What was fcps thinking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow didn’t realize this was an issue. I expected to get a “school is closed/de,Ayer” text, but didn’t expect to only get an email, so didn’t check.

Anyway, glad I insisted on taking my HSer this morning because he was late getting out, and otherwise would have forgotten something important. I would’ve been pretty peeved if he had to wait for the bus in the cold. [b]He only wears a NF hooded fleece jacket over a T-shirt everyday[/b].

You’d be peeved if he had to wait because he chose to not wear something heavier?

Land the helicopter, mom. Are you going to attend college with him to make sure he doesn't forget something important or wear clothing that's appropriate for the weather?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Felt really bad for those HS students standing out in the cold unaware that their bus was 30 min. late. Those kids had on thin spring jackets, no hat. I was bundled and freezing in just 10 min.

I don't have a HS-er, but would have offered them a ride if I had known at the time that they were in for a long wait.

why can't fcps adapt their fuels/buses to cold weather? Anything above zero is normal/expected winter weather -- even in the mid-atlantic. This isn't -30 degrees we're talking about. 10-15 degrees above zero is standard winter.

Why can't people adapt to the cold weather? They presumably know from past experience that some buses have a hard time starting during cold weather, especially when they have not been started up for two weeks. People also know (again, from experience), that cold weather tends to be... wait for it... COLD. So they should dress appropriately and/or make plans to drive their kids to school on days when there is a possible bus delay. I for one appreciate FCPS making a call early enough so we could plan, and we just drove DD to school this morning, even though her bus was not listed on the FCPS website as delayed. No big deal. It's called personal responsibility - it baffles me that everyone always expects other people to be responsible for things that could easily be handled by stepping up and taking charge of your own life.

reasonable people "adapt" to cold weather by wearing winter clothes... that's true. But, I had multiple layers/leggins/jeans/winter coat/hat/mittens/boots on today with my younger child at the bus stop and it was DANG cold. It is reasonable for people to wait outside in the cold -- and prepare for that. But, when buses are 30-60-90 min. late, that is not reasonable. People have to be prepared for being in cold weather. Buses have to be prepared for being in cold weather too. FCPS did not take reasonable precautions to run the buses. I'm not a mechanic, but they are not doing enough. This was not sub-zero weather. This was just cold winter.

No, it is not reasonable for parents to have to drive kids to school when it is simply cold weather. If they say the buses will run, then the buses need to run. I don't want them to call off school. I want them to put the $$ where it needs to be. Cold weather is a foreseeable situation. They need to prepare better for it. It's their job to make the trains (or buses in this case) run on time -- or closer to it. No one expects perfection. But, this is simply a failure to plan.

If you waited 90 minutes in the cold for the bus to come, there is nothing anyone can do to help you. For the record, FCPS did get the maintenance people in over the weekend / extra early and somewhere around 95% of the buses started and were more or less on time. I would consider that reasonable precautions. What else would you suggest they do? I would rather that they spend money in the classrooms than on engine retrofit for cold weather that causes 1-2 days of inconvenience per year.

[Anonymous]

DP There's guidelines on how long to wait. 30 minutes is way longer than is required. Even my 3rd grader knows to check the time, which he did when a substitute bus driver missed a couple stops on his route in November. He came home, I contacted neighbors at the next stop after us to see if the bus got their kids, and then organized rides for everyone the bus. My other ES kid walked the quarter to half mile to school.

For once, I think FCPS did the right thing. It was cold, but not super windy Or snowy.

Still wondering if it needs to keep up the number of closures to maintain the modified schedule waiver. (Thought it was only good for 3 years.)

[Anonymous]

My sophomore said he was the only kid at his stop today. There's usually at least 6-7. He wore gloves, hat, ski jacket and survived. He was lucky though, his bus was only 10 minutes late. He asked for warmer gloves for tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Our school does not have enough lockers for everyone so hauling around the cold weather gear is tough.

[Anonymous]

The fact that there are only 10 late/breakdown buses today indicates that it is NOT an issue of "it's too cold for FCPS to have buses running" --- it's an issue of preparation. It's not a matter of money or fuel composition.

When a couple hundred buses can miraculously be fixed in 24 hrs. -- it's a matter of getting the job done 24 hrs earlier next time so kids and parents aren't put at risk waiting in the cold. There will always be some buses that fail -- but 10 is much different than 200. And when 200 can be reduced to 10 in 24 hrs -- then (a) great that they were able to fix them, and (b) it shows that the problem was fixable sooner.

We now know that FCPS IS capable of running their show in winter weather. No more excuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that there are only 10 late/breakdown buses today indicates that it is NOT an issue of "it's too cold for FCPS to have buses running" --- it's an issue of preparation. It's not a matter of money or fuel composition.

When a couple hundred buses can miraculously be fixed in 24 hrs. -- it's a matter of getting the job done 24 hrs earlier next time so kids and parents aren't put at risk waiting in the cold. There will always be some buses that fail -- but 10 is much different than 200. And when 200 can be reduced to 10 in 24 hrs -- then (a) great that they were able to fix them, and (b) it shows that the problem was fixable sooner.

We now know that FCPS IS capable of running their show in winter weather. No more excuses.

Exactly. Fairfax did yesterday right.

However, Thursday and Friday are still somewhat questionable.