What do we think will happen on Monday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

Are you serious? "Free labor"?

Shoveling sidewalks has ALWAYS been the responsibility of the community, not of VDOT, FCPS, or Fairfax County. ALWAYS.

You are a complete jerk if you seriously have the attitude "that will be a no from me." How selfish and self-serving you are!

Go out and shovel even just 20 feet of sidewalk. If every able-bodied person would shovel 20 feet of sidewalks, we could make them safe for all pedestrians, including for school children.

Have you tried, recently? I am a 40 year old reasonably fit woman and was not able to break the ice even with a metal shovel. I could probably work at it all day and get a few feet done.

Getting rid of all the ice on sidewalks isn’t reasonable at this point. It won’t happen. Better to start mobilizing carpools and shared watching of kids, trading bus stop monitoring duties, etc. We are sharing drop off/pick up with another family this week. We will reevaluate next week.

I am a 50-year-old woman who shoveled at least 30 feet of sidewalk between 11am and 4pm today. I shoveled, then took a break, shoveled more, then took a break, and so on. I used metal gardening shovels to break up the sheets of ice. It was completely doable.

If people had shoveled sidewalks on Sunday and Monday, it wouldnt be nearly as difficult as it is now. But people were too self-absorbed to think about their neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to Cunningham park. There is ABSOLUTELY no way the walkers living near the cedar park shopping center can make their way on park to get to a school on Monday. I don’t think those sidewalks are even covered by residential.

Then they need to get a ride. The sidewalks aren't going to be cleared for weeks.

My kids go to a different school but it’s the same situation and will be home. DH isn’t a teacher but has been back to work all week. I can’t drive them because I’ll be at work too, as a teacher at a different school. No, I can’t drop them off before I go to my school. There are others in the same situation and at least mine are old enough to stay home alone. Many of us can’t just drive them.

But school can’t stay shut forever and I’m in favor of opening for those who can get there at this point. We need to be back.

Time to use the device you’re typing on to reach out to some neighbors and friends and see who can help you out. If I knew someone in your shoes, I’d gladly pick up your kid.

My mom was a teacher and my dad always had to leave for work early in the morning. I remember going to a neighbor’s house to catch the bus or be driven to school in situations like this. It’s bizarre to me that nobody wants to reach out and ask for help. It’s really not a big ask to have a kid who is all ready for school to hang out at your house for a short period of time before the bus comes, or to see if they can hitch a ride if another parent is driving. People are usually happy to help out teachers, nurses, other people who don’t have a choice, but to be at work by a certain time. Why have we lost this sense of community spirit?

I haven’t vetted my neighbors to see if they have guns in the house. We had a horrible accidental gun death in the family and I don’t send my kid over u til now. The world is different now. That is why.

z

You need therapy.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. And no therapy doesn’t make everyone take your risk assessment and make it their own.

[Anonymous]

AACPS in MD just posted this:
"Out of an abundance of caution and in order to allow additional time for student and staff travel, all Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late on Monday, Feb. 2, and Tuesday, Feb. 3..."
It's in MD, but I am wondering if the other school systems in the area will do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to Cunningham park. There is ABSOLUTELY no way the walkers living near the cedar park shopping center can make their way on park to get to a school on Monday. I don’t think those sidewalks are even covered by residential.

Then they need to get a ride. The sidewalks aren't going to be cleared for weeks.

My kids go to a different school but it’s the same situation and will be home. DH isn’t a teacher but has been back to work all week. I can’t drive them because I’ll be at work too, as a teacher at a different school. No, I can’t drop them off before I go to my school. There are others in the same situation and at least mine are old enough to stay home alone. Many of us can’t just drive them.

But school can’t stay shut forever and I’m in favor of opening for those who can get there at this point. We need to be back.

Time to use the device you’re typing on to reach out to some neighbors and friends and see who can help you out. If I knew someone in your shoes, I’d gladly pick up your kid.

My mom was a teacher and my dad always had to leave for work early in the morning. I remember going to a neighbor’s house to catch the bus or be driven to school in situations like this. It’s bizarre to me that nobody wants to reach out and ask for help. It’s really not a big ask to have a kid who is all ready for school to hang out at your house for a short period of time before the bus comes, or to see if they can hitch a ride if another parent is driving. People are usually happy to help out teachers, nurses, other people who don’t have a choice, but to be at work by a certain time. Why have we lost this sense of community spirit?

I haven’t vetted my neighbors to see if they have guns in the house. We had a horrible accidental gun death in the family and I don’t send my kid over u til now. The world is different now. That is why.

Okay. Does your child go to anyone’s home? Anyone you feel comfortable with? Or just ask a neighbor the question about guns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AACPS in MD just posted this:
"Out of an abundance of caution and in order to allow additional time for student and staff travel, all Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late on Monday, Feb. 2, and Tuesday, Feb. 3..."
It's in MD, but I am wondering if the other school systems in the area will do the same.

Seems reasonable and the most viable path going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

Sidewalks and bus stops are the community’s responsibility, not FCPS’, VDOT’s or the county’s. How do you not know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We go to Cunningham park. There is ABSOLUTELY no way the walkers living near the cedar park shopping center can make their way on park to get to a school on Monday. I don’t think those sidewalks are even covered by residential.

Then they need to get a ride. The sidewalks aren't going to be cleared for weeks.

My kids go to a different school but it’s the same situation and will be home. DH isn’t a teacher but has been back to work all week. I can’t drive them because I’ll be at work too, as a teacher at a different school. No, I can’t drop them off before I go to my school. There are others in the same situation and at least mine are old enough to stay home alone. Many of us can’t just drive them.

But school can’t stay shut forever and I’m in favor of opening for those who can get there at this point. We need to be back.

Time to use the device you’re typing on to reach out to some neighbors and friends and see who can help you out. If I knew someone in your shoes, I’d gladly pick up your kid.

My mom was a teacher and my dad always had to leave for work early in the morning. I remember going to a neighbor’s house to catch the bus or be driven to school in situations like this. It’s bizarre to me that nobody wants to reach out and ask for help. It’s really not a big ask to have a kid who is all ready for school to hang out at your house for a short period of time before the bus comes, or to see if they can hitch a ride if another parent is driving. People are usually happy to help out teachers, nurses, other people who don’t have a choice, but to be at work by a certain time. Why have we lost this sense of community spirit?

I haven’t vetted my neighbors to see if they have guns in the house. We had a horrible accidental gun death in the family and I don’t send my kid over u til now. The world is different now. That is why.

z

You need therapy.

No kidding. That is some serious anxiety at play, which I recognize because I had a parent who was like this and it affected by sibling and me negatively. It f you don’t feel close enough to someone to ask that question you should think about why your circle is so small. It doesn’t have to be someone in your immediate neighborhood, it can be a friend/parent of your kid’s friend who lives somewhere else nearby. Your kids are going to suffer if you won’t ever let them go to someone else’s house. You have to get comfortable asking awkward questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

Are you serious? "Free labor"?

Shoveling sidewalks has ALWAYS been the responsibility of the community, not of VDOT, FCPS, or Fairfax County. ALWAYS.

You are a complete jerk if you seriously have the attitude "that will be a no from me." How selfish and self-serving you are!

Go out and shovel even just 20 feet of sidewalk. If every able-bodied person would shovel 20 feet of sidewalks, we could make them safe for all pedestrians, including for school children.

Have you tried, recently? I am a 40 year old reasonably fit woman and was not able to break the ice even with a metal shovel. I could probably work at it all day and get a few feet done.

Getting rid of all the ice on sidewalks isn’t reasonable at this point. It won’t happen. Better to start mobilizing carpools and shared watching of kids, trading bus stop monitoring duties, etc. We are sharing drop off/pick up with another family this week. We will reevaluate next week.

I think this solution works well for students from suburban families and close-knit communities, but not for other student populations. Some individual schools, the ones with heavy parent involvement, could successfully implement these ideas and open up, but not all schools could, and in the past, FCPS hasn’t opened some schools if all schools couldn’t open. FCPS would never say “the kids who can travel to school can come; others who can’t, just stay home.”

FCPS is too big and bureaucratic to be able to efficiently implement grassroots solutions across the county. Gatehouse needs to come up with their own solutions that work for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any possible way to pivot to virtual or do kids just stay home with no education until we can all figure out how to get them back to school? I guess PWCS has hinted at virtual, not sure about other districts. What is different between them and us that they can stand up virtual and we can't? I know people don't like it, but it's better than nothing for days on end. My kids bring their laptops home to charge, but I know it's not consistent across schools. Seems like they could have had kids bring home devices just in case knowing that the storm was coming and likely to be pretty disruptive. The inability to do virtual may be what gets FCPS to open sooner than other districts that have apparently figured out how to implement it.

I don’t think it’s possible to do true virtual, synchronous instruction at this point. Maybe some asynchronous work could be posted, but I don’t know how worthwhile that would be, particularly at the lowest grade levels. Our ES didn’t send home laptops. Even if students had their laptops, teachers aren’t prepared to do it. Some have never had to teach that way.

How can other districts figure it out? I can’t imagine PWCS teachers have different training and experience. The basics of virtual instruction are not rocket science and should probably be part of teacher training (during grad school) at this point.

They very well could have received different training. If they have had plans to go virtual in situations like this then they probably have been told what to do. They probably sent the students’ school devices home with them. We haven’t done virtual instruction since when, 2021? Any new teacher hired since then hasn’t done it and rarely uses Zoom. I teach in an ES and my spouse in a MS. There has been no training expectations given for online instruction. Most elementary students haven’t done online instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AACPS in MD just posted this:
"Out of an abundance of caution and in order to allow additional time for student and staff travel, all Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late on Monday, Feb. 2, and Tuesday, Feb. 3..."
It's in MD, but I am wondering if the other school systems in the area will do the same.

Possibly? If FCPS schools open, I think it would be a huge mistake to do so without a delay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AACPS in MD just posted this:
"Out of an abundance of caution and in order to allow additional time for student and staff travel, all Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late on Monday, Feb. 2, and Tuesday, Feb. 3..."
It's in MD, but I am wondering if the other school systems in the area will do the same.

Spotsylvania closed for Monday and Tuesday. They’ll have a “remote learning day” (whatever that means).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

Sidewalks and bus stops are the community’s responsibility, not FCPS’, VDOT’s or the county’s. How do you not know that?

+1

[Anonymous]

I think schools should stay closed Monday and Tuesday. During those days, FCPS needs to work like hell on getting extra busses or vans or whatever is needed to re-open Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

Sidewalks and bus stops are the community’s responsibility, not FCPS’, VDOT’s or the county’s. How do you not know that?

+1

The community isn’t handling it though. Property management sure as hell isn’t handling it for where I live. This snowcrete is a formidable challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s hilarious FCPS is asking the community to essentially provide free labor to shovel sidewalks and bus stops. WTF are our tax dollars going to? That will be a no from me.

LOL! Ridiculous