Wed no school or 2hr delay?

[Anonymous]

I’m in Bethesda and still not plowed. Car got stuck for awhile.

[Anonymous]

I was out today and this is what I saw.

Main roads are plowed, but sometimes a lane will just end randomly because the snow plow operator pushed all the snow into the right lane.

Right turn lanes are not plowed well and I saw a ride on bus who tried to make a right turn and got stuck in the snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM ALERT MONTGOMERY*

Due to the concern about refreezing and many back streets having yet been completely plowed, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County Maryland will be operating on a delayed opening on Wednesday January 8, 2025. The Court and Clerk's Office will open at 10:30 a.m.. Court staff shall report by 10:00 a.m..

Alert Montgomery just sent out a message about January 2025? That’s…not particularly good communications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The sleet on top of 5-9 inches of snow and the cold weather has made it a challenging clean up.

Call Wednesday and Thursday off.

Provide food pick up spots.

I can understand all perspectives but when dealing with ice and uncleared spots safety has to be the priority. Very different than just snow.

Ok sure. But next year let’s add 4 snow days into the McPS calendar instead of one. Because our kids are not getting the education that they need this month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

And what was the outcome of the sliding? No injuries right? Sliding is part of life if you live in an area with snow and ice. If you want your kid off the roads in any snow and ice, you should be advocating for MCPS to include 8 snow days in the calendar each year.

Mcps already have one fatal bus accident this year and that was under good weather conditions

So what’s your point? That kids need to stay home in good weather conditions too? We all drive recognizing that sometimes there are accidents and sometimes fatal. Everyone makes decisions every day about acceptable levels of risk.

[Anonymous]

I work at GW. We are closed again tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sleet on top of 5-9 inches of snow and the cold weather has made it a challenging clean up.

Call Wednesday and Thursday off.

Provide food pick up spots.

I can understand all perspectives but when dealing with ice and uncleared spots safety has to be the priority. Very different than just snow.

Ok sure. But next year let’s add 4 snow days into the McPS calendar instead of one. Because our kids are not getting the education that they need this month.

Stop pretending this is actually about academics. It'd be nice if parents cared this much when their kid is failing a class or refuses to do work, but nah-always when it's about when free babysitting is in peril.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sleet on top of 5-9 inches of snow and the cold weather has made it a challenging clean up.

Call Wednesday and Thursday off.

Provide food pick up spots.

I can understand all perspectives but when dealing with ice and uncleared spots safety has to be the priority. Very different than just snow.

Ok sure. But next year let’s add 4 snow days into the McPS calendar instead of one. Because our kids are not getting the education that they need this month.

What happens when it doesn't snow next year? We seem to get a bad snow year followed by a few years of nothing. Though last year and this year have been the two exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sleet on top of 5-9 inches of snow and the cold weather has made it a challenging clean up.

Call Wednesday and Thursday off.

Provide food pick up spots.

I can understand all perspectives but when dealing with ice and uncleared spots safety has to be the priority. Very different than just snow.

Ok sure. But next year let’s add 4 snow days into the McPS calendar instead of one. Because our kids are not getting the education that they need this month.

Start a campaign to get the BOE to focus on that. Drop all of the other petty complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The sleet on top of 5-9 inches of snow and the cold weather has made it a challenging clean up.

Call Wednesday and Thursday off.

Provide food pick up spots.

I can understand all perspectives but when dealing with ice and uncleared spots safety has to be the priority. Very different than just snow.

Ok sure. But next year let’s add 4 snow days into the McPS calendar instead of one. Because our kids are not getting the education that they need this month.

What happens when it doesn't snow next year? We seem to get a bad snow year followed by a few years of nothing. Though last year and this year have been the two exceptions.

End school 4 days early if unused.

[Anonymous]

I have been saying for years that MD needs to count schools hours rather than days, like VA. They never seem to have the melodrama over making up snow days like we do.
My prediction for the rest of the week is closures are very likely.
Best case (if you want school to open) is a delay on Friday, but that seems overly optimistic and potentially dangerous.

[Anonymous]

It's wild how rabid people get about the schools not being able to open after a storm that all news stations pointed out was the biggest impact storm (not necessarily historic inches-wise) in years. We can yell about how they *should* be able to open more quickly but that would mean we spend more money on plows that get rarely used. Do you really want the district spending more money on snow equipment when y'all rail against the taxes they get already? The reality of the situation is that the county and MCPS don't have the ability to clear snow like the NE. If you want that kind of service, move up north! Coming from someone who lived in the mountainous NE- every small town has their own plow trucks and we did get dug out pretty immediately the next day. I have the capacity to see that MoCo does not have that capability and I plan appropriately!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was out today and this is what I saw.

Main roads are plowed, but sometimes a lane will just end randomly because the snow plow operator pushed all the snow into the right lane.

Right turn lanes are not plowed well and I saw a ride on bus who tried to make a right turn and got stuck in the snow.

North Potomac here and just saw similar scenes. Just went by a left turn lane that had snow plowed into it. It's tricky and you need to be alert. Hard to imagine schools open before Thursday if not Friday. Also, some roads in my neighborhood were plowed well and others clearly had to weave around parked cars making for a messier street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's wild how rabid people get about the schools not being able to open after a storm that all news stations pointed out was the biggest impact storm (not necessarily historic inches-wise) in years. We can yell about how they *should* be able to open more quickly but that would mean we spend more money on plows that get rarely used. Do you really want the district spending more money on snow equipment when y'all rail against the taxes they get already? The reality of the situation is that the county and MCPS don't have the ability to clear snow like the NE. If you want that kind of service, move up north! Coming from someone who lived in the mountainous NE- every small town has their own plow trucks and we did get dug out pretty immediately the next day. I have the capacity to see that MoCo does not have that capability and I plan appropriately!

I think most actual people who have left their homes can see that it makes sense that it will take time for MCPS to open.

FWIW Boston got hit with 20 inches of snow and Boston Public Schools are closed today (their central offices are open). We got the equivalent but denser so fewer inches and that's arguably harder to clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been saying for years that MD needs to count schools hours rather than days, like VA. They never seem to have the melodrama over making up snow days like we do.
My prediction for the rest of the week is closures are very likely.
Best case (if you want school to open) is a delay on Friday, but that seems overly optimistic and potentially dangerous.

Agreed.

Saw photos today and the parking lot is clear, but the side streets aren’t.