What do we think will happen on Monday?

[Anonymous]

Wednesday is looking bad. They might push to open Monday/Tuesday because of the inevitable closure Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can talk about optics all we want but I just saw a picture of the state of the buses in my school’s lot…. Still buried in snow, ice on the roof, etc. I don’t even know if that physically can be resolved by tomorrow morning.

This is a different issue than the one being debated here and is just incompetence if true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should be closed. We’ve only used 2.5 snow days. We started two weeks before Labor Day and are going until June 17. We can take another day off.

To what end? How does Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc. look any different?

Tuesday will be above freezing and sunny for a good portion of the day, which we haven’t had yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can talk about optics all we want but I just saw a picture of the state of the buses in my school’s lot…. Still buried in snow, ice on the roof, etc. I don’t even know if that physically can be resolved by tomorrow morning.

Then drive the kids to school. It is ridiculous to keep school closed when the majority can get to school just fine.

We do not prioritize education in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can talk about optics all we want but I just saw a picture of the state of the buses in my school’s lot…. Still buried in snow, ice on the roof, etc. I don’t even know if that physically can be resolved by tomorrow morning.

Then drive the kids to school. It is ridiculous to keep school closed when the majority can get to school just fine.

We do not prioritize education in this country.

If buses can’t run, schools are closed lol. You can disagree with that but it’s how it works

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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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?

Interesting. Military family here. We helped shovel neighbors out up and down our street. I’m not sure what you’re saying about community spirit, but I feel we have plenty to spare.

I have a neighbor who didn’t help at all. Should I disparage his entire profession? Or should I have neighborly spirit and recognize I don’t know his circumstances, so maybe I shouldn’t judge. Hmm.

Same.

Our neighborhood's military families, parents and kids, completely shoveled their sidewalks/driveways (full width to the concrete) and many of their neighbors. Even the 60+ year old retired military people shoveled. Our neighborhood with just a few exceptions, all non military younger empry nesters, is completely shoveled and has been for most of the week.

The military families I’ve met are like that - responsible, disciplined, helpful... It kills me that Pete Hesgeth and Donald Trump are currently their leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should be closed. We’ve only used 2.5 snow days. We started two weeks before Labor Day and are going until June 17. We can take another day off.

To what end? How does Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc. look any different?

Tuesday will be above freezing and sunny for a good portion of the day, which we haven’t had yet.

That's not going to melt the ice blocks. If anything, that creates some small degree of melt that refreezes on the sidewalk. Don't look to melting to be the short-term solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Lol

You are laughing about a 13 year old kid drowning when her parent's front tire hit the ice bank on the side of a bridge, launching his truck into the river below?

Not this poster but they are likely laughing at your shameless fear mongering and tragedy porn. Just a guess.

The post was hardly fear mongering or tragedy porn.

It is just sharing a common sense ice driving skill in response to someone talking about driving halfway on these ice banks. The risks of driving up on ice banks like that is common knowlege in places that get ice storms, but people around here wouldn't know not to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can talk about optics all we want but I just saw a picture of the state of the buses in my school’s lot…. Still buried in snow, ice on the roof, etc. I don’t even know if that physically can be resolved by tomorrow morning.

Then drive the kids to school. It is ridiculous to keep school closed when the majority can get to school just fine.

We do not prioritize education in this country.

If buses can’t run, schools are closed lol. You can disagree with that but it’s how it works

Right, because the people who decide are clowns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here. We haven’t seen a plow for days. The street next to ours is plowed much better than ours. We only have one lane cleared and the area where our bus stop is has 8 feet of ice. It is like all the snow got pushed to that corner.

Plows are ineffective at this point. You’d need heavy construction equipment to break through. If people still think school should be closed tomorrow, they’re effectively saying it should be closed for the next several weeks.

I can drive my kids to school and would prefer school be open.

I can still acknowledge it isn’t safe for kids and buses.

It is what it is. Things aren’t changing for weeks. Canceling school tomorrow would be irrelevant to a longer term solution.

I don’t think a bus could make a turn on our street with the mountain of ice. Add in cars on opposite sides.

I hope school opens but if they do, there will definitely be some bad bus outcomes.

Then they need to figure out alternatives. Mountains of ice will take absolutely the longest to clear. You’re looking at March.

I already said I can and will drive my kids to school.

My oldest is in high school. A decade ago, we had a huge snow event and school was closed for two weeks. Our street was cleared by day 2. Fcps said roads out in western fcps weren’t cleared.

This time, our street still is in very poor condition. Can’t imagine how bad all those other streets out there where parents probably aren’t on dcum are.

Our new governor is doing a terrible job managing Vdot snow removal. She must be too busy signing all those new taxes, which ironically will add additional taxes to home maintenance and yardwork, including snow removal.

This wins for stupidest comment. WE get it you're still hurt a democrat won.

Road cleading falls directly under VDOT and the governor.

She has failed at her first big test.

I would say the exact same thing if this happened a minth ago and Youngkin was still governor.

(Adding taxes to snow removal is accurate though. The VA legislature is adding taxes to all home maintenance, renovations, repairs, appliance repairs, landscaping and yardwork, including snow removal. Virginia House Bill 900. Google it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Lol

You are laughing about a 13 year old kid drowning when her parent's front tire hit the ice bank on the side of a bridge, launching his truck into the river below?

Not this poster but they are likely laughing at your shameless fear mongering and tragedy porn. Just a guess.

More likely, they think you are a sociopathic jerk.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know a lot, but here’s what I do know:

School will open at some point this week.

Many people will be super pissed off at whatever the decision is.

It will be a mess on whatever day & time students return.

This snowcrete isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The safe transportation of 180K students in a 3-hour window is vastly different than any of us going to work, the mall or a sports practice.

Have a great Sunday. Stay warm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We can talk about optics all we want but I just saw a picture of the state of the buses in my school’s lot…. Still buried in snow, ice on the roof, etc. I don’t even know if that physically can be resolved by tomorrow morning.

Then drive the kids to school. It is ridiculous to keep school closed when the majority can get to school just fine.

We do not prioritize education in this country.

So you think 1000 cars in the kiss-n-ride lane is a good idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here. We haven’t seen a plow for days. The street next to ours is plowed much better than ours. We only have one lane cleared and the area where our bus stop is has 8 feet of ice. It is like all the snow got pushed to that corner.

Plows are ineffective at this point. You’d need heavy construction equipment to break through. If people still think school should be closed tomorrow, they’re effectively saying it should be closed for the next several weeks.

I can drive my kids to school and would prefer school be open.

I can still acknowledge it isn’t safe for kids and buses.

It is what it is. Things aren’t changing for weeks. Canceling school tomorrow would be irrelevant to a longer term solution.

I don’t think a bus could make a turn on our street with the mountain of ice. Add in cars on opposite sides.

I hope school opens but if they do, there will definitely be some bad bus outcomes.

Then they need to figure out alternatives. Mountains of ice will take absolutely the longest to clear. You’re looking at March.

I already said I can and will drive my kids to school.

My oldest is in high school. A decade ago, we had a huge snow event and school was closed for two weeks. Our street was cleared by day 2. Fcps said roads out in western fcps weren’t cleared.

This time, our street still is in very poor condition. Can’t imagine how bad all those other streets out there where parents probably aren’t on dcum are.

Our new governor is doing a terrible job managing Vdot snow removal. She must be too busy signing all those new taxes, which ironically will add additional taxes to home maintenance and yardwork, including snow removal.

This wins for stupidest comment. WE get it you're still hurt a democrat won.

Road cleading falls directly under VDOT and the governor.

She has failed at her first big test.

I would say the exact same thing if this happened a minth ago and Youngkin was still governor.

(Adding taxes to snow removal is accurate though. The VA legislature is adding taxes to all home maintenance, renovations, repairs, appliance repairs, landscaping and yardwork, including snow removal. Virginia House Bill 900. Google it.)

The roads look great. Most of us have been driving since Monday. It was a unique storm in that you had to be plowing the same roads (and shoveling your same driveway) throughout the day Sunday given the non-stop, 12-hour sleet storm. Complaining about VDOT is simply whining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree it’s safe for most teens to drive. Parking lot space is reduced from snow piles - easier to bump a car backing up. Medians and corners are piled up - harder to see if traffic is coming when making a turn. Streets are narrowed / easier to hit parked cars or not leave space for another car. I AM NOT SAYING this should mean schools close mind you. I am saying I’d be wary of many teens driving right now.

How do you think people acquire skills to drive in bad weather?

Your teens should be out driving in this. The roads are safe to drive, even the unplowed ones, and perfect for learning how to drive, slow down, get traction, brake, turn and move on icy surfaces.

They definitely should be out learning how to drive along with how to park on an icy spot.

Unless your kid is prone to speeding, the roads are safe for teens to drive on.