Reply to Will FCPS ever Reopem?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FCPS covers such a wide area, it isn't fair to areas where nothing prevents them from opening. I say each school principal should make the call. Our area got dusting, not even a half inch of snow. Meanwhile, I'm paying for extra childcare costs, because I can't take leave last minute like that with all my afternoon meetings. [/quote]

+1.  Our daycare nominally follows FCPS for closures but so often, the roads are perfectly fine in our area while FCPS closes because it's crap out in Sterling or wherever so daycare will send out a notice saying they're still opening.

DH was shocked that FCPS doesn't split the county into zones for closures.  Back home (in the great white north) closures are called on a town by town or school by school basis since the county is so large, weather varies widely from one end of the county to the other.  [/quote]

FCPS alumna and native here.  This has been a suggestion since, well, 1976. The answer always has been and still is that precisely because of the sheer size and expanse of the county, this is not a viable solution.  Consider now that fewer schools are neighborhood-only schools/serve as SACC/Head Start preschool sites, are center/magnet schools/serve free-and-reduced price breakfast and lunches, are staffed with commuters. You'd have base schools open but AAP kids unable to safely be transported, or some siblings home and others at school.  Logistical nightmare for all adults involved.

Maybe, possibly a grid or area plan would have worked circa pre-1975, in the dark ages when most FCPS kids walked to school and/or could run home or climb a fence at lunch or recess to grab a forgotten lunchbox!  [/quote]

I would counter that, because of the sheer size and expanse of the county, the current method is not a viable solution.  [/quote]

[b]I agree.

Due to the size of the county the only system that makes sense is closing by cluster or pyramid.[/b][/quote]

Really?

Your assumption is that these decisions are often made based on one small area of the county that is causing closures for the rest of the county. Do you know for a fact what the weather and road conditions are like in Herndon versus Lorton vs Great Falls at any given moment? What evidence is there that it's typically 30 degrees and clear in one part of the county and 24 degrees and snowing with unsafe roads in another part (and it staying that way). This notion that there are these dramatic differences in weather and travel conditions in one part of the county versus another is tired and unproven.

And due to the size of the county (the 10th largest school system in the US with over 188,000 students in a concentrated area), it doesn't make sense to close by region (clusters have been gone for several years) or pyramid. Is your assumption is that every kid goes to school in his/her neighborhood or pyramid? If so, how would decisions be made for places like TJ or for centers where students come from different pyramids to receive special ed services. Currently there isn’t an AAP Center in every pyramid. If the AAP center is closed, but there are students who live in a pyramid that isn’t closed, will a parent have to take off for that one kid while their siblings go to school? Also explain how school would be staffed when many teachers live in one part of the county, but work in the other. Should a teacher who lives in Herndon where it might be snowing more heavily and where school is closed have to go to work if she teaches in Alexandria at a Rte 1 school where the snow might not be as heavy and school is open? And what about her childcare if her own kids’ school is closed?

The logistics and communication for that would be a sh*tshow. Some days, it's awful and unsafe to travel in most of the county. Who makes that decision about what's safe enough for one pyramid or region over another? There's enough second guessing going on already. Can you imagine the can of worms you open when you start making decisions based on specific regions? And yes, there are probably school systems that do make decisions this way. If so, please share which ones are comparable in student size and geographic size.

Are snow days inconvenient for many parents who work outside the home? Sure. And so is having a kid that is sick. Right now there is no other "viable solutions" to either of these issues. Kids who are sick cannot come to school and severe weather conditions cause schools to be closed. Both are about safe-guarding the well-being and safety of children. [/quote]

Then do it by cluster.  
Really fcps should just be responsible for funding on the county level and maybe special ed.

Everything else including how to use the funding and snow days should be done on the cluster or pyramid level.[/quote]

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