There will be no school all week - Here is why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drove past LBSS this weekend and there are completely uncleared sidewalks typically used by walkers.

Not sure how this is supposed to work.

yes, saw it sunday, kids will be in the street. This is the largest school in VA and all the sidewalks surrounding the school are super high. No clearing at bus stops in our neighborhood. Driveways pristine, but sidewalks untouched all throughout.

So unsafe. Kids should be back in school, but how can they walk with no clearing?

The Lake Braddock neighborhood put together a clean up crew of parents. Cleared the sidewalk on Lake Braddock Drive from Burke Rd to Burke Lake Rd. Then, went back into the side streets and cleared out bus stops. The school has cleared the blacktop for students to park because there is no street parking. But, that is just one school and a huge, organized effort from the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"...whose owners chose to do nothing". This says more (in a bad way) about the Principal than the neighbors.

FCPS principals put up with a lot. I’m fine with the comment.

If principals really wanted to be proactive they could have asked people to come out and help clear the sidewalks if they were able. I know our school’s parents would have pitched in. But that would require thinking and creativity, and FCPS lacks that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My bet for the entire area (my kids are in MCPS) is that they'll open sometime this week and ignore all the reasons they stated for not opening on time before, because they will have faced so much backlash from the community. Conditions re ice and snow will stay largely the same, but schools will claim that "snowplows have made good progress and buses can now drive down side streets", even though NOTHING WILL HAVE CHANGED.

So I predict a whole lot of gaslighting.

It's the FCPS way.....you should be a teacher in this county the gaslighting we deal with is award winning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It gets more ridiculous when you find out LCPS and DCPS are somehow able to open as of today, in addition to all the colleges around here. FCPS is extra special when it comes to snow and ice affecting them.

Frustrating given all the taxes Ffx County collects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't parents drive kids if they can't walk?? It seems my options are to either take off an entire day of work and stay home with my kids, or drive them to school. I think all working parents will choose #2.

I get that school isn't childcare, but schools need to understand that parents have to work.

Longfellow Middle School has almost 1600 kids. Not possible for 1600 cars to be dropping off kids. Now, imagine ALL the schools doing that... Also, not all parents have cars. Fairfax is 405 square miles.

Yes it is possible.

Some other options if parents can't drive
-designated bus stops where parents have to get the kids there
-ask a neighbor
-kids walk
-excused absence
-city bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

Short buses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ice and snow are not the same.

They can't snap their fingers and make plows and drivers appear out of thin air. For one thing, southern VA got hit with snow a few days ago, and plows went down there. For another, at least some of the drivers for VDOT are independent contractors with other gigs going.

Ice and snow are not the same.

Weather.com says that highs will be above freezing every day this week,(42 degrees tomorrow). Whatever equipment and manpower that can be deployed will be able to do more than they can in sub-freezing temps. However, large banks of ice will still be hard to clear, especially since we go below freezing every night.

Ice and snow are not the same.

FCPS is not all-powerful and has to work with the weather, personnel, equipment and supplies/budget that they have. This storm is not like other storms because...

Ice and snow are not the same.

Yes ice and snow are not the same but does VDOT know that? Whose bright idea was it to send pick up plow trucks and just clear enough for one car to be able to pass at a time. Were they not aware that we are going to have freezing temperature the entire week and it’s best to clear the entire road because it WILL turn into ice. Such lack of foresight and leadership by Fairfax county.

We had a plow truck in our street on Sunday and they kept clearing a narrow 10 foot lane instead of making sure the entire road was clear. Thats why the buses can’t go on our street and students can’t walk in the narrow lanes because they will get hit by a car. VDOT and Fairfax county clearly mismanaged this. We get it was ice but they knew that 10 days ahead and also had the entire week last week to fix it. FCPS has cleared up all their sidewalks and parking lots but they can’t clean areas that are not in their domain. I too grew up in the north and the county always had a plan for such storms but seems like Fairfax just likes to sit around and wait for the snow to magically go away.

It's not mismanagement to clear only one lane so emergency vehicles can get in and out. Clearing multiple lanes would have taken more than twice as long and left more neighborhoods completely inaccessible for longer.

I don't understand the need for so much control and perfection. Things like ice combined with an unprecedented cold spell happen and can't be perfectly predicted and mitigated.

In 2009 they cleared my street by plowing the piles of snow into my front yard, the salt killed my tree. I'd rather it sit in the street to melt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

That's what the parents pay 20-40K for.

It’s closer to 60k but same point. And seems more and more to be worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

Short buses.

Nope. Try again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.

I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.

Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.

We really do want the kids back in school.

But do you understand that you cannot clear all the bus stops in the county in a reasonable amount of time, and that while you do that, kids are missing out on critical instruction? In particular, high schoolers with AP exams in May, who need to work on the entire curriculum before their exam date?

As a Principal, can you push to have virtual learning approved for high schoolers in the future, if we ever get another event that closes schools for more than a week?

Thank you.

LOL my son took five AP classes all but one class was independent reading and learning. Have him read and study. There is not much critical instruction going on in FCPS high schools these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should cone off the entire side of a street near a school that doesn’t have available sidewalks, kind of like a bike lane or when there is a road race. If there isn’t a clear area for kids to walk in front of the schools and the road is the only option, make a barricade.

At Justice there is hardly enough room for cars and pedestrians when there is no snow. (FCPS tried to widen the street but the neighbors said no because extra pavement would lead to global warming.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.

I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.

Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.

We really do want the kids back in school.

But do you understand that you cannot clear all the bus stops in the county in a reasonable amount of time, and that while you do that, kids are missing out on critical instruction? In particular, high schoolers with AP exams in May, who need to work on the entire curriculum before their exam date?

As a Principal, can you push to have virtual learning approved for high schoolers in the future, if we ever get another event that closes schools for more than a week?

Thank you.

LOL my son took five AP classes all but one class was independent reading and learning. Have him read and study. There is not much critical instruction going on in FCPS high schools these days.

This just isn't true for STEM APs. It just isn't. I will grant that it's easier to do for stuff like APUSH, but even then, if kids want a 5 on the exam, they need instruction and practice on formatting their answers to fit the specific College Board requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should have been working on this all of last week. Clown behavior.

You are the one who actually sound like a clown, who just expecting the magic, not having basic understanding that thing has procedure and resources are very limited.

I saw a buldozer near Columbia pike intersection, they are scooping the ice mountain and move it to the dump truck.
That procedure is very slow, only to move just an iota, and their presence is adding more traffic to the already distressed road conditions.

But sure, “they” should have been working last week so all today is nice and clear.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a neighbor is out of town, or is sick, dealing with cancer, doesn't have a shovel to chop the ice, or elderly (Principal admits it's a sheet of ice), etc. The comment "chose" heavily implies that the neighbors had a choice to clear but didn't because they don't feel like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.

I might be wrong, but don’t a lot of private school busses pick up at a few centrally located stops? Like shopping centers? Churches? Don’t the kids get rides to the stops? The kids are not trekking over snow/ice mounds to wait for their busses.