Schools closed for students Monday Feb 2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

They’ve been mentioned repeatedly on threads since Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This county is a joke

Blame your lazy, selfish neighbors for not shoveling their sidewalks.

I blame the parents who seem to think kids can walk in the snow to play, but can't walk in the snow to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't go through all of the pages and on the DCPS pages. Why did we not have school but they did? The streets are similar or worse there?

Putting aside the discussion of walker conditions, the buses are an issue for MCPS.

Most schools are open today. Most of these districts also have school buses, but somehow they managed it. Some have virtual learning, which MCPS didn't bother to get permission to make a plan to do. MCPS is being a special snowflake.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026...virginia-snow-storm/
Alexandria City Public Schools: Virtual learning
Anne Arundel County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday.
Arlington County Public Schools: Closed; two-hour delay Tuesday
Calvert County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Charles County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Culpeper County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
D.C. Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fairfax County Public Schools: Closed
Falls Church City Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fauquier County Public Schools: Closed
Howard County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday
Loudoun County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Montgomery County Public Schools: Closed
Pr. George’s County Public Schools: Two-hour delay; Code Orange
Prince William County Public Schools: Closed
Spotsylvania County Public Schools: Remote learning Monday and Tuesday; 12-month employees to report on time.
Stafford County Public Schools: Closed
https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-scho...CGZARVMWHPUHLYH5SYI/

Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday and Tuesday.
Baltimore County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Caroline County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Cecil County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Charles County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Howard County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday and Tuesday.
Kent County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed Monday. Offices will open on time, and staff should report as on a regular noninstructional day
Prince George’s County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday. .
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools will open 90 minutes late Monday.

PG pivoted to a closure this morning. I don’t think this whole list needs to be related every time someone asks about dcps specifically and someone makes the point that they do not have to worry about bus clearance.

The point is a whole lot of schools are open today. Some were open last week. It isn't just DCPS which has metro. Some schools have virtual learning. Many schools have buses running even though the snow hasn't melted.

People keep insisting that MCPS is special. That it can't open, that it can't do virtual learning. That its just TOO HARD. But these these other schools can't.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There are very few school districts that are completely closed tomorrow or not doing virtual learning. MCPS should be ashamed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/02/01/school-delays-dc-maryland-virginia-snow-storm/

Alexandria City Public Schools: Virtual learning
Anne Arundel County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday.
Arlington County Public Schools: Closed; two-hour delay Tuesday
Calvert County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Charles County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Culpeper County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
D.C. Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fairfax County Public Schools: Closed
Falls Church City Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fauquier County Public Schools: Closed
Howard County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday
Loudoun County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Montgomery County Public Schools: Closed
Pr. George’s County Public Schools: Two-hour delay; Code Orange
Prince William County Public Schools: Closed
Spotsylvania County Public Schools: Remote learning Monday and Tuesday; 12-month employees to report on time.
Stafford County Public Schools: Closed

Nah, but thanks for posting info we all already knew?

If you already knew this, why are people constantly posting that it's impossible to open or offer virtual learning because of kids with IEPs or equity or snow? Nearly every other school district is open or virtual tomorrow.

BLAME YOURSELF. PARENTS are why MCPS won't pivot to virtual.

Where did parents say they would prefer to have their kids shortchanged with well under the required 180 days instead of having virtual instruction?

Where did parents tell the MCPS central office not to submit a contingency virtual learning plan like so many other Maryland school districts did?

McPS should blame itself for its inability to function..

Parents don't want virtual. They want real school days.

That's what you want. We want our kids to get an education - in person or virtual, but virtual with live teaching.

You wouldn't get it. Not enough students would show up. Even fewer would participate. No new material could be covered.

You don't know that. All we have is last year's example where MCPS added half days in end June and showed videos and few kids showed up because MCPS encouraged them now to show up because "they knew people had already made other plans".

Of course we know kids wouldn't join and participate.

And that's putting aside the fact that no one has come up with a plausible way to either provide special education supports and services during those days, or provide compensatory services after the fact. You just want to forget about those students, just like you did during covid.

We get it. So you'd rather everyone have zero instruction and lose out on instructional time. MCPS can apply for a waiver to offer 177 days of instruction rather than 180, add in some half days in June and encourage parents not to send their kids, and unlike the other DC area schools that were open last week and are open next week, MCPS staff can get some extra days off.

You're not getting virtual. You know that. If you actually cared about instructional time, then you'd pressure the BoE and Taylor to use the contingency days we have. The real ones.

That you're not interested in doing that suggests education is not what's really motivating you.

You have no idea what is motivating an anonymous poster. And no, I don't agree with you that virtual learning is not an option-- my kids did almost a year of virtual learning during the COVID years, and I know MCPS can do it.

I don't work for MCPS, and only learned that MCPS failed to submit a virtual learning plan for approval to the state of Maryland yesterday, unlike many other Maryland schools. MCPS central office could do its job and try to submit it now, because there are two months of winter left and it's probable that there are more snow days.

We know it isn't an option this year. There isn't time to put together a plan and seek public comment. That would take at least a couple of months for a real plan and a meaningful public comment period.

So if education is your priority, you'd be advocating for March 20, April 15, and June 18 make up days. Ideally Presidents' Day too.

But the pp already said the quiet part out loud by admitting she just doesn't want make up days.

Of course parents want make up days. Why wouldn't we want them? It's our kids losing out on the education we pay for with our taxes. It's the teachers who prefer to have them as additional holidays.
-Why wait til March 20? Why not February 17? I would bet there are fewer students travelling for Presidents day than for spring break.
-April 15 is a Wednesday off in the middle of the week. Most parents hate that.
-June 18 is a useless day. It's too late in the school year to offer meaningful instruction and teachers use it as an excuse to just show videos for a half day. I would much rather have a virtual learning day than that.

I don't want them made up. We have other activities planned. (and not travel, school related). Stop blaming teachers. We could have had school this past week via assignments or virtual. We had one teacher send out assignments via email so clearly it can be done. That teacher put a lot of effort into it.

here aren't a lot of choices here. You either:
1) Open schools in less than optimal weather conditions (cue the people screaming that we don't care if their child dies slipping on ice and falling into traffic.)
2) Develop a functional virtual learning plan that is contingency for bad weather weeks like this one and use it (Except that MCPS never made a virtual learrning plan that the State of Maryland required, unlike other school districts, and apparently people on this forum say it will take them months to make one up.)
3) Do make up days, recognizing that people have made plans thinking that school is out.
4) Shortchange kids of the 180 days of education required by law and apply to the state of Maryland to get a waiver to miss several days of instruction this year.

I prefer #3, and that BOE requires that MCPS develop #2 starting now, so we don't have this same conversation next year.

#1--having grown up in a colder weather state--the level of incompetence MCPS shows around weather issues astonishes me.

+1. Not just incompetence but the projection of helplessness. We can't react like a southern state while being positioned in the mid-Atlantic.

Yes, Taylor and the CO need to go. Hire a team from a northern state.

I don’t agree with pinning this on MCPS. So much of this is on MoCo as a county. The school district only has so much control. And PG county is now closed today as well. We are not out of line with peers.

Many things reopened in MoCo last Tuesday. Pretty much everything else on Wednesday. MCPS is the outlier in the county. The county sufficiently cleared roads and most major sidewalks. People have been out and about for nearly a week, including kids. But MCPS has unnecessary and unreasonable expectations, with no plan to achieve them.

The one thing I will say in MCPS's defense here (and I want them to at least move to virtual), is that people have done a TERRIBLE job clearing the sidewalks this past week. Moreover, there has been no sense of neighborhood or civic service in terms of getting the places where kids wait for the bus cleared. In a neighborhood, we all know where the kids need to stand, but a lot of homeowners stop just short of that corner, because it's not "their" corner to clear.

If you want kids back in school, make sure they have a safe place to walk/stand at 6:50 tomorrow morning.

Yes. And having lived up north, I get the frustration because yes snow can be piled up and a walking hazard forever in colder climates. However, the absolute mess on sidewalks and bus stops is I think much worse here than what I’ve experienced elsewhere, because the community is not used to doing their part.

I have also lived up north and think MCPS is quick to blame communities for “not doing their part” when they have unrealistic expectations and don’t want to open until there is nearly zero risk (which is conveniently less work for McPS staff who get to stay home and have more days off).

I went to work all last week in DC and sidewalks were far from pristine, yet DCPS opened virtual Wednesday and in person Thursday Friday (and today.) There’s a long list of area schools that opened today where sidewalks are also not perfectly clean.

NYC, 10x bigger than MCPS, opened virtually last Monday the day after the snowstorm and Tuesday onwards in person. Because they value schools being open. McPS and MoCo do not.

I absolutely hear you, but clearing walkways is part of normal winter in colder climates. So many people here don’t seem to get it. I get that some of it is to be expected — just like our plows aren’t as good, not as many people have snow blowers, etc. And the county could and should try to organize parking regulations to get plows through more efficiently. I’m just saying to be fair, I didn’t see kids walking to school in this bad of a mess when I lived in New England. I also have seen neighborhoods further away from me that are just fine, so I know we’re not all observing the same conditions.

You're mistaken. Kids will absolutely walk on sidewalks or yards that still have snow on them in New England and the upper midwest. Those places don't have magical snow clearing abilities, nor do they stay closed through the winter.

This isn’t snow.

It’s ice.

I just watched a 6 x 4 piece of ice fall off a balcony, skitter off the ice slide that is our building’s lawn, and the pieces slide across the parking lot at high speed until they hit a wall of ice piled at the intersection. I was so grateful no one was out there, especially a child.

Same thing after a couple days of people walking on sidewalks. People can and have been walking on this.

[Anonymous]

There’s a jerk who lives next to our elementary school who NEVER shovels his sidewalk. Not once in the 5 years we have gone to this school. Is there some way to report him or something if this is what is keeping schools from opening? He’s also the type who definitely has a gun and would be mad if someone came and shoveled his driveway for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

They’ve been mentioned repeatedly on threads since Monday.

Yes, people are mentioning them, but no one at MCPS is actually doing anything to help them. MCPS is the incompetent school district that didn't even submit a plan for virtual learning to MSDE in case of adverse weather. I think most AP HS kids could have done better with planning than the MCPS central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

I think about them every time someone screams that "it's impossible to do virtual learning" on these threads. These kids have had years of virtual learning. It's MCPS that finds it impossible to do anything.

If MCPS doesn't want to open until all the ice melts, and doesn't want to do virtual learning, it needs to start school in early August, which will be better for AP/IB kids too. Some schools in the South even start in July and get almost 2 months more of AP instruction than what MCPS provides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't go through all of the pages and on the DCPS pages. Why did we not have school but they did? The streets are similar or worse there?

Putting aside the discussion of walker conditions, the buses are an issue for MCPS.

Most schools are open today. Most of these districts also have school buses, but somehow they managed it. Some have virtual learning, which MCPS didn't bother to get permission to make a plan to do. MCPS is being a special snowflake.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026...virginia-snow-storm/
Alexandria City Public Schools: Virtual learning
Anne Arundel County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday.
Arlington County Public Schools: Closed; two-hour delay Tuesday
Calvert County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Charles County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Culpeper County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
D.C. Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fairfax County Public Schools: Closed
Falls Church City Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Fauquier County Public Schools: Closed
Howard County Public Schools: Two-hour delay Monday and Tuesday
Loudoun County Public Schools: Two-hour delay
Montgomery County Public Schools: Closed
Pr. George’s County Public Schools: Two-hour delay; Code Orange
Prince William County Public Schools: Closed
Spotsylvania County Public Schools: Remote learning Monday and Tuesday; 12-month employees to report on time.
Stafford County Public Schools: Closed
https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-scho...CGZARVMWHPUHLYH5SYI/

Anne Arundel County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday and Tuesday.
Baltimore County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Caroline County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Cecil County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Charles County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Howard County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday and Tuesday.
Kent County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday.
Montgomery County Public Schools will be closed Monday. Offices will open on time, and staff should report as on a regular noninstructional day
Prince George’s County Public Schools will open two hours late Monday. .
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools will open 90 minutes late Monday.

PG pivoted to a closure this morning. I don’t think this whole list needs to be related every time someone asks about dcps specifically and someone makes the point that they do not have to worry about bus clearance.

The point is a whole lot of schools are open today. Some were open last week. It isn't just DCPS which has metro. Some schools have virtual learning. Many schools have buses running even though the snow hasn't melted.

People keep insisting that MCPS is special. That it can't open, that it can't do virtual learning. That its just TOO HARD. But these these other schools can't.

MCPS is the biggest county in the state. Fairfax county is also closed in VA. PG county also decided to close today. Stop bashing MCPS. Its not the only county closed. Yes private schools are open, lucky them. Not the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

I think about them every time someone screams that "it's impossible to do virtual learning" on these threads. These kids have had years of virtual learning. It's MCPS that finds it impossible to do anything.

If MCPS doesn't want to open until all the ice melts, and doesn't want to do virtual learning, it needs to start school in early August, which will be better for AP/IB kids too. Some schools in the South even start in July and get almost 2 months more of AP instruction than what MCPS provides.

It was the years of virtual learning that made us feel strongly virtual learning is terrible. Have some standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

I think about them every time someone screams that "it's impossible to do virtual learning" on these threads. These kids have had years of virtual learning. It's MCPS that finds it impossible to do anything.

If MCPS doesn't want to open until all the ice melts, and doesn't want to do virtual learning, it needs to start school in early August, which will be better for AP/IB kids too. Some schools in the South even start in July and get almost 2 months more of AP instruction than what MCPS provides.

It was the years of virtual learning that made us feel strongly virtual learning is terrible. Have some standards.

We've seen the good and bad of virtual instruction. If you want the good, you need to come up with a plan that addressees the bad. But some posters just want to ignore those problems, just like they did during and after covid.

[Anonymous]

For those comparing with other school systems, remember that other school systems may not always have kids safety in mind.

Look at when the bus in Frederick County got stranded in the flood several years back:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/school-bus-with-children-aboard-stuck-in-high-water-in-frederick-county-sheriffs-office-says/2789899/

Both Montgomery County and Howard County decided to let out early that day due to the heavy rain and potential flooding issue. But Frederick County decided to close on time and I remember initially thinking how it was funny how schools were let out for rain, where I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Then a couple of years before that there was the school bus accident in MCPS due to the ice:
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/ice-blamed-for-accident-that-sent-school-bus-off-road-in-montgomery-county

So I'm always okay if schools err on the side of caution for the sake of safety.

BUT MCPS could have done things better.

While I understand that the school system works as a whole and centrally, MCPS did make the decision just recently to close specific schools in the Damascus area while other schools stayed open:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/12/15/mcps-schools-closed-icy-conditions/

So it shows it is possible to partially close/open parts of the school system.

And the only having one snow day in the school calendar and no virtual day contingency plan, regardless of how effective it is, shows lack of foresight and planning from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This county is a joke

Blame your lazy, selfish neighbors for not shoveling their sidewalks.

I blame the parents who seem to think kids can walk in the snow to play, but can't walk in the snow to school.

Some of our kids were not playing, they’ve been shoveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a jerk who lives next to our elementary school who NEVER shovels his sidewalk. Not once in the 5 years we have gone to this school. Is there some way to report him or something if this is what is keeping schools from opening? He’s also the type who definitely has a gun and would be mad if someone came and shoveled his driveway for him.

For us the jerk next door that never shovels their sidewalk IS the MCPS school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

I think about them every time someone screams that "it's impossible to do virtual learning" on these threads. These kids have had years of virtual learning. It's MCPS that finds it impossible to do anything.

If MCPS doesn't want to open until all the ice melts, and doesn't want to do virtual learning, it needs to start school in early August, which will be better for AP/IB kids too. Some schools in the South even start in July and get almost 2 months more of AP instruction than what MCPS provides.

It was the years of virtual learning that made us feel strongly virtual learning is terrible. Have some standards.

It wasn’t years. It was a year and very teacher and family dependent. We had a good experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS teacher here. I really wish we had a few days of virtual school. This is getting ridiculous. And once we go back, it takes a couple days to get back into the groove so the first couple days are inefficient. I wish I could have done virtual for my AP kids. No one ever thinks about them.

I think about them every time someone screams that "it's impossible to do virtual learning" on these threads. These kids have had years of virtual learning. It's MCPS that finds it impossible to do anything.

If MCPS doesn't want to open until all the ice melts, and doesn't want to do virtual learning, it needs to start school in early August, which will be better for AP/IB kids too. Some schools in the South even start in July and get almost 2 months more of AP instruction than what MCPS provides.

It was the years of virtual learning that made us feel strongly virtual learning is terrible. Have some standards.

This would be a few days...