How many snow days and delays are we up to now in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

No poor kids will be denied school. That would only apply to kids who deliberately choose a specialized school in a different zone. If you live in Clarksburg (Zone 1 - school cancelled) and want your child to be at a magnet in Chevy Chase (Zone 2 - having school), then you may need to make some accommodations. If you can't or won't, then opt for a school in your own zone and be guaranteed transportation.

Signed,
Not Affluent (which is why I would like my kids to go to school more often!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

No poor kids will be denied school. That would only apply to kids who deliberately choose a specialized school in a different zone. If you live in Clarksburg (Zone 1 - school cancelled) and want your child to be at a magnet in Chevy Chase (Zone 2 - having school), then you may need to make some accommodations. If you can't or won't, then opt for a school in your own zone and be guaranteed transportation.

Signed,
Not Affluent (which is why I would like my kids to go to school more often!)

No poor kids go to magnets?

Denying transportation doesn't effectively deny school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The county school board model used in this area seems inefficient. Where I grew up, each city managed its own schools and had its own school board. In this case of particularly small suburbs or towns, a couple would create one school district (for example, towns like Greenbelt/Berwyn Hts/College Park would likely combine to make up one district).

It's ridiculous that Silver Spring and Damascus are in the same district.

It's called a county. That is how we run government in Maryland. Each county has its own police, schools, and fire protection. In these half-ass states that have 7000 townships there is constant in-fighting, the police can't cross a jurisdictional line, and the fire department lets homes burn down because people don't pay the fire tax.

I'll stick to our system thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

No poor kids will be denied school. That would only apply to kids who deliberately choose a specialized school in a different zone. If you live in Clarksburg (Zone 1 - school cancelled) and want your child to be at a magnet in Chevy Chase (Zone 2 - having school), then you may need to make some accommodations. If you can't or won't, then opt for a school in your own zone and be guaranteed transportation.

Signed,
Not Affluent (which is why I would like my kids to go to school more often!)

No poor kids go to magnets?

Denying transportation doesn't effectively deny school?[/quote]

Not that DC should be the model, but DC doesn't provide transportation and poor kids go to school all over the city. They aren't being denied school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county school board model used in this area seems inefficient. Where I grew up, each city managed its own schools and had its own school board. In this case of particularly small suburbs or towns, a couple would create one school district (for example, towns like Greenbelt/Berwyn Hts/College Park would likely combine to make up one district).

It's ridiculous that Silver Spring and Damascus are in the same district.

It's called a county. That is how we run government in Maryland. Each county has its own police, schools, and fire protection. In these half-ass states that have 7000 townships there is constant in-fighting, the police can't cross a jurisdictional line, and the fire department lets homes burn down because people don't pay the fire tax.

I'll stick to our system thanks.

That is simply untrue. Local government is efficient government. If more places in MoCo were incorporated and ran independently, each jurisdiction could serve its own residents. That fire dept example is the exception, not the rule. It was one incident in one town and not how the fire dept operates typically.

I cannot speak to township govts as I am only familiar with city govt.

I can't speak to the township form of government. these larger suburbs should be incor

[Anonymous]

I grew up in small town NE and it's a wild overstatement to accuse all small towns of being inefficient and riddled with infighting and poor services. That's hardly the norm.

The point is that county-wide decisions on school closures make no sense, It's simply too big. There needs to be a serious conversation about ways to address the problem. There also ought to be far more scrutiny of who makes the decision to close, and on what basis. The nice part about small town governance is that we knew precisely who was on the school board sending us to school when the town 5 minutes away had a snow day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No poor kids go to magnets?

Denying transportation doesn't effectively deny school?quote]

Not that DC should be the model, but DC doesn't provide transportation and poor kids go to school all over the city. They aren't being denied school.

Let's try to get around without a car in DC.

OK, now let's try to get around without a car in Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county school board model used in this area seems inefficient. Where I grew up, each city managed its own schools and had its own school board. In this case of particularly small suburbs or towns, a couple would create one school district (for example, towns like Greenbelt/Berwyn Hts/College Park would likely combine to make up one district).

It's ridiculous that Silver Spring and Damascus are in the same district.

It's called a county. That is how we run government in Maryland. Each county has its own police, schools, and fire protection. In these half-ass states that have 7000 townships there is constant in-fighting, the police can't cross a jurisdictional line, and the fire department lets homes burn down because people don't pay the fire tax.

I'll stick to our system thanks.

That is simply untrue. Local government is efficient government. If more places in MoCo were incorporated and ran independently, each jurisdiction could serve its own residents. That fire dept example is the exception, not the rule. It was one incident in one town and not how the fire dept operates typically.

I cannot speak to township govts as I am only familiar with city govt.

I can't speak to the township form of government. these larger suburbs should be incor

Yes, local government is efficient government -- except, of course, for when local government is not efficient government

Meanwhile, you know one thing that county-wide school systems are good for? Making it harder for rich residents to form their own public school districts that exclude poor residents.

For an example for both points, see the Town of Chevy Chase.

[Anonymous]

Is there any reason why they could not close the school district in parts? If there is ice/snow that is causing problems in one part of the country, it seems they could close schools in that part. It might be difficult to coordinate but certainly not impossible, and I cannot see how it would matter if kids in Poolesville got out of school a day later in June than kids in Silver Spring. I assume some might say that some kids would have an extra day to study for countywide tests, but the kids do not compete against each other in the whole district with those exams, and if the day is not devoted to test preparation, don't see why it would be such an issue. There would still be the problem of kids living in a closed part of the school district having to travel to their open school in another part, but that, too, seemed a pretty minor issue given the size of the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

I'm not the PP, but what a ridiculous argument. Only affluent people want their kids to go to school on these fake 'snow' days??

Lady, I only get paid when I work. I don't have one of those 'cushy' jobs with liberal leave policies. If I take the day off, I do not get paid - end of story. So, these crazy excessive snow days have been a huge issue for my family. I WANT my kid to go to school. Please don't make assumptions that only the affluent have a problem with this system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in small town NE and it's a wild overstatement to accuse all small towns of being inefficient and riddled with infighting and poor services. That's hardly the norm.

The point is that county-wide decisions on school closures make no sense, It's simply too big. There needs to be a serious conversation about ways to address the problem. There also ought to be far more scrutiny of who makes the decision to close, and on what basis. The nice part about small town governance is that we knew precisely who was on the school board sending us to school when the town 5 minutes away had a snow day.

This exactly. MoCo is just too big and when that happens, people aren't held accountable for their actions.

In small towns, it's so much easier to give feedback on decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why they could not close the school district in parts? If there is ice/snow that is causing problems in one part of the country, it seems they could close schools in that part. It might be difficult to coordinate but certainly not impossible, and I cannot see how it would matter if kids in Poolesville got out of school a day later in June than kids in Silver Spring. I assume some might say that some kids would have an extra day to study for countywide tests, but the kids do not compete against each other in the whole district with those exams, and if the day is not devoted to test preparation, don't see why it would be such an issue. There would still be the problem of kids living in a closed part of the school district having to travel to their open school in another part, but that, too, seemed a pretty minor issue given the size of the district.

Yes. Please read the previous posts. The magnet programs draw kids from all over the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

I'm not the PP, but what a ridiculous argument. Only affluent people want their kids to go to school on these fake 'snow' days??

Lady, I only get paid when I work. I don't have one of those 'cushy' jobs with liberal leave policies. If I take the day off, I do not get paid - end of story. So, these crazy excessive snow days have been a huge issue for my family. I WANT my kid to go to school. Please don't make assumptions that only the affluent have a problem with this system.

Yes, I understand that the snow days have been a huge issue for your family. And if your kid can go to school on days when the sidewalks and roads are not bad in your part of the county, that is definitely a good solution for you.

But it's not a good solution for MCPS.

As for the affluence -- I wasn't assuming that only the affluent object to snow days when the sidewalks and roads are bad in parts of Montgomery County they don't live in. I was assuming that only the affluent assume that of course everybody has a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The county school board model used in this area seems inefficient. Where I grew up, each city managed its own schools and had its own school board. In this case of particularly small suburbs or towns, a couple would create one school district (for example, towns like Greenbelt/Berwyn Hts/College Park would likely combine to make up one district).

It's ridiculous that Silver Spring and Damascus are in the same district.

It's called a county. That is how we run government in Maryland. Each county has its own police, schools, and fire protection. In these half-ass states that have 7000 townships there is constant in-fighting, the police can't cross a jurisdictional line, and the fire department lets homes burn down because people don't pay the fire tax.

I'll stick to our system thanks.

That is simply untrue. Local government is efficient government. If more places in MoCo were incorporated and ran independently, each jurisdiction could serve its own residents. That fire dept example is the exception, not the rule. It was one incident in one town and not how the fire dept operates typically.

Look at the property taxes in NJ and then tell me if you really believe this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any reason why they could not close the school district in parts? If there is ice/snow that is causing problems in one part of the country, it seems they could close schools in that part. It might be difficult to coordinate but certainly not impossible, and I cannot see how it would matter if kids in Poolesville got out of school a day later in June than kids in Silver Spring. I assume some might say that some kids would have an extra day to study for countywide tests, but the kids do not compete against each other in the whole district with those exams, and if the day is not devoted to test preparation, don't see why it would be such an issue. There would still be the problem of kids living in a closed part of the school district having to travel to their open school in another part, but that, too, seemed a pretty minor issue given the size of the district.

They tried that back in the 1980's and it was a fiasco. Parents could not figure out where they lived and on what side of the boundary they were in. Schools in "Section One" were closed yet kids showed up for school. Schools in "Section Two" are open but kids stayed home. It is a fact that many families cannot figure out where they live because they have such a poor grasp of geography. If they couldn't figure it out in 1987 how are "they", with the large immigrant population, going to figure it out today?

What would they do when the eastern part of the county has a heavy snowfall while the western part doesn't? People assume that the county is a north/south thing. It sometimes is not.