Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has a fleet of over 1,300 school buses stationed across 6 bus depots. A school bus can be driven through 3-6 inches of snow. If we get 6 inches or more (Capital Weather Gang’s latest estimate is 5-10 inches), the buses will have to be dug out. That’s what took so long after the 30” snowfall in 2016. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to do that job — much more than clearing empty parking lots. If we have substantial accumulation, it’s the bus depots you need to worry about.

But the parking lots was their excuse for not opening child care last year.

What’s your point? A 5” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots. A 10” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots AND the bus depots, with the same manpower. That would take more time.

The difference between MCPS and everyone else - Private sector employers, county government, apartment buildings - is that everyone else pays contractors to clear their snow because they have a financial incentive to do so (if only to avoid lawsuits) while MCPS has zero incentive as they can just close schools indefinitely.

I am much more concerned about the ice/sleet than the inches of snow. More snow would probably actually be easier and less dangerous than this mix. It's not going above freezing all week. Power outages in these temps would be miserable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has a fleet of over 1,300 school buses stationed across 6 bus depots. A school bus can be driven through 3-6 inches of snow. If we get 6 inches or more (Capital Weather Gang’s latest estimate is 5-10 inches), the buses will have to be dug out. That’s what took so long after the 30” snowfall in 2016. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to do that job — much more than clearing empty parking lots. If we have substantial accumulation, it’s the bus depots you need to worry about.

But the parking lots was their excuse for not opening child care last year.

What’s your point? A 5” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots. A 10” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots AND the bus depots, with the same manpower. That would take more time.

Exactly. Unfortunately this area has neither the experience or resources to remove snow in a quick manner, and couple that with people nervous to drive or walk on any ice whatsoever and this is what you have. My deep south DH is always like why are the schools closed again, I thought this was the north and they were supposed to be able to handle snow...whereas I just laugh and say get ready for a week shutdown because it's like the south, we get more snow but not often enough to be able to handle it and it doesn't melt as fast as down south. Meanwhile my parents live in NE and strap on their yaktrax so they can still take walks around their icy neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has a fleet of over 1,300 school buses stationed across 6 bus depots. A school bus can be driven through 3-6 inches of snow. If we get 6 inches or more (Capital Weather Gang’s latest estimate is 5-10 inches), the buses will have to be dug out. That’s what took so long after the 30” snowfall in 2016. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to do that job — much more than clearing empty parking lots. If we have substantial accumulation, it’s the bus depots you need to worry about.

But the parking lots was their excuse for not opening child care last year.

What’s your point? A 5” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots. A 10” snowfall means they have to clear parking lots AND the bus depots, with the same manpower. That would take more time.

Anonymous wrote:I bet after all of this hand wringing and weather forecasting, the snowstorm will underwhelm and essentially be a nothing burger.

The snow won't amount to much, but the potential for ice is definitely strong. That's where it gets messy.

I bet after all of this hand wringing and weather forecasting, the snowstorm will underwhelm and essentially be a nothing burger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

Read more carefully and do the math- write it down if you can't do it in your head. The PP said 72 hrs after the storm. Which is not Monday. I think 72 hrs is pretty reasonable.

I think the other PP is saying those workers can't start clearing the snow from the school until the roads are clear enough for them to get there. Which is fair but it doesn't take 72 hours to clear snow from a school. 72 hours gives 48 hours for roads to clear and 24 to prepare school grounds. Ice can be impossible to clear whether the workers get there or not, but they can put sand on it which also can be done in 24 hours. They should hopefully be pre treating the school grounds today

I don't know, it takes way longer than 24 hrs to manually clear the parking lots, which they have to do because of the lack of snow plows.

That sounds like an issue of coordination with the county government.

I don't think the county plows do the school parking lots.

Exactly. If the county won't provide funding for schools to have snow plows or other snow.clearing equipment, why don't they use their snow plows to clear school lots?

One of the problems with clearing school parking lots is that people who normally park on the street have to find somewhere else to park if their street has “No parking during snow emergency” signs, so they park at their neighborhood school, figuring school will be closed anyway. Then they can’t leave the school parking lot until it’s plowed, but all the parked cars make it difficult to plow the lot. In 2016, MCPS was begging people to get their cars out of school parking lots days after the snow stopped falling.

So the county could plow the parking lots but it's impossible to plow them? Sounds like this could be dealt with with signage and coordination with MCPD. What's the next excuse?

Anonymous wrote:MCPS has a fleet of over 1,300 school buses stationed across 6 bus depots. A school bus can be driven through 3-6 inches of snow. If we get 6 inches or more (Capital Weather Gang’s latest estimate is 5-10 inches), the buses will have to be dug out. That’s what took so long after the 30” snowfall in 2016. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to do that job — much more than clearing empty parking lots. If we have substantial accumulation, it’s the bus depots you need to worry about.

But the parking lots was their excuse for not opening child care last year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

Read more carefully and do the math- write it down if you can't do it in your head. The PP said 72 hrs after the storm. Which is not Monday. I think 72 hrs is pretty reasonable.

I think the other PP is saying those workers can't start clearing the snow from the school until the roads are clear enough for them to get there. Which is fair but it doesn't take 72 hours to clear snow from a school. 72 hours gives 48 hours for roads to clear and 24 to prepare school grounds. Ice can be impossible to clear whether the workers get there or not, but they can put sand on it which also can be done in 24 hours. They should hopefully be pre treating the school grounds today

I don't know, it takes way longer than 24 hrs to manually clear the parking lots, which they have to do because of the lack of snow plows.

That sounds like an issue of coordination with the county government.

I don't think the county plows do the school parking lots.

Exactly. If the county won't provide funding for schools to have snow plows or other snow.clearing equipment, why don't they use their snow plows to clear school lots?

One of the problems with clearing school parking lots is that people who normally park on the street have to find somewhere else to park if their street has “No parking during snow emergency” signs, so they park at their neighborhood school, figuring school will be closed anyway. Then they can’t leave the school parking lot until it’s plowed, but all the parked cars make it difficult to plow the lot. In 2016, MCPS was begging people to get their cars out of school parking lots days after the snow stopped falling.

MCPS has a fleet of over 1,300 school buses stationed across 6 bus depots. A school bus can be driven through 3-6 inches of snow. If we get 6 inches or more (Capital Weather Gang’s latest estimate is 5-10 inches), the buses will have to be dug out. That’s what took so long after the 30” snowfall in 2016. It takes a tremendous amount of manpower to do that job — much more than clearing empty parking lots. If we have substantial accumulation, it’s the bus depots you need to worry about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

Read more carefully and do the math- write it down if you can't do it in your head. The PP said 72 hrs after the storm. Which is not Monday. I think 72 hrs is pretty reasonable.

I think the other PP is saying those workers can't start clearing the snow from the school until the roads are clear enough for them to get there. Which is fair but it doesn't take 72 hours to clear snow from a school. 72 hours gives 48 hours for roads to clear and 24 to prepare school grounds. Ice can be impossible to clear whether the workers get there or not, but they can put sand on it which also can be done in 24 hours. They should hopefully be pre treating the school grounds today

I don't know, it takes way longer than 24 hrs to manually clear the parking lots, which they have to do because of the lack of snow plows.

That sounds like an issue of coordination with the county government.

Not really. There are only so many plows, you want to raise taxes to buy more?

I mean how many more would they need? How many miles of plowing do schools represent compared to the miles of roads the county plows with current equipment?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

Read more carefully and do the math- write it down if you can't do it in your head. The PP said 72 hrs after the storm. Which is not Monday. I think 72 hrs is pretty reasonable.

I think the other PP is saying those workers can't start clearing the snow from the school until the roads are clear enough for them to get there. Which is fair but it doesn't take 72 hours to clear snow from a school. 72 hours gives 48 hours for roads to clear and 24 to prepare school grounds. Ice can be impossible to clear whether the workers get there or not, but they can put sand on it which also can be done in 24 hours. They should hopefully be pre treating the school grounds today

I don't know, it takes way longer than 24 hrs to manually clear the parking lots, which they have to do because of the lack of snow plows.

That sounds like an issue of coordination with the county government.

I don't think the county plows do the school parking lots.

Exactly. If the county won't provide funding for schools to have snow plows or other snow.clearing equipment, why don't they use their snow plows to clear school lots?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

There's a decent chance that buses will operate on Monday. They will almost certainly operate on Tuesday.

A delayed opening on Tuesday won't happen in MCPS, but a well-managed school district would be able to pull that off. There's no excuse for a closure on Wednesday. perhaps a delay to do another once-over before kids arrive, but not a closure.

It's absurd that some people think a full week would be reasonable.

I am no apologist for MCPS, but they can't control how quickly the county plows neighborhood roads. Even if building service teams clear school sidewalks and parking lots, it won't matter if streets aren't clear - and it takes Montgomery County awhile to get to every neighborhood. I was glad to see the message that went out asked people not to park in school lots so they can have clear parking lots to speed snow removal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

Read more carefully and do the math- write it down if you can't do it in your head. The PP said 72 hrs after the storm. Which is not Monday. I think 72 hrs is pretty reasonable.

I think the other PP is saying those workers can't start clearing the snow from the school until the roads are clear enough for them to get there. Which is fair but it doesn't take 72 hours to clear snow from a school. 72 hours gives 48 hours for roads to clear and 24 to prepare school grounds. Ice can be impossible to clear whether the workers get there or not, but they can put sand on it which also can be done in 24 hours. They should hopefully be pre treating the school grounds today

I don't know, it takes way longer than 24 hrs to manually clear the parking lots, which they have to do because of the lack of snow plows.

That sounds like an issue of coordination with the county government.

I don't think the county plows do the school parking lots.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering 14 inches of snow my prediction is:
Monday: Already no school(MCPS panicking)
Tuesday: No school
Wednesday: No school
Thursday: Delay at least(No school in play) (Depends how MCPS is feeling or how bad they failed)
Fridayelay is in play (School has a low chance of being off)

This seems like a reasonable timeline. Though if there's a total closure on Thursday, then that's a miserable failure on the part of the county and MCPS. Delays on both Thursday and Friday are understandable, but Monday through Wednesday should be plenty of time to clear everything.

MCPS has zero control of what MOCO plows.

Schools will be closed for a week and they should be.

The temps are going to be too low for anything to melt there will be tons of ice.

If you people can not take care of your own kids stop having them.

The complaints here are absurd. It's a snowstorm people grow up and stop complaining.

It's a snowstorm. Grow up and clear that shit up in 72 hours. It's not like we're asking for a 24 hour turnaround. 72 hours of cleanup should be more than sufficient. No wonder our government and schools are crap, people like you allow them to get away with low expectations.

All but two of the building services workers at my school ride public buses to work. Three come from far away (upcounty or PG). How are they supposed to make it in safely on Monday?

There's a decent chance that buses will operate on Monday. They will almost certainly operate on Tuesday.

A delayed opening on Tuesday won't happen in MCPS, but a well-managed school district would be able to pull that off. There's no excuse for a closure on Wednesday. perhaps a delay to do another once-over before kids arrive, but not a closure.

It's absurd that some people think a full week would be reasonable.

It feels absurd to pre-determine a reasonable outcome before the storm has even come?

Yes, exactly. Especially a week.