FCPS Closings/Who to contact about this issue/What can we do as parents to solve this problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think FCPS needs to send their transportation and a few execs to some school districts in other parts of the country who have the same issues we have (large geographic district, low SES populations to the point where coats, boots are an issue, etc.) to see how they do it. If they need to close, they at least need to do it in a more organized manner than what I've seen them do this winter. But I'm sure there are other more grassroots solutions, too.

I'm not yet a FCPS, but am really worried about what will happen when my DD gets older. If people get together to address this, I'd definitely get involved.

The cities and counties have reliable snow and ice removal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Not sure but sign me up. My kids are not yet part of fcps but our preschool follows fcps and it boils me beyond belief that they're taking advantage of fcps when none of the concerns for closure affect the preschool yet we pay, and they keep closing.

THIS drives me nuts. Same with our preschool. We have no buses!! No reason my kid can't go to preschool at noon (he's afternoons).

We are afternoons as well. I sit on the preschool board and have pushed for alternatives but it has becom very apparent that the director loves her snow days and doesn't want to consider alternatives. We suggested "making their own decision" or following government closure or following Arlington closures (since we are on the border) but every suggestion was shot down. The killer part is when fcps does something like extend Mondays or schedule days into June, she miraculously stops following fcps and becomes an independent thinker. It is a money pit.

I will tell you exactly what the problem is with the preschools. Many teachers at PT preschools are mothers with their own school-age kids. They purposefully get a job with this kind of schedule so that they can be available for their own children after school, on school holidays, summers, etc. These jobs are low paying and that's the trade off, but it's worth it for many moms to do that and still keep their foot in the door or make some extra money. It's not coincidental that so many church preschools follow the FCPS schedules to the letter. Do you know how disruptive it would be for these teachers, who took the job with the knowledge that their workplace follows FCPS snow days and that they would be home with their children on those days, to suddenly have a mid-year switch and have to deal with backup childcare? It would be a huge problem. I do not fault the preschools in any way for doing this even though it BURNS ME UP INSIDE that I paid for 5 days of preschool this week and got one, thanks to the holiday and snow days! This is a FCPS problem, not a preschool problem.

As you said, it's not like preschool tuition is paying the teachers a living wage. They earn a tiny fraction of what most of you earn. You get what you pay for, or are preschool teachers supposed to be your charity workers?

Yes, that's my point. I don't think it is fair to screw over the preschool teachers to keep the preschools open. And clearly the preschool administrators agree, because that's why the schools are closed and they follow the FCPS schedules for snow days. Yes, the schools could technically be open, but it would screw their teachers over in terms of them having to find their own backup child care. Like I said, as much as this sucks personally to have my kid be out of school all week, I'm glad that they are doing the right thing by their teachers. Happy teachers = happy kids.

Bizarre, how is letting someone go to work screwing them over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Safety comes first, angry parents.

The safest spot is (maybe) enclosed in a bubble in your house. We take risks every time we do anything. The question is always whether the risk is worth the reward. The reward in this case is keeping your kids learning consistent. I think it's worth going to school, even when it isn't 70 degrees and sunny outside.

[Anonymous]

Get a candidate to run for school board on this platform. I truly think it's the only thing that will work. Start writing your va state legislatures to remove the requirement to provide bus service every day the schools are open. If we could decouple the bus issues from the evaluation of whether to open school or not. There should be a "condition 7: due to weather conditions fcps are open but bussing will not be available."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety comes first, angry parents.

The safest spot is (maybe) enclosed in a bubble in your house. We take risks every time we do anything. The question is always whether the risk is worth the reward. The reward in this case is keeping your kids learning consistent. I think it's worth going to school, even when it isn't 70 degrees and sunny outside.

+100 There wouldn't be such a preponderance of angry parents if the policy or these decisions made sense. I have had kids in FCPS for 12 years. The only years where the weather-based decisions have made me crazy have been the last two.

Part of it, despite all the "policy" and "condition 1-9 blather, is that I think the decisions seem very reactive. For example, after they failed to cancel school on a day when it snowed during the commute, the next time there was even a whiff of snow in the forecast, they reflexively cancelled. A school board can't be in the people pleasing business and all this nonsense about "safety first", poor kids without coats is just excuses after the fact. The board and this area needs to man up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, that's my point. I don't think it is fair to screw over the preschool teachers to keep the preschools open. And clearly the preschool administrators agree, because that's why the schools are closed and they follow the FCPS schedules for snow days. Yes, the schools could technically be open, but it would screw their teachers over in terms of them having to find their own backup child care. Like I said, as much as this sucks personally to have my kid be out of school all week, I'm glad that they are doing the right thing by their teachers. Happy teachers = happy kids.

Bizarre, how is letting someone go to work screwing them over.

Many teachers at part-time pre-schools are not working at these jobs for the money. If the hours don't work well for their own family obligations, they won't be working at these jobs at all. The pre-schools would have a tough time getting enough teachers if the teachers can't be home for their own kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, that's my point. I don't think it is fair to screw over the preschool teachers to keep the preschools open. And clearly the preschool administrators agree, because that's why the schools are closed and they follow the FCPS schedules for snow days. Yes, the schools could technically be open, but it would screw their teachers over in terms of them having to find their own backup child care. Like I said, as much as this sucks personally to have my kid be out of school all week, I'm glad that they are doing the right thing by their teachers. Happy teachers = happy kids.

Bizarre, how is letting someone go to work screwing them over.

Many teachers at part-time pre-schools are not working at these jobs for the money. If the hours don't work well for their own family obligations, they won't be working at these jobs at all. The pre-schools would have a tough time getting enough teachers if the teachers can't be home for their own kids.

+1 Preschool teacher here. This poster is absolutely correct. Many of us have two or more children of our own, and we would lose money if we had to pay a sitter with the amount we make hourly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am good with how they have handled this year other than the day they failed to close but should have.

I agree. You are exactly right. I have been laughing like crazy at how angry some of these people are getting on here. The moms I know are also fine with how they have done things this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am good with how they have handled this year other than the day they failed to close but should have.

I agree. You are exactly right. I have been laughing like crazy at how angry some of these people are getting on here. The moms I know are also fine with how they have done things this year.

Also agree.

While the extra days home with kids have been exhausting, drive me crazy at times, and stressful to juggle, I understand that safety comes first and I also understand that they are doing the best they can regarding the logistics of our large school system and the unique weather patterns we have in the Mid-Atlantic region.

I blame VDOT more, there were at least 2 days that were closed because of roads left unplowed and the day school wasn't cancelled the roads were a mess because they had not salted or cleared anything at all.

The over reaction on here to anything weather related is tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS wait until you have kids in high school working harder than you ever have in your adult life. Any day off from that grind is welcome.

+1000. My kid is so tired all the time with this ridiculously early start time that I'm grateful for any day he gets to sleep in. I'm very happy with the closures and the only mistake I see is the day they didn't close with all that snow on the road. Some buses at my child's school were stuck for 5 hours and arrived at school in the early afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a candidate to run for school board on this platform. I truly think it's the only thing that will work. Start writing your va state legislatures to remove the requirement to provide bus service every day the schools are open. If we could decouple the bus issues from the evaluation of whether to open school or not. There should be a "condition 7: due to weather conditions fcps are open but bussing will not be available."

Ha! Those of you who advocate no bussing on those days are going to be in for a shock when you get stuck in a Kiss'n Ride line wrapping around the school for a couple miles and end up taking a 2-hour round trip to drop off your child. That's of course if you're lucky enough not to get into an accident, made likely by the combination of bad weather and drivers going crazy because of the back-ups around the school.
And that's assuming your school is far, far from a main road. A back-up around our HS has the potential to completely block one of the main thoroughfares into DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am good with how they have handled this year other than the day they failed to close but should have.

I agree. You are exactly right. I have been laughing like crazy at how angry some of these people are getting on here. The moms I know are also fine with how they have done things this year.

If you don't work, then the closings are perfectly fine. However, if you work and don't have much flexibility, it is very difficult especially on days like yesterday when there was absolutely NO reason close the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure but sign me up. My kids are not yet part of fcps but our preschool follows fcps and it boils me beyond belief that they're taking advantage of fcps when none of the concerns for closure affect the preschool yet we pay, and they keep closing.

THIS drives me nuts. Same with our preschool. We have no buses!! No reason my kid can't go to preschool at noon (he's afternoons).

We are afternoons as well. I sit on the preschool board and have pushed for alternatives but it has becom very apparent that the director loves her snow days and doesn't want to consider alternatives. We suggested "making their own decision" or following government closure or following Arlington closures (since we are on the border) but every suggestion was shot down. The killer part is when fcps does something like extend Mondays or schedule days into June, she miraculously stops following fcps and becomes an independent thinker. It is a money pit.

I will tell you exactly what the problem is with the preschools. Many teachers at PT preschools are mothers with their own school-age kids. They purposefully get a job with this kind of schedule so that they can be available for their own children after school, on school holidays, summers, etc. These jobs are low paying and that's the trade off, but it's worth it for many moms to do that and still keep their foot in the door or make some extra money. It's not coincidental that so many church preschools follow the FCPS schedules to the letter. Do you know how disruptive it would be for these teachers, who took the job with the knowledge that their workplace follows FCPS snow days and that they would be home with their children on those days, to suddenly have a mid-year switch and have to deal with backup childcare? It would be a huge problem. I do not fault the preschools in any way for doing this even though it BURNS ME UP INSIDE that I paid for 5 days of preschool this week and got one, thanks to the holiday and snow days! This is a FCPS problem, not a preschool problem.

As you said, it's not like preschool tuition is paying the teachers a living wage. They earn a tiny fraction of what most of you earn. You get what you pay for, or are preschool teachers supposed to be your charity workers?

Yes, that's my point. I don't think it is fair to screw over the preschool teachers to keep the preschools open. And clearly the preschool administrators agree, because that's why the schools are closed and they follow the FCPS schedules for snow days. Yes, the schools could technically be open, but it would screw their teachers over in terms of them having to find their own backup child care. Like I said, as much as this sucks personally to have my kid be out of school all week, I'm glad that they are doing the right thing by their teachers. Happy teachers = happy kids.

Bizarre, how is letting someone go to work screwing them over.

Do you take your kids to work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the 2nd year in a row that FCPS has been closed on more days than other schools in the area, including large school systems in Montgomery County.

Who can we contact as parents to address this issue and come up with solutions for some of the obstacles that keeps them from opening on snow days? What can we as parents do to solve this issue?

The other aspect is to explore various venues in the community that offer camp during snow days, especially a place where children can run around indoors.

Plus, it has been two relatively mild winters in terms of snow. What is going to happen when we get a real winter (which comes around every 3-4 years)?

Mild? Record low temperatures? Get used to these days off parents just need to face reality and use their pto or take turns with another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Safety comes first, angry parents.

The safest spot is (maybe) enclosed in a bubble in your house. We take risks every time we do anything. The question is always whether the risk is worth the reward. The reward in this case is keeping your kids learning consistent. I think it's worth going to school, even when it isn't 70 degrees and sunny outside.

+100 There wouldn't be such a preponderance of angry parents if the policy or these decisions made sense. I have had kids in FCPS for 12 years. The only years where the weather-based decisions have made me crazy have been the last two.

Part of it, despite all the "policy" and "condition 1-9 blather, is that I think the decisions seem very reactive. For example, after they failed to cancel school on a day when it snowed during the commute, the next time there was even a whiff of snow in the forecast, they reflexively cancelled. A school board can't be in the people pleasing business and all this nonsense about "safety first", poor kids without coats is just excuses after the fact. The board and this area needs to man up.

+1 We are in our 13th year and the past two have been over the top ridiculous.