Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? School might be closed for a week. Your kid will survive.

They will survive. But it is neither necessary nor very disruptive. Why can't attendance and stuff be optional?

Usually because there are safety issues for teachers and staff getting to school. If I were a teacher, I literally would not be able to come in. No plows on my road at all. Tried to get my car out and it got stuck. My neighborhood is accessible to metro only by car (or bike, which doesn’t work in the ice).

I guess you could ask school to open and have voluntary attendance for teachers and kids, and then it’s not actually an instructional day, just a babysitting day.

But that is OK. If you can't come in, can some of the kids and some of the teachers who live nearby still go to work? This is how I grew up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? School might be closed for a week. Your kid will survive.

They will survive. But it is neither necessary nor very disruptive. Why can't attendance and stuff be optional?

Usually because there are safety issues for teachers and staff getting to school. If I were a teacher, I literally would not be able to come in. No plows on my road at all. Tried to get my car out and it got stuck. My neighborhood is accessible to metro only by car (or bike, which doesn’t work in the ice).

I guess you could ask school to open and have voluntary attendance for teachers and kids, and then it’s not actually an instructional day, just a babysitting day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? School might be closed for a week. Your kid will survive.

They will survive. But it is neither necessary nor very disruptive. Why can't attendance and stuff be optional?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not realizing that it's not just the streets; it's the sidewalks, too, for kids who walk. (Believe it or not, a lot do, at least at our kid's school.) Yes, I completely understand that residents are supposed to shovel their sidewalks, but that won't make them magically clear if they haven't, and a lot haven't. You can't just expect kids to walk in the streets as an alternative. (This is why I think the public schools, other than maybe DCPS, are going to be closed all week.) The sidewalk on the main road to our kid's school is now under about 3-4 feet of snow/ice from the snow plow, so there's no way that is getting cleared in the next week given the anticipated cold. Parents/school will get it sorted, but it won't be in the next day or two.

Do people realize how hard it is to juggle the children at home while working? Sometimes solo parenting?

Then take some time off. Problem solved!!

You know, the university requires professors to teach online. All the grant deadlines remain. Not everyone can take time off.

Find a babysitter. I’m sympathetic to your plight, but this is something many parents have to deal with. You can’t expect schools to open in these conditions for childcare reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? School might be closed for a week. Your kid will survive.

They will survive. But it is not necessary and very disruptive. Why can't attendance and stuff be optional?

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? School might be closed for a week. Your kid will survive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not realizing that it's not just the streets; it's the sidewalks, too, for kids who walk. (Believe it or not, a lot do, at least at our kid's school.) Yes, I completely understand that residents are supposed to shovel their sidewalks, but that won't make them magically clear if they haven't, and a lot haven't. You can't just expect kids to walk in the streets as an alternative. (This is why I think the public schools, other than maybe DCPS, are going to be closed all week.) The sidewalk on the main road to our kid's school is now under about 3-4 feet of snow/ice from the snow plow, so there's no way that is getting cleared in the next week given the anticipated cold. Parents/school will get it sorted, but it won't be in the next day or two.

Do people realize how hard it is to juggle the children at home while working? Sometimes solo parenting?

Then take some time off. Problem solved!!

You know, the university requires professors to teach online. All the grant deadlines remain. Not everyone can take time off.

Find a babysitter. I’m sympathetic to your plight, but this is something many parents have to deal with. You can’t expect schools to open in these conditions for childcare reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not realizing that it's not just the streets; it's the sidewalks, too, for kids who walk. (Believe it or not, a lot do, at least at our kid's school.) Yes, I completely understand that residents are supposed to shovel their sidewalks, but that won't make them magically clear if they haven't, and a lot haven't. You can't just expect kids to walk in the streets as an alternative. (This is why I think the public schools, other than maybe DCPS, are going to be closed all week.) The sidewalk on the main road to our kid's school is now under about 3-4 feet of snow/ice from the snow plow, so there's no way that is getting cleared in the next week given the anticipated cold. Parents/school will get it sorted, but it won't be in the next day or two.

Do people realize how hard it is to juggle the children at home while working? Sometimes solo parenting?

Then take some time off. Problem solved!!

You know, the university requires professors to teach online. All the grant deadlines remain. Not everyone can take time off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on a major road downtown (off 14th St) and it has not been plowed yet. In 20+ years in DC, I have never had my street still unplowed the day after a snowfall. It was treacherous to walk the fog this afternoon. And given that the alleys aren’t cleared by the city, I won’t be getting my car out anytime soon! Even if my block got together and hired a plow, there’s nowhere to put the snow on a ten foot wide alley. Ofc I can put my high schooler in an Uber but it’s not so easy for everyone to just clear it and get on the road.

So what about parents who have to work?

Don't have kids.

Yep I said that. I am tired of this crap.

You think schools do not want to be open? You think the county likes closing and hearing from you idiots? We had ice temps are not lowering it is not safe for buses and it won't be this week in many places.

Deal with it like an adult.

I think school closing for a whole week is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on a major road downtown (off 14th St) and it has not been plowed yet. In 20+ years in DC, I have never had my street still unplowed the day after a snowfall. It was treacherous to walk the fog this afternoon. And given that the alleys aren’t cleared by the city, I won’t be getting my car out anytime soon! Even if my block got together and hired a plow, there’s nowhere to put the snow on a ten foot wide alley. Ofc I can put my high schooler in an Uber but it’s not so easy for everyone to just clear it and get on the road.

So what about parents who have to work?

Don't have kids.

Yep I said that. I am tired of this crap.

You think schools do not want to be open? You think the county likes closing and hearing from you idiots? We had ice temps are not lowering it is not safe for buses and it won't be this week in many places.

Deal with it like an adult.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not realizing that it's not just the streets; it's the sidewalks, too, for kids who walk. (Believe it or not, a lot do, at least at our kid's school.) Yes, I completely understand that residents are supposed to shovel their sidewalks, but that won't make them magically clear if they haven't, and a lot haven't. You can't just expect kids to walk in the streets as an alternative. (This is why I think the public schools, other than maybe DCPS, are going to be closed all week.) The sidewalk on the main road to our kid's school is now under about 3-4 feet of snow/ice from the snow plow, so there's no way that is getting cleared in the next week given the anticipated cold. Parents/school will get it sorted, but it won't be in the next day or two.

Do people realize how hard it is to juggle the children at home while working? Sometimes solo parenting?

Did you have school age kids during the pandemic?

Yes, everyone realizes that. Just because it’s never happened to you before doesn’t make it a new thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on a major road downtown (off 14th St) and it has not been plowed yet. In 20+ years in DC, I have never had my street still unplowed the day after a snowfall. It was treacherous to walk the fog this afternoon. And given that the alleys aren’t cleared by the city, I won’t be getting my car out anytime soon! Even if my block got together and hired a plow, there’s nowhere to put the snow on a ten foot wide alley. Ofc I can put my high schooler in an Uber but it’s not so easy for everyone to just clear it and get on the road.

So what about parents who have to work?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are not realizing that it's not just the streets; it's the sidewalks, too, for kids who walk. (Believe it or not, a lot do, at least at our kid's school.) Yes, I completely understand that residents are supposed to shovel their sidewalks, but that won't make them magically clear if they haven't, and a lot haven't. You can't just expect kids to walk in the streets as an alternative. (This is why I think the public schools, other than maybe DCPS, are going to be closed all week.) The sidewalk on the main road to our kid's school is now under about 3-4 feet of snow/ice from the snow plow, so there's no way that is getting cleared in the next week given the anticipated cold. Parents/school will get it sorted, but it won't be in the next day or two.

Do people realize how hard it is to juggle the children at home while working? Sometimes solo parenting?

Then take some time off. Problem solved!!