FCPS Closings/Who to contact about this issue/What can we do as parents to solve this problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents can network with each other to solve these problems. Why not?

Exactly, find two other families. Each family is responsible for every third day off. To make it fun and community building, you can even add that one of the none off families is responsible for dinner that night.

Love this.

This does not fix the education issue though.

No kidding! Instead of bitching that FCPS isn't in the babysitting business, can we remember that they ARE in the teaching business?

These "snow" days have already wreaked havoc with my job. My bigger issue now is that my DC's math skill are tanking further. No, I am not a trained education professional. I do what I can, but a couple hours of my drilling DC doesn't make up for what he's missing in school. And if you think the time we've had off shouldn't make an impact, clearly you aren't familiar with how quickly some of these classes progress.

[Anonymous]

How old is your child PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child PP?

My kids are are in middle-to-late elementary and middle school.

[Anonymous]

Back to the original subject, I agree with OP that a concerted parental effort must be made to change the current weather policies (I should put that word in quotes, because I think FCPS is being arbitrary much of the time--literally responding to twitter campaigns).

One problem is, the parents who are affected most (FT WOH) are the ones with the least time to organize. And WOHPs who can afford on-call backup childcare might have the time but don't have skin in the game.

As a WOHM, I'd happily support any school board candidate who will take on this issue, but I don't have time to run myself or to manage his/her campaign.

I think FCPS does listen to parents, but it's parents who have a LOT of time to write, call, and generally campaign for their wish lists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has over 180,000 students.

The school system has more buses than Greyhound.

A couple days every year is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

This is true when you have a major snowstorm or event that really would bring even the most durable folks to their knees like the year of Snowmageddon. This hasn't been that. This has been a year of interruptions -- this past one for a week when you didn't know from one minute to the next what was going to happen when the snow event fizzled and kids used high temperatures to snowboard outside in hoodies. There is no excuse for this kind of arbitrariness.

And I realize I am in the minority in high achieving FCPS, but these kind of weeks are murder for my kid, an honors high schooler who really gets off track when there is no school and his teachers check out as well. Getting him back in the groove after all the time off, let alone to stay in the groove during the downtime is murder. I realize I'm alone in this, as most kids are getting homework from their teachers and staying in close touch with them via email, not to mention doing their sports teams workouts on their own, coming up with extra service work and cooking for their families, but it is what it is.

???? Does your DS have trouble getting back in the groove after weekends as well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has over 180,000 students.

The school system has more buses than Greyhound.

A couple days every year is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

This is true when you have a major snowstorm or event that really would bring even the most durable folks to their knees like the year of Snowmageddon. This hasn't been that. This has been a year of interruptions -- this past one for a week when you didn't know from one minute to the next what was going to happen when the snow event fizzled and kids used high temperatures to snowboard outside in hoodies. There is no excuse for this kind of arbitrariness.

And I realize I am in the minority in high achieving FCPS, but these kind of weeks are murder for my kid, an honors high schooler who really gets off track when there is no school and his teachers check out as well. Getting him back in the groove after all the time off, let alone to stay in the groove during the downtime is murder. I realize I'm alone in this, as most kids are getting homework from their teachers and staying in close touch with them via email, not to mention doing their sports teams workouts on their own, coming up with extra service work and cooking for their families, but it is what it is.

???? Does your DS have trouble getting back in the groove after weekends as well?

Not the PP, but part of the routine is weekends off, so probably not. Consider yourself lucky that you have such an adaptable child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has over 180,000 students.

The school system has more buses than Greyhound.

A couple days every year is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

This is true when you have a major snowstorm or event that really would bring even the most durable folks to their knees like the year of Snowmageddon. This hasn't been that. This has been a year of interruptions -- this past one for a week when you didn't know from one minute to the next what was going to happen when the snow event fizzled and kids used high temperatures to snowboard outside in hoodies. There is no excuse for this kind of arbitrariness.

And I realize I am in the minority in high achieving FCPS, but these kind of weeks are murder for my kid, an honors high schooler who really gets off track when there is no school and his teachers check out as well. Getting him back in the groove after all the time off, let alone to stay in the groove during the downtime is murder. I realize I'm alone in this, as most kids are getting homework from their teachers and staying in close touch with them via email, not to mention doing their sports teams workouts on their own, coming up with extra service work and cooking for their families, but it is what it is.

???? Does your DS have trouble getting back in the groove after weekends as well?[/quote]

No. On a typical weekend, he's on a more organized schedule because he usually has a sports competition and/or a practice so he has to organize his work around that. Teachers are also pretty good about giving homework on weekends, as opposed to snow days where, this week, for example, he had an assignment (reading) in one class out of seven.

Last year, a couple of his grades fell to C's in the second quarter after all the snow days. I don't want that to happen again. The fact that you have such a superior attitude about this suggests your kids don't have these problems -- if you even have kids, or more than 1. You might consider yourself lucky as opposed to be so judgmental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has over 180,000 students.

The school system has more buses than Greyhound.

A couple days every year is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

This is true when you have a major snowstorm or event that really would bring even the most durable folks to their knees like the year of Snowmageddon. This hasn't been that. This has been a year of interruptions -- this past one for a week when you didn't know from one minute to the next what was going to happen when the snow event fizzled and kids used high temperatures to snowboard outside in hoodies. There is no excuse for this kind of arbitrariness.

And I realize I am in the minority in high achieving FCPS, but these kind of weeks are murder for my kid, an honors high schooler who really gets off track when there is no school and his teachers check out as well. Getting him back in the groove after all the time off, let alone to stay in the groove during the downtime is murder. I realize I'm alone in this, as most kids are getting homework from their teachers and staying in close touch with them via email, not to mention doing their sports teams workouts on their own, coming up with extra service work and cooking for their families, but it is what it is.

???? Does your DS have trouble getting back in the groove after weekends as well?

Not the PP, but part of the routine is weekends off, so probably not. Consider yourself lucky that you have such an adaptable child.

I am the PP, thanks for this ^^. As someone who always got my work done as a student, can't tell you how challenging it is to have a kid like this -- particularly when I see how bright he is. It's nice that at least someone understands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm happy with the way FCPS has handled closures this winter, except for the Tuesday in January when they should have delayed or closed and did not.

I agree. Winters here are short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am good with how they have handled this year other than the day they failed to close but should have.

I agree. You are exactly right. I have been laughing like crazy at how angry some of these people are getting on here. The moms I know are also fine with how they have done things this year.

Also agree.

While the extra days home with kids have been exhausting, drive me crazy at times, and stressful to juggle, I understand that safety comes first and I also understand that they are doing the best they can regarding the logistics of our large school system and the unique weather patterns we have in the Mid-Atlantic region.

I blame VDOT more, there were at least 2 days that were closed because of roads left unplowed and the day school wasn't cancelled the roads were a mess because they had not salted or cleared anything at all.

The over reaction on here to anything weather related is tiresome.

Funny, I don't know any parent IRL who supports all these closures except one. And guess what? She's also a teacher. Shocker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am good with how they have handled this year other than the day they failed to close but should have.

I agree. You are exactly right. I have been laughing like crazy at how angry some of these people are getting on here. The moms I know are also fine with how they have done things this year.

Also agree.

While the extra days home with kids have been exhausting, drive me crazy at times, and stressful to juggle, I understand that safety comes first and I also understand that they are doing the best they can regarding the logistics of our large school system and the unique weather patterns we have in the Mid-Atlantic region.

I blame VDOT more, there were at least 2 days that were closed because of roads left unplowed and the day school wasn't cancelled the roads were a mess because they had not salted or cleared anything at all.

The over reaction on here to anything weather related is tiresome.

Funny, I don't know any parent IRL who supports all these closures except one. And guess what? She's also a teacher. Shocker.

And I don't even know one parent IRL who supports them -- and I've been around this school system forever. A reaction to stupidity is not an overreaction. It's a justified one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of buses and put the onus on parents to take personal responsibility for getting their kids to and from school. Problem solved, millions of $ saved.

plus a gazillion! I would rather pay for public transportation buses to take the kids than what is currently happening. It's absolutely ridiculous! I am inches away from signing my kids up to be homeschooled and I am NOT of the ilk that would have ever considered that as a viable option -- but I have had it.

[Anonymous]

We also need to have blizzard bag days -- a number of states are adopting this policy. Kids can access their school work online, teachers can access online.

"In early March, our Board of Education approved the use of Blizzard Bags, an online alternative to make-up days, as part of our contingency plan. Our Blizzard Bag plan was approved by the Ohio Department of Education. Upon our use of the three allowed Blizzard Bags, we will have made up calamity days 6-8 and will not be required to make up any days at the end of the school year, presuming no additional calamity days are used.

As the Blizzard Bags are being utilized later in the school year, some lessons could be extensions or enrichment of a lesson/unit from earlier in the year, perhaps going beyond what was possible at the earlier time. Some lessons may be introductory in nature and used to lay the foundation for a lesson/unit that will occur in the coming months. In the end, it is the district’s responsibility to ensure that there are appropriate levels of validity, quality and integrity associated with these online lessons or the hardcopy alternatives in the "blizzard bags."

Here are the details:

http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/Family-and-Community-Engagement/2013-2014-Calamity-Days/Online-make-up-of-Excess-Calamity-Days/FAQs

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and a parent and hate the closures. It is so hard for my own child having the break in routine and so difficult as a teacher to have the interruptions with my classes. Please don't stereotype all teachers as loving the snow days and delays.

[Anonymous]

Math skills are tanking just because of last week?