Also the highest parts of Montgomery County are about 800 feet higher than the lowest parts. So it might be raining in Bethesda and Potomac, but sleeting/snowing/icing in Damascus. And MCPS can't close just the schools at the higher elevations.

Anonymous wrote:There is a guy who makes a tour of the county in the wee hours and then makes a recommendation to the supeeintendant's second in command.

COO - Larry Bowers

Quit whining.

A lot of us have real problems to deal with.

Road inspections start at 3am. It's rare any jurisdiction in this area, where winters tend to be mild, are made the day before. So much can be cleaned up overnight with light snows and freezing rain. It may have seemed miserable yesterday, but fine this morning. Maybe Fairfax closed unnecessarily. You never know.

Plus, MCPS has 200+ schools it needs to clear, sidewalks and parking lots, to ensure people are safe. I drove into Rockville today and many sidewalks aren't cleared yet. Do you want your kids walking and slipping to school with already-crazy drivers speeding by?

And ice can be more time and labor consuming to remove. If they cleared it yesterday afternoon, they'd have to come back and do a repeat in the early morning anyway. That costs $$.

When I saw MCPS hadn't made a decision last night (nor PG) but DCPS had already decided to close for 2 hours, I realized that MCPS was holding off to see if they could open 2 hours late or had to cancel altogether -- a call they probably couldn't make until the increased/rain sleet predicted for the middle of the night passed thru.

I told my daughter to quit checking and go to bed, as it was unreasonable to expect that anyone would be making this decision at 2 am.

Sometimes you just have to live with a little uncertainty in life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to know why Fairfax County can make a decision at a reasonable hour the day or night before, but MCPS has to wait until 4:34 am the day of to post closures. I think they love messing with us.

We moved to Montgomery County for so many reasons, and the schools were a huge draw for us. Sometimes I wonder if we'd been better off with Fairfax County schools. MCPS = SMH.

Maybe MCPS wanted to wait and see what the roads were like?

In my experience, this is how the reactions to MCPS's weather decisions go:

1. [MCPS decides to close.] What?! Such bozos! Where I come from, there's real weather, and we never closed! There's not a fleck of bad weather in front of my house! I can't believe they announced the decision so far ahead of time! I can't believe they announced the decision so late! I thought that MCPS was supposed to be a great school system, but really it's rubbish!
2. [MCPS decides not to close.] What?! Such bozos! Obviously they don't care about the children! I'm not sending my child out into that danger! I thought that MCPS was supposed to be a great school system, but really it's rubbish!

+1

Grass is always greener on the other side..

Anonymous wrote:I want to know why Fairfax County can make a decision at a reasonable hour the day or night before, but MCPS has to wait until 4:34 am the day of to post closures. I think they love messing with us.

We moved to Montgomery County for so many reasons, and the schools were a huge draw for us. Sometimes I wonder if we'd been better off with Fairfax County schools. MCPS = SMH.

Maybe MCPS wanted to wait and see what the roads were like?

In my experience, this is how the reactions to MCPS's weather decisions go:

1. [MCPS decides to close.] What?! Such bozos! Where I come from, there's real weather, and we never closed! There's not a fleck of bad weather in front of my house! I can't believe they announced the decision so far ahead of time! I can't believe they announced the decision so late! I thought that MCPS was supposed to be a great school system, but really it's rubbish!
2. [MCPS decides not to close.] What?! Such bozos! Obviously they don't care about the children! I'm not sending my child out into that danger! I thought that MCPS was supposed to be a great school system, but really it's rubbish!

Of course not.

Anonymous wrote:Why, are you planning to second-guess the decision? I dare you to do this publicly.

Also, I instruct you to awake at 4:00 a.m. to investigate the roads and make a tangible contribution on the conference call at 4:30.

I am wondering if the OP's reasoning goes like this:

1. Starr is an idiot.
2. Therefore, every decision Starr makes is idiotic.

There is a guy who makes a tour of the county in the wee hours and then makes a recommendation to the supeeintendant's second in command.

I want to know why Fairfax County can make a decision at a reasonable hour the day or night before, but MCPS has to wait until 4:34 am the day of to post closures. I think they love messing with us.

We moved to Montgomery County for so many reasons, and the schools were a huge draw for us. Sometimes I wonder if we'd been better off with Fairfax County schools. MCPS = SMH.

Why, are you planning to second-guess the decision? I dare you to do this publicly.

Also, I instruct you to awake at 4:00 a.m. to investigate the roads and make a tangible contribution on the conference call at 4:30.

I would think the bus people have the most input..

Anonymous wrote:Or does the Board vote?

How and when do you think that the Board of Education would vote on this?

Or does the Board vote?