Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:51
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:They should have been working on this all of last week. Clown behavior.
100%
But also if the county fined people who didn't shovel their sidewalks, we would not have this problem. I live in a very quiet neighborhood with no thru traffic and the Amazon trucks aren't usually out at 6:45 am when my middle schooler will be waiting in the middle of the street for a bus. That's not the case for a lot of kids who have to walk out to a main road with nowhere to stand but IN THE ROAD.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:50
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:"...whose owners chose to do nothing". This says more (in a bad way) about the Principal than the neighbors.
No, they are a part are the reason we are still out.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:49
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Op - you are comparing apples to oranges.
"A foot of snow in NE" is drastically different than 7 inches of snowcrete.
Mid Atlantic states don't have the resources. They just don't. NE states, given their consistent winter weather, do have endless parades of snow plows, dump trucks to haul away snow, a cavalry of workers and contractors.
The mid Atlantic, not so much.
Plus, ice is a different beast . I'd love to have a foot of snow instead like what NE gets.
Sorry but we do have the exact same type of snowcrete in the Philly area. Almost all went back to school on Wednesday (some even Tuesday). It has sucked every day with the narrow streets/snow banks and only ~80% of sidewalks plowed, but they opened up (even had virtual Mon/Tues for my one daughter). I do agree as you go up the coast the ability to handle the bigger snow storms is better, but Philly isn't super far away and also doesn't really have the big snow budget either. This particular storm was really mismanaged as other posters have pointed out.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:49
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
It gets more ridiculous when you find out LCPS and DCPS are somehow able to open as of today, in addition to all the colleges around here. FCPS is extra special when it comes to snow and ice affecting them.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:47
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.
That's what the parents pay 20-40K for.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:44
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
"...whose owners chose to do nothing". This says more (in a bad way) about the Principal than the neighbors.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:43
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.
I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.
We really do want the kids back in school.
But do you understand that you cannot clear all the bus stops in the county in a reasonable amount of time, and that while you do that, kids are missing out on critical instruction? In particular, high schoolers with AP exams in May, who need to work on the entire curriculum before their exam date?
As a Principal, can you push to have virtual learning approved for high schoolers in the future, if we ever get another event that closes schools for more than a week?
Thank you.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:41
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Just keep in mind that every private school in the DMV has been open since last Thursday. And yes most of them have buses too.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:39
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.
I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.
We really do want the kids back in school.
Thank you! i know you do!
Oh, sorry, she wasn’t posting directly here. You have a good principal. Treasure that person.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:38
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Ice and snow are not the same.
They can't snap their fingers and make plows and drivers appear out of thin air. For one thing, southern VA got hit with snow a few days ago, and plows went down there. For another, at least some of the drivers for VDOT are independent contractors with other gigs going.
Ice and snow are not the same.
Weather.com says that highs will be above freezing every day this week,(42 degrees tomorrow). Whatever equipment and manpower that can be deployed will be able to do more than they can in sub-freezing temps. However, large banks of ice will still be hard to clear, especially since we go below freezing every night.
Ice and snow are not the same.
FCPS is not all-powerful and has to work with the weather, personnel, equipment and supplies/budget that they have. This storm is not like other storms because...
Ice and snow are not the same.
Yes ice and snow are not the same but does VDOT know that? Whose bright idea was it to send pick up plow trucks and just clear enough for one car to be able to pass at a time. Were they not aware that we are going to have freezing temperature the entire week and it’s best to clear the entire road because it WILL turn into ice. Such lack of foresight and leadership by Fairfax county.
We had a plow truck in our street on Sunday and they kept clearing a narrow 10 foot lane instead of making sure the entire road was clear. Thats why the buses can’t go on our street and students can’t walk in the narrow lanes because they will get hit by a car. VDOT and Fairfax county clearly mismanaged this. We get it was ice but they knew that 10 days ahead and also had the entire week last week to fix it. FCPS has cleared up all their sidewalks and parking lots but they can’t clean areas that are not in their domain. I too grew up in the north and the county always had a plan for such storms but seems like Fairfax just likes to sit around and wait for the snow to magically go away.
It's not mismanagement to clear only one lane so emergency vehicles can get in and out. Clearing multiple lanes would have taken more than twice as long and left more neighborhoods completely inaccessible for longer.
I don't understand the need for so much control and perfection. Things like ice combined with an unprecedented cold spell happen and can't be perfectly predicted and mitigated.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:38
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.
I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.
We really do want the kids back in school.
Thank you! i know you do!
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:37
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should have been working on this all of last week. Clown behavior.
Who is they? Everyone but you?
VDOT for the roads and people who live in the area for the sidewalks. Totally ridiculous they were checking things out yesterday. They should have done that last Tuesday and come up with a plan instead of not educating 180,000 kids for over a week. Clowns.
So everyone but you.Might want to vote with your feet.
My area is clear. Fairfax county is clownish.
Giving you a couple options, complain on an anonymous forum until the rest of us become less clownish, or move.
Oh thank you so much
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:36
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
If Gatehouse were consistent in their rationale and decision-making process, yes, they would close for the rest or the week. Unfortunately, we know that’s not true.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:35
Subject: Re:There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Report from a real live principal:
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.
I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.
We really do want the kids back in school.
I sent an email to facilities about remaining ice in our parking lot where kids would exit the bus. Within 30 minutes there were contracted crews here working on it.
I’d like to see if I can get them to take care of the sidewalks of the few houses across the street from the school whose owners chose to do nothing. The sidewalks are untouched sheets of ice. That probably won’t happen which means students won’t be able to safely get to the crossing guard at the crosswalk.
Transportation supervisors are going around and looking at stops. They are working with VDOT to clear them.
We really do want the kids back in school.
Anonymous
02/02/2026 11:33
Subject: There will be no school all week - Here is why.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should have been working on this all of last week. Clown behavior.
Who is they? Everyone but you?
VDOT for the roads and people who live in the area for the sidewalks. Totally ridiculous they were checking things out yesterday. They should have done that last Tuesday and come up with a plan instead of not educating 180,000 kids for over a week. Clowns.
So everyone but you.Might want to vote with your feet.
My area is clear. Fairfax county is clownish.
Giving you a couple options, complain on an anonymous forum until the rest of us become less clownish, or move.