if I had a kid in a wheelchair and they were just left behind… or had some “separate but equal “ crappy solution? I’d be pissed.

Overall I have appreciated the messaging from central office lately- it’s clear, they’re trying to be reasonable. This level of cold and ice is pretty unusual. I say- YES, we all think kids need to be in school. Saying I want my kid in school doesn’t mean I’m a lazy parent. BUT, this weather is pretty gnarly AND the point about kids with disabilities is a legitimate one.

I think the parents of kids in wheelchairs would rather the schools opened and their kid get accommodations for their assignments. My kid rode the special ed "door-to-door" bus (not really, it was at the end of the street), and I'm on the side of opening schools ASAP. There is NO WAY schools can make a safe commute for 100% of their students until March, with this ice and snow. Conditions will not change any time this week. I'd far rather most kids receive instruction.

I am certain MCPS just used kids with disabilities as an excuse, PP. Just watch while they open the schools sometime this week, while nothing changes on the special ed front.

[Anonymous]

I am thinking another couple of days at least. The big piles of snow put in place by the plows make it unsafe for kids waiting for the bus - are they supposed to wait in the street?

[Anonymous]

I have come down on the “school can’t reopen in these conditions” side over the past week, but I will say that I have seen a lot of progress over the past few days. Last Thursday I was really skeptical that they would open Monday. By this morning, I could see it going either way. Obviously they chose to close, but I think a lot of progress has been made even in the below freezing temperatures. A lot of people are out there shoveling. I’m not without concerns but I think there’s going to be a strong will to open school on Tuesday and I suspect they’ll do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am thinking another couple of days at least. The big piles of snow put in place by the plows make it unsafe for kids waiting for the bus - are they supposed to wait in the street?

You think something is going to change in the next few days? Historically in my Bethesda neighborhood, once they plow the streets, they leave all the residents to deal with their snowplow walls and no one cares AT ALL that kids have to walk over them to cross the street. School buses will still have to stop in locations that aren't specifically shoveled. This has happened for ALL the major snowstorms that we've lived through since 2011, when we moved into our neighborhood with our kids.

So I think we should have reopened today, because it makes no sense to open in a couple of days, when the situation will be exactly the same...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS can open why not MCPS?

How will they get these days back?

DCPS regularly is open when MCPS is closed. Lots of differences, once of which is that they don’t have buses.

But one of the excuses that MCPS is making is sidewalks. The sidewalks in DC are not all clear either. All of the other MD districts are open with a delay. Conditions are unlikely to improve today and it's ridiculous to just wait until the snow and ice melt.

Overall, this region has had a tough time responding to this storm. It's not just MCPS. But I agree with PPs in other threads that MCPS really needs a superintendent from the northeast or midwest that has more experience with weather events and more importantly has more of a can-do attitude. It's not just that schools are still closed a week after the storm, since Taylor has been superintendent MCPS admin offices (and consequently childcare) have closed on days that they previously would have been open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS can open why not MCPS?

How will they get these days back?

DCPS regularly is open when MCPS is closed. Lots of differences, once of which is that they don’t have buses.

But one of the excuses that MCPS is making is sidewalks. The sidewalks in DC are not all clear either. All of the other MD districts are open with a delay. Conditions are unlikely to improve today and it's ridiculous to just wait until the snow and ice melt.

Overall, this region has had a tough time responding to this storm. It's not just MCPS. But I agree with PPs in other threads that MCPS really needs a superintendent from the northeast or midwest that has more experience with weather events and more importantly has more of a can-do attitude. It's not just that schools are still closed a week after the storm, since Taylor has been superintendent MCPS admin offices (and consequently childcare) have closed on days that they previously would have been open.

Some of us don’t have sidewalks so kids walk in the street.