Will DCPS be closed tomorrow (Wednesday)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A delay won’t do anything because of how cold it will be. Those two hours aren’t gonna make a lick of difference. If the city/DCPS aren’t ready by 8 am it’s gonna be another day off, there’s really no in between.

Except that a delay obviously gives everyone 2 additional hours to get to school. Think a delay makes sense tbh

If you need to build in two additional hours to get to school, that probably means it’s not exactly safe to do so. DCPS also is loath to delay opening because if they have to change their minds and call off they day, everyone will roast their indecision.

This all is going to come down to WMATA’s ability to get the bus system back online.

Doesn’t mean it’s unsafe at all. It means it takes longer than usual. Think that’s pretty reasonable in this case, but if not a delay, should open on time. No need to close cause sidewalks are yucky

+1.

My hometown in MA got more than two feet of snow and only had one snow day (Monday). Yes, they have more and better infrastructure than DC, I totally get that ... but they also got WAY more snow and are much more car-dependent. I've lived in DC for a long time now and there's this weird tendency to jump right to cancelling rather than saying, "this is going take longer or be more complex than usual, but that's okay and it's temporary." Why is that?

DC has a hair trigger when it comes to canceling school. People are always like "oh it's going to be so hard. how can we ever do this?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing. It’s not going to START melting until Monday or Tuesday. That’s a VERY unusual situation for DC, to have gotten this much precipitation and not see so much as a minute above freezing for a week.

If it was going to be 38 degrees tomorrow, it might make sense to wait another day, let stuff soften up and start to melt, send the plows out again to move the slushier snow, before kids are back. After all, to other people’s points, it IS pretty rough out there.

But at this point - by the time school starts tomorrow, 99% of streets will have been plowed and salted at least once since the snow stopped. People have had plenty of time to shovel sidewalks. Which means nothing else is substantively going to change between 6am tomorrow (Wed) and next week. So we either go to school tomorrow and tough it out or literally not go back until next Monday/Tuesday.

So I think we should go back (and I think we will).

I want school to open tomorrow and think it will, but the 99% figure is way off. I'd say 25% of Capitol Hill still isn't plowed at all, including streets directly adjacent to schools. The non-plowed streets aren't contiguous, so assuming the rest of the city is similar or worse, I don't see how we're to 99% by tomorrow morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing. It’s still treacherous and walking in the middle of the street to catch already unreliable buses with pk, early elementary kids is very challenging. Not to mention my kid has a broken foot.

DCPS should just call it. It’s some weird flex to be the last one when all surrounding districts have closed already. Keep parents informed and early so we can plan. It’s almost 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing. It’s not going to START melting until Monday or Tuesday. That’s a VERY unusual situation for DC, to have gotten this much precipitation and not see so much as a minute above freezing for a week.

If it was going to be 38 degrees tomorrow, it might make sense to wait another day, let stuff soften up and start to melt, send the plows out again to move the slushier snow, before kids are back. After all, to other people’s points, it IS pretty rough out there.

But at this point - by the time school starts tomorrow, 99% of streets will have been plowed and salted at least once since the snow stopped. People have had plenty of time to shovel sidewalks. Which means nothing else is substantively going to change between 6am tomorrow (Wed) and next week. So we either go to school tomorrow and tough it out or literally not go back until next Monday/Tuesday.

So I think we should go back (and I think we will).

I want school to open tomorrow and think it will, but the 99% figure is way off. I'd say 25% of Capitol Hill still isn't plowed at all, including streets directly adjacent to schools. The non-plowed streets aren't contiguous, so assuming the rest of the city is similar or worse, I don't see how we're to 99% by tomorrow morning.

PP here. That's just objectively not true. Look at the snowplow tracker: https://citizeninsights.geotab.com/#/dcsnowgov

More than half the city has been plowed in the last 12 hours. And for what it's worth, my street was plowed yesterday, and so is black on this map, but is "clear" (I mean, it's still rough out there).

There are very, very few streets that have truly NEVER been plowed since the snow stopped on Sunday night and are sitting under 8 inches of pristine snow and ice.

Now, the plows don't come for a while, stuff gets kicked up, especially by people digging cars out, so it's not like you're going to see a bunch of clear black pavement. But yes, I'm pretty confident that we'll be at 99%-ish by tomorrow morning having gotten at least one pass.

DC residents just aren't used to the reality of snow that doesn't melt in a couple days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

Teacher here, genius. Closed due to A. Majority of teachers living outside of DC with much more treacherous community conditions and thus, high rate of callouts.
B. Abominable attendance rates which matter to schools.
C. Bus route closures due to limited capacities and availability for completed routes which nearly half of students AND STAFF depend on.
D. As an ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT, students and staff walking to school in dangerous conditions. Once again, think about someone OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF for once in your life? The obstacles get clearer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

Yes let’s send out hundreds of 5-8 year olds out to climb over snow piles and walk down the middle of icy streets that drivers (many of whom are not used to driving in these conditions) are simultaneously trying to commute to work on….in 10 degree weather.

What could go wrong?

[Anonymous]

Called at 4:43.

Closed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

You probably thought you were joking along with the PP, but, nope, they were serious.

[Anonymous]

Closed Wednesday. Just announced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

Yes let’s send out hundreds of 5-8 year olds out to climb over snow piles and walk down the middle of icy streets that drivers (many of whom are not used to driving in these conditions) are simultaneously trying to commute to work on….in 10 degree weather.

What could go wrong?

Someone with a brain!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Children love snow! Playing, walking, sledding…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor just said all the crosswalks are blocked by several feet of snow dumped by the snow plows. So kids can’t cross over to the school. It needs to be cleared by a machine but that won’t happen. Is there anywhere to report this needs doing or is it futile?

I walked to the grocery store today, stepping over snow piles at crosswalks. I survived. Those piles shouldn't keep anyone from going to school.

These are CHILDREN. For the love of God think about someone outside of yourselves for once.

Closed due to children being unable to step over snow piles.

Step over snow piles? Have you tried to walk to your car yet? Or anywhere? It's kind of an unusual quantity of precipitation and exceptionally hard to walk in or around.

[Anonymous]

Closed tomorrow