How to fight this new anti-childcare winter weather approach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So who do we email? Board of Ed? COO Mamoon? Taylor? Andrea Swiatocha?

Is this the right list of people to email?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope, it’s just people venting their anger which accomplishes nothing. But they feel better. Briefly. Rinse and repeat.

Advocacy starts with communication and translates into action which brings about change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, it’s just people venting their anger which accomplishes nothing. But they feel better. Briefly. Rinse and repeat.

And what are you doing here?

Can’t look away. It’s like a car wreck the way people fall apart so quickly and easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So who do we email? Board of Ed? COO Mamoon? Taylor? Andrea Swiatocha?

Is this the right list of people to email?

DP

I think this starts with organizing and advocacy. MCCPTA needs to work with providers to write a joint letter explaining that child care is important and should not be closed on a whim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do think a lot of the reason these conversations are so bad on DCUM now is the pandemic. There's a group of users who got so invested in yelling at parents who want their kids to go to school that they revisit that feeling whenever they can.

What kind of sickness motivates this? Is it SAHPs if school-aged kids who need to justify their decision?

If you’re going back in time to the mommy wars pitting parents against each other:

It’s the angry WAHPs who can’t contingency plan who are the problem.

See how that works?

Oh so it’s hatred of parents who can’t afford a nanny or one of the so plentiful private child care companies, or don’t have a very generous neighbor or grandparent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does not comprehend that workers at childcare centers exist and go home at night.

This is a dumb, lazy response to a legitimate concern. There's zero reason why childcare workers and their employers can't be allowed to make their own decisions about whether they're able to open like all other businesses.

All other businesses let the employees make the decision whether to open or close?

I think that a two hour delay for childcare would have made sense today, since there was nothing on the ground to clear. When there is snow to clear, my guess is that MCPS needs to clear high school parking lots first before moving equipment to elementary schools. They can't open a building until that happens. So, I can imagine days when it's safe to open high schools at 9:40, but not safe to open early care at 10:00, because elementary lots aren't clear.

I don't think either MCPS or the childcare programs are motivated by the wellbeing of their employees when they make the call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, it’s just people venting their anger which accomplishes nothing. But they feel better. Briefly. Rinse and repeat.

And what are you doing here?

Can’t look away. It’s like a car wreck the way people fall apart so quickly and easily.

Isn't that kind of a sad way to spend your time - taking joy in other people venting about a genuinely frustrating situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does not comprehend that workers at childcare centers exist and go home at night.

This is a dumb, lazy response to a legitimate concern. There's zero reason why childcare workers and their employers can't be allowed to make their own decisions about whether they're able to open like all other businesses.

All other businesses let the employees make the decision whether to open or close?

I think that a two hour delay for childcare would have made sense today, since there was nothing on the ground to clear. When there is snow to clear, my guess is that MCPS needs to clear high school parking lots first before moving equipment to elementary schools. They can't open a building until that happens. So, I can imagine days when it's safe to open high schools at 9:40, but not safe to open early care at 10:00, because elementary lots aren't clear.

I don't think either MCPS or the childcare programs are motivated by the wellbeing of their employees when they make the call.

In the past they have always allowed child care providers to operate normally when admin offices are open. They did this without incident. This isn't complicated. This is an intentional choice MCPS is making and they aren't explaining why, in fact there was a ton of confusion this morning. They clearly have a new policy, aren't explaining it or even staying it ahead of time before providers have to scramble to figure out wtf is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does not comprehend that workers at childcare centers exist and go home at night.

That's a decision for their employers to make, not for MCPS to force upon private child care providers. In the past, some opened and some did not, based on local conditions and staffing capacity. It is ridiculous and offensive for MCPS to force this in a top down manner.

They aren’t “private childcare providers.” They operate under the auspices of the school district. You’re welcome to pay more and arrange daily transportation for your kid to ACTUAL private childcare providers offsite if you want different weather policies. 🤷‍♀️

Stop lying. They are private providers who rent space from MCPS.

So MCPS decides how/when the space will be available. Private providers using public buildings for their private businesses - and their customers - should understand this.

I would be annoyed at the change in policy from previous years. Why did they change it?

Because Thomas Taylor hates working moms

Nope. Just you insufferable c*nts

You deserve to spend your final years lying in your own feces in an understaffed nursing home

Oh, it’s you again, from the Amtrak threads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So who do we email? Board of Ed? COO Mamoon? Taylor? Andrea Swiatocha?

Is this the right list of people to email?

I emailed Taylor and the BOE. In hindsight I should have included Jawando and Mink as they are on the education committee of County Council

I also want to know what the contracts that these providers have with MCPS actually says about delays and such. They pay MCPS to rent the space and in turn parents pay the providers. I want a discount if I can’t get the before care according to the contracts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes!!! We also have a in-school before/aftercare childcare provider that planned to open at their discretion but was forbidden by MCPS.
Our elementary school doesn’t open its doors until 9:05 so with a two hour delay that is 11:05 (with 11:25 start time). All out of “an abundance of caution” for a tiny part of this huge county.

OP (and I) are not asking for MCPS to FORCE before-school care to be open. We are asking them to ALLOW these businesses who operate within the building to use their own discretion about whether to open (I.e. on a two-hour delay from their normal hours) based on what they know about the safety and availability of their staff. Especially on the context of MCPS acknowledging that they are making decisions for a vast area and are often taking closure actions that are completely unnecessary in most of the county.

This also worked for years. This is a new policy. There was no disaster when the childcare companies and their employers figured it out.

There was still a lot of moaning and complaining from parents here when the businesses closed.

Are you talking about the pandemic when MCPS forced childcare providers to stay closed for 5 months while the state was begging child care providers to open for essential workers?

To be fair, it was initially Elrich that prevented child care operators from reopening, not MCPS. The county was threatening child care operators that attempted to reopen.

No, it was MCPS that forced child care providers to stay closed for 5 months, stop rewriting history

I said "initially."

First the state closed child care operators at the start of the shutdown. A couple weeks later, they created a path for providers to apply to become essential-worker child care providers, with special requirements, administrative/approval processes, which were obligated to take on kids of essential workers even if they weren't their initial clients. This was a messy process, and there were extended periods of time when the state was not processing these applications.

Late spring, the state removed the prohibitions that prevented normal, licensed child care providers from operating. However, Montgomery County maintained they still could not operate here. And with the state ending the special process for essential-worker childcare providers (since it wasn't needed anymore- any licensed provider could reopen), there was a a period of time when there was no path for a child care provider to reopen in Montgomery County.

This was worked out, mostly, over the summer. At that point, programs operating out of MCPS facilities could have reopened, but MCPS preventing them from doing so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's on MCPS property and MCPS made a call that it is not safe to be on its property or that it isn't going to be ready to open until later, then it's MCPS's call. If there were an accident, you'd certainly want to hold MCPS responsible. So, the flip side is that MCPS has to make these types of decisions. Honestly, I will never get why people who are so reliant on childcare use the childcare at the schools knowing that the school system controls when they open and close when there are other options that are more reliable in bad weather.

But it’s safe for HS kids to walk on the same streets to catch their bus at the same time they’re forcing before care to be closed?!?

[Anonymous]

Karens Karening in real time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP does not comprehend that workers at childcare centers exist and go home at night.

That's a decision for their employers to make, not for MCPS to force upon private child care providers. In the past, some opened and some did not, based on local conditions and staffing capacity. It is ridiculous and offensive for MCPS to force this in a top down manner.

They aren’t “private childcare providers.” They operate under the auspices of the school district. You’re welcome to pay more and arrange daily transportation for your kid to ACTUAL private childcare providers offsite if you want different weather policies. 🤷‍♀️

Stop lying. They are private providers who rent space from MCPS.

So MCPS decides how/when the space will be available. Private providers using public buildings for their private businesses - and their customers - should understand this.

I would be annoyed at the change in policy from previous years. Why did they change it?

Because Thomas Taylor hates working moms

Nope. Just you insufferable c*nts

You deserve to spend your final years lying in your own feces in an understaffed nursing home

+1. And get used to the idea that mothers work, too. It isn't the 1950s anymore, boomer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes!!! We also have a in-school before/aftercare childcare provider that planned to open at their discretion but was forbidden by MCPS.
Our elementary school doesn’t open its doors until 9:05 so with a two hour delay that is 11:05 (with 11:25 start time). All out of “an abundance of caution” for a tiny part of this huge county.

OP (and I) are not asking for MCPS to FORCE before-school care to be open. We are asking them to ALLOW these businesses who operate within the building to use their own discretion about whether to open (I.e. on a two-hour delay from their normal hours) based on what they know about the safety and availability of their staff. Especially on the context of MCPS acknowledging that they are making decisions for a vast area and are often taking closure actions that are completely unnecessary in most of the county.

This also worked for years. This is a new policy. There was no disaster when the childcare companies and their employers figured it out.

There was still a lot of moaning and complaining from parents here when the businesses closed.

Are you talking about the pandemic when MCPS forced childcare providers to stay closed for 5 months while the state was begging child care providers to open for essential workers?

To be fair, it was initially Elrich that prevented child care operators from reopening, not MCPS. The county was threatening child care operators that attempted to reopen.

No, it was MCPS that forced child care providers to stay closed for 5 months, stop rewriting history

I said "initially."

First the state closed child care operators at the start of the shutdown. A couple weeks later, they created a path for providers to apply to become essential-worker child care providers, with special requirements, administrative/approval processes, which were obligated to take on kids of essential workers even if they weren't their initial clients. This was a messy process, and there were extended periods of time when the state was not processing these applications.

Late spring, the state removed the prohibitions that prevented normal, licensed child care providers from operating. However, Montgomery County maintained they still could not operate here. And with the state ending the special process for essential-worker childcare providers (since it wasn't needed anymore- any licensed provider could reopen), there was a a period of time when there was no path for a child care provider to reopen in Montgomery County.

This was worked out, mostly, over the summer. At that point, programs operating out of MCPS facilities could have reopened, but MCPS preventing them from doing so.

Thank you for explaining that MCPS was responsible for keeping child care providers closed until the fall. They only reopened them because the providers and parents organized and advocated for reopening.