Anonymous wrote:I can't with teachers and FCPS employees anymore. It's not perfect out there but you can absolutely get to work! Schools are clear. Roads are getting to be mostly cleared. Highways are cleared. Please just be an adult!

Lucky you, living in an area that’s already salted and plowed. Don’t be a jerk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't with teachers and FCPS employees anymore. It's not perfect out there but you can absolutely get to work! Schools are clear. Roads are getting to be mostly cleared. Highways are cleared. Please just be an adult!

Yeah, I think you’re really underestimating how bad driving conditions are right now for many people .

I don’t think it’s a matter of just employees getting to work. It’s about whether schools can safely handle “rush hours” for busses, pedestrians, students, AND employees. As of now, not all schools in the county are ready.

This. Clearing out the ice is going slowly. My street was cleared out quickly but we still have areas near us that are unaccessible.

Anonymous wrote:I can't with teachers and FCPS employees anymore. It's not perfect out there but you can absolutely get to work! Schools are clear. Roads are getting to be mostly cleared. Highways are cleared. Please just be an adult!

Yeah, I think you’re really underestimating how bad driving conditions are right now for many people .

I don’t think it’s a matter of just employees getting to work. It’s about whether schools can safely handle “rush hours” for busses, pedestrians, students, AND employees. As of now, not all schools in the county are ready.

I can't with teachers and FCPS employees anymore. It's not perfect out there but you can absolutely get to work! Schools are clear. Roads are getting to be mostly cleared. Highways are cleared. Please just be an adult!

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Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

No

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

I don’t think the weather reports are predicting that anymore.

They are.

I get that you want 2 full weeks off but it’s not going to happen. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/01/28/another-storm-east-coast-noreaster-forecast/

“Accumulating snow in the Southeast and Appalachians: Snow will probably develop in a zone from West Virginia to Tennessee on Friday, before expanding into Georgia and the Carolinas on Saturday.”

“Snow in the coastal Mid-Atlantic, Long Island and southeast New England: From Saturday through Sunday, snow will expand northward along the coast, with accumulations likely from coastal Virginia to Maine.”

Too far north for the first group of scenarios, too far inland to get hit with a coastal storm.

In my neighborhood, it's more of a traffic flow control issue than a safety issue at this point.

All the roads through our neighborhood have a lane cleared / plowed ... but for many of them, it's a single lane, with thick snow/ice banks on both sides. No way for two cars going opposite directions to get past each other - one would have to pull into a cleared driveway or intersection. It would be a traffic nightmare around the schools. I'm not even sure a bus would fit around the corners between snow banks.

And there is no street parking. Most people here have driveways for their cars, so nobody is clearing out the street parking. The parking lots for our schools aren't big enough for all of the employees, so on a normal school day there's a lot of parking in the surrounding neighborhood. I don't know where they'd go.

I drove to my office today and the roads were fine, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere near the schools during drop off or pick up. The problem is, I also don't know when that can be fixed. Hopefully they can use the next few days to plow out wider lanes, but it's not going to melt off anytime soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

It’s a much lower risk than the storm we just had. The most reliable models have the weekend storm missing us entirely or getting maybe an inch at most.

In response to original OP - we don’t know. This amount of ice accumulation on top of snow is pretty unprecedented. I’ve been here for 14 years and the closest I’ve seen to this was the snow storm we had in 2016. We got a lot more snow with that one/less or no ice, but the end result was very similar - difficulty plowing, snow piled up in travel lanes, cars blocked in. I remember the right turn lane from the street I worked on onto the main road was blocked with a snow pile for weeks, making the afternoon drive home a lot more time consuming because everyone (going left or right from the side road onto the main road, or going straight through the intersection) was stuck in one travel lane.

Thank you for your reply. I guess I will just have to see how things go, and hope the snow plows can reach all the residential streets by next week!

The issue is that even the plows are struggling with the ice. It’s like moving cement. The temperature is not going below 30 degrees until Monday, and even then it will only get to 32 degrees.

We need a sunny 40 degree day to put a dent in all of this. That is not anywhere in the near future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

I don’t think the weather reports are predicting that anymore.

They are.

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Anonymous wrote:Does anyone think FCPS will have the buildings open Thursday and Friday? Since students are off, this would be the chance to get in extracurriculars at least.

Dr Reid is adamant the floggings, I mean PD, will continue as scheduled on Thursday, per the email staff just received.

As if there was any doubt that THIS is what’s most important to Gatehouse.

Yeah super unclear. It will all be virtual or just some of it for some people? Makes no sense.

There’s no way I’m driving across the county in these conditions for a PD.

+1 Hell no.

Everyone else seems to get to work ok now (and surely by Thurs and Fri), feds are opened tomorrow, private businesses, medical offices, County offices.

Seems like you're the exception and not the norm.

Asking teachers to drive to one location-- their typical location-- is reasonable. Asking teachers to go to their typical location and then to drive across the county to a different location is not reasonable when the PD can be done virtually. That's even the case when the weather is fine. There is no reason to have these central PD sessions when teachers are just put in a room with other teachers from their own school.

it is a good bonding experience

Bonding with our colleagues from our own school? No. We can do that at our own school. There is no reason to make us drive across the county to sit in a room solely with teachers from our own school.

It is a waste of gas, puts additional stress on roads and vehicles, adds pollution to the environment, is a financial strain for those who do not drive and thus must pay for an Uber, angers teachers, increases anxiety, is difficult for those who have child and pet care needs, and is a complete waste of time.

It's trauma bonding.

The best is when they have us drive to a school that's as far away from our school as possible, and in the opposite direction from my house, so that I get to spend an extra 1.5 hours on the road that day. And all so I can watch some central office person read me a slideshow that could have been an email (a useless one).

If I can get out of my driveway I'd be willing to go either to my school OR the PD, but not both. It seems like asking a lot given the road conditions.

This is true

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

It’s a much lower risk than the storm we just had. The most reliable models have the weekend storm missing us entirely or getting maybe an inch at most.

In response to original OP - we don’t know. This amount of ice accumulation on top of snow is pretty unprecedented. I’ve been here for 14 years and the closest I’ve seen to this was the snow storm we had in 2016. We got a lot more snow with that one/less or no ice, but the end result was very similar - difficulty plowing, snow piled up in travel lanes, cars blocked in. I remember the right turn lane from the street I worked on onto the main road was blocked with a snow pile for weeks, making the afternoon drive home a lot more time consuming because everyone (going left or right from the side road onto the main road, or going straight through the intersection) was stuck in one travel lane.

Would Reid restart school on Monday even if conditions are still unsafe? I get the sense that she’s more a political animal than a practical person, so I’m not sure I trust her to make the right decision.

I mean, she expected 12 month employees to report today, even though it seems it was not safe to access many/most buildings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

It’s a much lower risk than the storm we just had. The most reliable models have the weekend storm missing us entirely or getting maybe an inch at most.

In response to original OP - we don’t know. This amount of ice accumulation on top of snow is pretty unprecedented. I’ve been here for 14 years and the closest I’ve seen to this was the snow storm we had in 2016. We got a lot more snow with that one/less or no ice, but the end result was very similar - difficulty plowing, snow piled up in travel lanes, cars blocked in. I remember the right turn lane from the street I worked on onto the main road was blocked with a snow pile for weeks, making the afternoon drive home a lot more time consuming because everyone (going left or right from the side road onto the main road, or going straight through the intersection) was stuck in one travel lane.

Thank you for your reply. I guess I will just have to see how things go, and hope the snow plows can reach all the residential streets by next week!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

It’s a much lower risk than the storm we just had. The most reliable models have the weekend storm missing us entirely or getting maybe an inch at most.

In response to original OP - we don’t know. This amount of ice accumulation on top of snow is pretty unprecedented. I’ve been here for 14 years and the closest I’ve seen to this was the snow storm we had in 2016. We got a lot more snow with that one/less or no ice, but the end result was very similar - difficulty plowing, snow piled up in travel lanes, cars blocked in. I remember the right turn lane from the street I worked on onto the main road was blocked with a snow pile for weeks, making the afternoon drive home a lot more time consuming because everyone (going left or right from the side road onto the main road, or going straight through the intersection) was stuck in one travel lane.

Would Reid restart school on Monday even if conditions are still unsafe? I get the sense that she’s more a political animal than a practical person, so I’m not sure I trust her to make the right decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

It’s a much lower risk than the storm we just had. The most reliable models have the weekend storm missing us entirely or getting maybe an inch at most.

In response to original OP - we don’t know. This amount of ice accumulation on top of snow is pretty unprecedented. I’ve been here for 14 years and the closest I’ve seen to this was the snow storm we had in 2016. We got a lot more snow with that one/less or no ice, but the end result was very similar - difficulty plowing, snow piled up in travel lanes, cars blocked in. I remember the right turn lane from the street I worked on onto the main road was blocked with a snow pile for weeks, making the afternoon drive home a lot more time consuming because everyone (going left or right from the side road onto the main road, or going straight through the intersection) was stuck in one travel lane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume school will restart on Monday, but I am starting to worry with the way things are going, that not all roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, will be clear and safe by then. I am new to this area (from the South) and wonder how things usually work. Will local governments and school officials plow and salt all the roads and parking lots in time? In the past, how much has the community relied upon higher temperatures to melt all the ice?

Aren’t we going to have snow again this Saturday and Sunday?

I don’t think the weather reports are predicting that anymore.