What do we think will happen on Monday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mail isn’t being delivered, the garbage isn’t being picked up (in my neck of the woods, anyway), so I am losing confidence that the busses will be able to safely pick up and deliver children to school next week.

This!!! If the county isn’t confident sending their mail and garbage trucks out, why would we send out our school buses?

Mail has been delivered since Tuesday.

So has Amazon and Fedex.

We have not gotten mail on our street yet but they can’t get near the boxes. The plows didn’t plow close on either side of the street and it is way too far for anyone to shovel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many buses have been checked out and started this week? Do you really think that has happened?
Have they all been cleared of ice?
Have you seen the idiots driving on the road with ice on top of their cars?

I saw someone try to drive on three foot wall of ice on the side of the road rather than break down the ice on the side. If there had not been someone driving behind me, I would have stopped to see what happened. I was afraid she was going to tip over.

Monday opening would be a mistake.

On the note of driving on those ice mounds, unlike with snow banks, if you hit those ice banks with your tire at just the wrong angle and speed, it will launch your car up and off the road. If it happens on a bridge it could launch your car into the river below. It happened in a neighboring town where I grew up following an ice storm like this, where a family car clipped the ice bank, shot over the guardrail, and one of their kids drowned.

Don't drive up on these ice banks. It might not end well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m wondering if we will have a week plus of two hour delays. I drove by a middle school today; I know most of the students are walkers, and the sidewalks (that are along main roads, not the responsibility of homeowners) are mountains of ice from the plows pushing snow onto them. The road is 1.75 lanes right now, not 2. There is no way for kids to get to this school without walking on a 45 mph road, at 6:50 in the morning (if they go on time).

Highly unlikely that all these kids have zero parents at home at 6 am. If they are walkers its a quick drive to kiss and ride. Or carpool. Why is everyone so helpless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what point do they begin adding days at the end of the school year? I know we have more built into the calendar than MCPS but I don’t know the specifics.


I’d love this to be something future decision makers consider when they insist on calendars with an embarrassingly low number of five day weeks.

FCPS,needs to start cancelling all the cultural holidays stuck into the calendar, before adding days to late June.

I agree— there’s no reason to give Christmas off.

Yeah, Christmas is a federal holiday, one of our original federal holidays, and culturally the biggest holiday in our country, with the secular celebration of Christmas season stretching longer than any other national holiday and any other holiday season, secular or religious, in our country.

But of course, you know all this and are just trying to be ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

2 hour delay is almost certain for Monday, probably Tuesday as well. I doubt FCPS will be closed b/c of the PR problem, though I do worry about people getting hurt as the volume of people trying to navigate the snowcrete increases and more students (including youngkids walking/waiting for buses in the streets AND teen drivers) are out in the mix. Would be safest to stay closed Mon, delay opening Tues, and hope the increased temps make things safe from then on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 hour delay is almost certain for Monday, probably Tuesday as well. I doubt FCPS will be closed b/c of the PR problem, though I do worry about people getting hurt as the volume of people trying to navigate the snowcrete increases and more students (including youngkids walking/waiting for buses in the streets AND teen drivers) are out in the mix. Would be safest to stay closed Mon, delay opening Tues, and hope the increased temps make things safe from then on.

The ice out there will be here until March. One or two days with a high above freezing while the lows are still well below won't even phase it. What some of you are advocating for schools to be closed for a month. Insanity. It won't look any different on Monday morning than it will on Tuesday, or a week from now. Some of you will just have to be inconvenienced and drive your kids to school - maybe even carpool like was asked of you. It isn't that hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 hour delay is almost certain for Monday, probably Tuesday as well. I doubt FCPS will be closed b/c of the PR problem, though I do worry about people getting hurt as the volume of people trying to navigate the snowcrete increases and more students (including youngkids walking/waiting for buses in the streets AND teen drivers) are out in the mix. Would be safest to stay closed Mon, delay opening Tues, and hope the increased temps make things safe from then on.

This is reasonable, but probably unlikely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The other thing people seem to to be forgetting is that if the kids go back the entire region will get really busy again. Many of the roads are single lane even some of the main roads. It's going to be a nightmare

yes, the lanes are not double lanes anymore. They can’t handle the influx of all the typical drivers. The intersections are piled high with the street blocks of ice. There are no sidewalks visible due to the initial ice and snow and any added on plowed ice/snow. They are feet tall and not movable without bobcats and cranes.

[Anonymous]

Our principal has sent an email outlining plans for staff and students for Monday. It explains which paths are clear, where staff can park, encourages car pooling (even for staff) and notes that tardiness will not be marked for the first 10 (probably 20) minutes. They are planning for Monday.

[Anonymous]

Monday should be closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mail isn’t being delivered, the garbage isn’t being picked up (in my neck of the woods, anyway), so I am losing confidence that the busses will be able to safely pick up and deliver children to school next week.

This!!! If the county isn’t confident sending their mail and garbage trucks out, why would we send out our school buses?

Mail has been delivered since Tuesday.

So has Amazon and Fedex.

We have not gotten mail on our street yet but they can’t get near the boxes. The plows didn’t plow close on either side of the street and it is way too far for anyone to shovel.

Why didn't you shovel out your mailbox Sunday and Monday?

It was hard work, but nearly every house on our street shoveled a mail truck wide strip up to the mailboxes during the storm Sunday and in the initial aftermath on Monday. The teen boys helped neighbors who couldn't do it themselves.

Chiseling through the ice and plow mounds was hard, but our entire street has had Mail since Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

Mail has resumed in our neighborhood but no one shoveled out the mailboxes.

[Anonymous]

On one hand, what makes Friday different than today in terms of snow, road and sidewalk, which would not call for another closure? I sure don’t see a difference in my neighborhood. On the other hand, DC is equally a mess but still opened on Thursday and Friday. Why can’t FFX. They should institute a liberal leave policy in these type of days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On one hand, what makes Friday different than today in terms of snow, road and sidewalk, which would not call for another closure? I sure don’t see a difference in my neighborhood. On the other hand, DC is equally a mess but still opened on Thursday and Friday. Why can’t FFX. They should institute a liberal leave policy in these type of days.

DC has much more public transportation and tighter walking zones. While not perfect, the city has better ability to navigate school transportation than the car-dependent suburbs which rely on buses, longer routes for walkers, and kiss-and-ride lines. To me it makes sense that DCPS can open when Montgomery/Fairfax/Loudoun just can’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2 hour delay is almost certain for Monday, probably Tuesday as well. I doubt FCPS will be closed b/c of the PR problem, though I do worry about people getting hurt as the volume of people trying to navigate the snowcrete increases and more students (including youngkids walking/waiting for buses in the streets AND teen drivers) are out in the mix. Would be safest to stay closed Mon, delay opening Tues, and hope the increased temps make things safe from then on.

The ice out there will be here until March. One or two days with a high above freezing while the lows are still well below won't even phase it. What some of you are advocating for schools to be closed for a month. Insanity. It won't look any different on Monday morning than it will on Tuesday, or a week from now. Some of you will just have to be inconvenienced and drive your kids to school - maybe even carpool like was asked of you. It isn't that hard.

All right DCUM, help me figure this out.
How many sidewalks of the elderly/lazy have you shoveled?

Personally, I just did ours and 1 others. I drew the line at doing the military families sidewalks. In all 3 houses, their male HOH/military members who llive within sight on my streetsdidn’t bother shoveling, so I didn’t think I should do it for them. Now, are they still okay because the families are military? They didn’t have community spirit and made shoveling seem hard by not doing it. I’m not sure which sacrifice should be in front of which…

How many kids are you bringing from the neighborhood to school each day?

How will your boss feel when you run late? (Or do you not work which makes it REALLY easy to say this isn’t hard to do)

How will you feel when it is your child’s teacher turn to play school bus and they are late?