How many snow days and delays are we up to now in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where I grew up you followed the city your school was in. If your town was closed and your school's town was open and you couldn't get in, it was an excused absence. It really wasn't a big deal and happened only rarely.

As for transportation, I like the idea of simply announcing no cross-zone transportation provided for closings. (Of course the easiest solution is no cross-zone attendance to begin with which would mean restructuring a few magnets) Parents could take their kids themselves, transport them to a central pickup in zone, or take the absence.

It sure is nice to be affluent and be able to assume that everybody is like you, isn't it?

And if some poor kids don't get to go to school, well, they're not your kids, so who cares?

I'm not the PP, but what a ridiculous argument. Only affluent people want their kids to go to school on these fake 'snow' days??

Lady, I only get paid when I work. I don't have one of those 'cushy' jobs with liberal leave policies. If I take the day off, I do not get paid - end of story. So, these crazy excessive snow days have been a huge issue for my family. I WANT my kid to go to school. Please don't make assumptions that only the affluent have a problem with this system.

Yes, I understand that the snow days have been a huge issue for your family. And if your kid can go to school on days when the sidewalks and roads are not bad in your part of the county, that is definitely a good solution for you.

But it's not a good solution for MCPS.

As for the affluence -- I wasn't assuming that only the affluent object to snow days when the sidewalks and roads are bad in parts of Montgomery County they don't live in. I was assuming that only the affluent assume that of course everybody has a car.

You are arguing both side of the poors thing. First you say they don't have cars, but then you say that unlike in DC they can't rely on public transportation because they are too rural. So these people live in Damascus, send their kids to school in Rockville, and never leave their house? That's got to be such a small subset of the student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are arguing both side of the poors thing. First you say they don't have cars, but then you say that unlike in DC they can't rely on public transportation because they are too rural. So these people live in Damascus, send their kids to school in Rockville, and never leave their house? That's got to be such a small subset of the student body.

What do people who don't have cars (or don't have one car per driver) use to get their kids to school? School buses.
What do people who live where there isn't good public transportation use to get their kids to school? School buses.
What does the PP want to tell people they're not going to have access to, when the weather is bad in the parts of the county the PP doesn't live in? School buses.

[Anonymous]

The district hasn't been able to divide its territory because of the nature of magnet and special education programs. It's not the only large school district that has this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The district hasn't been able to divide its territory because of the nature of magnet and special education programs. It's not the only large school district that has this problem.

That's a small subset of kids in the MCPS system and not the reason it can't divide its territory. The real reason is that there aren't "towns" per se here. This is a county based system, pure and simple. If its county wide, the closings are county wide. If, however, we had towns here, the outcome could be different. One town in the county could be open and another could be closed.

[Anonymous]

Baltimore County schools has two zones that have different weather closing policies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe private schools only have to be in school 175 days. I don't know an hours equivalent. But it seems like many privates have days longer than MCPS elem. schools. Back with the '09-'10 waiver, the state said that the minimum days for public schools that year could be 175 and private was 170.

And, PP, great research you did.

Yes my 3rd grader goes 8-3:30pm. 7.5 hours more a week than public which equals a lot more days. We do have a slightly longer winter and Spring break but we still go to school more.

[Anonymous]

When we lived in NJ, they close by towns, not massive counties. And since we had gifted and talented classes in every school (invited by teachers) than no need for Wasted bus traveling for Gifted and Magnets schools.

[Anonymous]

Here we go again. WSW already posted for Wednesday into Thursday. Schools will close Thursday and Friday. Monday is already a day off. Good times!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are arguing both side of the poors thing. First you say they don't have cars, but then you say that unlike in DC they can't rely on public transportation because they are too rural. So these people live in Damascus, send their kids to school in Rockville, and never leave their house? That's got to be such a small subset of the student body.

What do people who don't have cars (or don't have one car per driver) use to get their kids to school? School buses.
What do people who live where there isn't good public transportation use to get their kids to school? School buses.
What does the PP want to tell people they're not going to have access to, when the weather is bad in the parts of the county the PP doesn't live in? School buses.

Because if you are in a Magnet or Gifted Center, any optional busses do NOT pick them up at their front door. There is some driving involved on the parents part. Plus, they need cars to get to school events as well. The whole "no car in a magnet" is not happening. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The district hasn't been able to divide its territory because of the nature of magnet and special education programs. It's not the only large school district that has this problem.

That's a small subset of kids in the MCPS system and not the reason it can't divide its territory. The real reason is that there aren't "towns" per se here. This is a county based system, pure and simple. If its county wide, the closings are county wide. If, however, we had towns here, the outcome could be different. One town in the county could be open and another could be closed.

+1

Oh, how I miss the many benefits of a town-based school system.