Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that there is a sense that no parent input matters. Speaking at a board meeting? The Superintendent filed his waiver petition before the snow was cleared off the playground so now it would require going to the state school board, and I suspect 1 parent of 150,000 is not likely to have much influence.

I'm so glad some of the greatest wo/men in history didn't feel this way!

Can you just be happy to spend an extra day with your child at home and relax? I baked and took my DC to the school nearby so he played in snow with his friends for hours. I value every minute of the snow day. You really shouldn't want to put the school bus driver and kids in danger. Many smaller streets were not plowed on Monday morning in Bethesda.

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that there is a sense that no parent input matters. Speaking at a board meeting? The Superintendent filed his waiver petition before the snow was cleared off the playground so now it would require going to the state school board, and I suspect 1 parent of 150,000 is not likely to have much influence.

There's one sure way to guarantee that parent input doesn't matter -- and that's to say, "Oh, why bother, parent input doesn't matter anyway."

I think the problem is that there is a sense that no parent input matters. Speaking at a board meeting? The Superintendent filed his waiver petition before the snow was cleared off the playground so now it would require going to the state school board, and I suspect 1 parent of 150,000 is not likely to have much influence.

Anonymous wrote:I think this latter point -- how quickly/easily the county decides to close schools -- is what annoys so many of us. They close schools and administrative offices without any real intent to make them up, they will just file a waiver and I suspect they would file a waiver if the schools had been closed for 30 days as opposed to 10.

Ok, so instead of complaining here, do something! Start a petition, get on the list to speak at a school board meeting...take some action if the way things are handled is of issue to you!

Anonymous wrote:I think this latter point -- how quickly/easily the county decides to close schools -- is what annoys so many of us. They close schools and administrative offices without any real intent to make them up, they will just file a waiver and I suspect they would file a waiver if the schools had been closed for 30 days as opposed to 10.

If you are referring to 06:03's point, I think he/she was referring to the period in the 90s when they had this split system.

Today, people criticize MCPS for waiting until 5:00 AM to make a decision. For example, Fairfax announces the night before, often before it has even snowed. I think today's approach in MCPS is much more conservative with regard to "let's see what's really going to happen." I prefer the 5:00 AM decision. It isn't ideal, but they are using the most data available to make the decision, rather than conjecture.

But I agree with you that I'm not a fan of having a contingency plan in place with no real expectation of implementing it.

I can't find the interview I saw with Starr about this exact question, but I saw it online a month or so ago. In the video/interview, he said the system did it before and it was a disaster administratively and the people were always confused. Busing was an issue due to the magnet/IB secondary schools. He was clear that he had no intentions of MCPS returning to it.

I probably screwed something up in my memory, but it was a clear "no".

I think this latter point -- how quickly/easily the county decides to close schools -- is what annoys so many of us. They close schools and administrative offices without any real intent to make them up, they will just file a waiver and I suspect they would file a waiver if the schools had been closed for 30 days as opposed to 10.

Worked for MCPS back in the '90's. Whenever it snowed, even though I worked in Rockville, Chevy Chase, or Bethesda, we would always say "what's it doing in Poolesville?"
In those days, I understood that there is a very complicated school bus system where buses start in one part of the county and end up in another as they make it through the HS, MS, ES pick ups and drop offs. Of course, that could be reworked.
I never agreed with the "what about if an employee lives far away?" reasoning to close schools. As an employee, it is my responsibility to get myself to work and to find a job that I could get to regularly. If I chose to live somewhere far, then I need to make sure I can get myself to work or face the administrative consequences.
Finally, as an employee of MCPS, I thought it was ridiculous how easy school closed. It really didn't seem right.

Anonymous wrote:I agree that they new to split completely. Not just for weather closures. Too many homes and people now. They just can not manage it anymore. It is so poorly run.

Would you like to back that up with some actual facts and examples?

Anonymous wrote:I don't see why they can't do a zone system for cancelling schools. Will it be perfect? No, but it would be better than what it is now. There's no reason why all MoCo schools should close just because some areas in the Northern part of the county did not get plowed.

You don't?

Start with all of the problems with closing now, times two.

^need not new

I agree that they new to split completely. Not just for weather closures. Too many homes and people now. They just can not manage it anymore. It is so poorly run.

I don't see why they can't do a zone system for cancelling schools. Will it be perfect? No, but it would be better than what it is now. There's no reason why all MoCo schools should close just because some areas in the Northern part of the county did not get plowed.

I don't think anyone has suggested that towns make their own decisions, instead what people noted is that in some states, like Massachusetts and Connecticut, schools are town/city based. That is not true here and I think that makes you the stupid one, or better yet, maybe you should resist calling names next time. Just maybe.