Wed no school or 2hr delay?

[Anonymous]

The roads are icy today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Saw PG county had already canceled through Thursday. Wonder if MCPS will do the same

They should.

Adults are falling trying to walk on hilly, icy roads where sidewalks are non-existent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Won't the snow and ice all cleaned and treated by the end of Tuesday since snow has stopped already? Why prediction of closing for a week....

It depends if we get more snow and it turns into ice. We have had multiple plows and we’ve dug out several times and right now all of it looks like no one has touched it. It’s bad.

Where are you located? We are in Wheaton. We are in an HOA and the contractors came once right after the sleet/freezing rain stopped. Sidewalks and street are completely clear.

I am in Kensington. Streets are not plowed and we are responsible for our own sidewalks. We shoveled 4 times yesterday but still have a coating of icy snow. I predict neighborhood sidewalks are going to be the big problem.

These snow days are a great opportunity for everyone to go out and practice walking on slippery surfaces.

I spent a few winters in an area where they were very good about plowing the main roads but not so much the side streets, and sidewalk clearing was widely variable. We didn't even get a ton of snow but it was COLD so when we did get it it would hang around for weeks. There would be stretches of sidewalks that were downright trecherous but you just had to adapt and carry on. Obviously everyone who can should be out there clearing or hiring someone to do so but things are gonna be slippery for a while.

What is your address so I know where to send the bill for my kid’s broken wrist from all of this “practice” they should be doing

lol. This area never ceases to amaze me.

If you want your kid to never go out when there’s snow and ice, feel free to petition McPS to start school in the beginning of August and we can have the entire month of January off.

HS teacher here. I wish we would start school earlier in August. Way better for AP classes. This week is a disaster for AP classes

[Anonymous]

Yeah, given where things are as of this morning, Wednesday is gonna be closed.

I understand that we don't get snow like this EVERY year but it's also expected to have at least 1-2 snow events like this in most years. Not being able to dig residents out from a moderate snow event like this in 48 hours is a serious vulnerability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things are not clear where I am. Snow plows came by and didn’t finish our street and now we have 3 feet of snow blocking the cul de sac. I live 5 blocks from our school and no way can we climb the mountain to even make it to school.

I mean if what you're saying is true that's a legit safety issue because emergency responders couldn't get down your cul de sac. I would hnestly reach out to your councilmember's office. There's a differnce between being unplowed vs. plowed-in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As of Tuesday morning 60% of county roads have had “one pass.”

They came through my neighborhood yesterday. That one pass left 1-2 inches of compacted snow that is now solid ice. I can’t imagine a bus going up our hilly roads in these conditions.

Agreed. The problem is that ice will not be going away anytime soon, so I don't know when on earth it will be feasible to reopen.

The ice doesn't need to melt for schools to open. What do you think northern states do?

But their bus drivers have been trained to drive in icy conditions and that doesn't happen here.

Physics is our friend. Buses are heavy. They do fine.

The colder temperatures have helped. We haven't gotten into a melt-refreeze pattern. The roads and sidewalks are just going to get better at this point.

Except they don’t always do fine. I can think of three incidents where our school buses slid off the road with children on board. The last one just this past December.

Right. I'm begiining to think MCPS needs to either go to school in the summer and have off in the winter or build in a couple weeks of snow days to the calendar. Because we just aren't equipped for going to school in winter weather, for many reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, given where things are as of this morning, Wednesday is gonna be closed.

I understand that we don't get snow like this EVERY year but it's also expected to have at least 1-2 snow events like this in most years. Not being able to dig residents out from a moderate snow event like this in 48 hours is a serious vulnerability.

+1. I did a mile and a half walk today and it was possible, but difficult enough that I don't think we should be open tomorrow or honestly probably Thursday.

But I do think events like this happen enough that we need a plan to either plow enough to be open or use contingency days or something, because we can't just extend the school year five days every year.

[Anonymous]

I agree- close Wednesday and Thursday.
Call it today at 4:00 with options for food pick up sites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree- close Wednesday and Thursday.
Call it today at 4:00 with options for food pick up sites.

+1

And childcare allowed to open
(We don’t need personally it but it’s important)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, given where things are as of this morning, Wednesday is gonna be closed.

I understand that we don't get snow like this EVERY year but it's also expected to have at least 1-2 snow events like this in most years. Not being able to dig residents out from a moderate snow event like this in 48 hours is a serious vulnerability.

+1. I did a mile and a half walk today and it was possible, but difficult enough that I don't think we should be open tomorrow or honestly probably Thursday.

But I do think events like this happen enough that we need a plan to either plow enough to be open or use contingency days or something, because we can't just extend the school year five days every year.

I agree. The current model just isn't working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, given where things are as of this morning, Wednesday is gonna be closed.

I understand that we don't get snow like this EVERY year but it's also expected to have at least 1-2 snow events like this in most years. Not being able to dig residents out from a moderate snow event like this in 48 hours is a serious vulnerability.

+1. I did a mile and a half walk today and it was possible, but difficult enough that I don't think we should be open tomorrow or honestly probably Thursday.

But I do think events like this happen enough that we need a plan to either plow enough to be open or use contingency days or something, because we can't just extend the school year five days every year.

Yup. This is both a county and a school system failure.

The school system should never have less than 4 snow days built into the school calendar. Full stop.

And the county needs to bolster the resources needed to be able to dig us out of a moderate snow event within 48 hours.

[Anonymous]

Closed Wednesday and Thursday.
Offices open and food pick up options

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any updates on their school's parking lots?

I'm going to guess that the limiting factor after our Sleetzilla storm are the icy snowplow walls that people are having a hard time digging out of. Many people's cars are stuck in their driveways. Otherwise, it seems to me that most roads should be passable by tomorrow morning, if they keep working on side streets today and tonight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, given where things are as of this morning, Wednesday is gonna be closed.

I understand that we don't get snow like this EVERY year but it's also expected to have at least 1-2 snow events like this in most years. Not being able to dig residents out from a moderate snow event like this in 48 hours is a serious vulnerability.

+1. I did a mile and a half walk today and it was possible, but difficult enough that I don't think we should be open tomorrow or honestly probably Thursday.

But I do think events like this happen enough that we need a plan to either plow enough to be open or use contingency days or something, because we can't just extend the school year five days every year.

Yup. This is both a county and a school system failure.

The school system should never have less than 4 snow days built into the school calendar. Full stop.

And the county needs to bolster the resources needed to be able to dig us out of a moderate snow event within 48 hours.

I certainly agree about snow days. My child is in second grade so we haven’t been in MCPS too long, but we exceeded the allotted snow days in both of the last two years. I was/am confused why we reduced to one this year given how needed they have been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Won't the snow and ice all cleaned and treated by the end of Tuesday since snow has stopped already? Why prediction of closing for a week....

It depends if we get more snow and it turns into ice. We have had multiple plows and we’ve dug out several times and right now all of it looks like no one has touched it. It’s bad.

Where are you located? We are in Wheaton. We are in an HOA and the contractors came once right after the sleet/freezing rain stopped. Sidewalks and street are completely clear.

I am in Kensington. Streets are not plowed and we are responsible for our own sidewalks. We shoveled 4 times yesterday but still have a coating of icy snow. I predict neighborhood sidewalks are going to be the big problem.

These snow days are a great opportunity for everyone to go out and practice walking on slippery surfaces.

I spent a few winters in an area where they were very good about plowing the main roads but not so much the side streets, and sidewalk clearing was widely variable. We didn't even get a ton of snow but it was COLD so when we did get it it would hang around for weeks. There would be stretches of sidewalks that were downright trecherous but you just had to adapt and carry on. Obviously everyone who can should be out there clearing or hiring someone to do so but things are gonna be slippery for a while.

What is your address so I know where to send the bill for my kid’s broken wrist from all of this “practice” they should be doing

lol. This area never ceases to amaze me.

If you want your kid to never go out when there’s snow and ice, feel free to petition McPS to start school in the beginning of August and we can have the entire month of January off.

HS teacher here. I wish we would start school earlier in August. Way better for AP classes. This week is a disaster for AP classes

I agree. Start earlier (the southern schools start in early August) and give a proper fall break and yes build in some snow days into the MCPS calendar, way more than the single one we have. Or MCPS will have to figure out a way to restart virtual learning if it doesn’t want to open schools in any snowy weather.