The 2-hour delayed opening was prudent given the windy conditions. I would not have been comfortable with my children standing at the bus stop in the dark under those conditions. However, the last minute decision created some chaos. For snow days, they usually make the determination at 3 am. The conditions at 3 am this morning would have warranted a delayed opening so not sure why the decision was made later.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS needs to make these calls before kids get up for the busses. Making the call after kids bus times is unexceptable!!!

Perhaps someone needs to tell the people who make these calls that middle school kids bus runs start at 6:00 so delay calls need to come by 5:00.

Whether the delay should or should not be is not the issue. How FCPS did it is the issue.

Completely agree. As if middle schoolers don't have to wakeup far too early as it is - my DD could have slept for those extra two hours. Instead, she was up, dressed, eating breakfast, and ready to go to the bus stop. Thanks, FCPS!

What bothered me about this morning was the failure of FCPS to acknowledge that it was late notice- and inconsistently delivered. Facebook at 5:49 am, but website and app weren't updated until later. Email came at 6:11, text at 6:12 so for 20 minutes I wasn't totally sure if it really was a 2 hour delay, and my middle schooler wasn't sure either. Yes, they are up before 6 and heading to buses soon after 6.

Someone was all over Facebook saying that it was the fault of the phone carrier that most people did not receive emails or texts in a timely manner. Clearly there was a delay in notification and I would prefer that fcps own up to that rather than blame my cel phone carrier that their website wasn't updated at 6.

We didn't have electricity till this afternoon so I was grateful to not have to rush the kids in the cold house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those trailers absolutely will jostle and have parts fly off in this wind.

The schools must have a plan to keep kids in permanent structures during wind storms?

Wind has to be at least 75mph for a High Wind Warning by the National Weather Service. Last night's wind was 60mph. The wind this morning is nowhere near that. If it were at the 75mph mark, all staff and students would be moved out of trailers to the main building.

Per Safety Regulation 8625: High Wind Warnings If a high wind warning has been issued by the NWS that includes a forecast for winds sustained or gusting in excess of 75 mph, notify teachers in temporary structures (parkos, modular buildings, or any other nonmasonry structures) to move their students to the main school building. It is not necessary to use tornado shelter areas. Any available rooms in the main building can be used, such as the media center, cafeteria, or gymnasium.

Which schools do not have power?

Guessing they didn't know there were power outages until 6 when custodians got to middle schools to start opening buildings. They scrambled to announce a 2 hour delay to buy them time to check out high school/elementary building conditions and figure out specific schools that will need to be closed today.

It was hasty and last minute, but I get it. Seems like they did the best they could in an uncommon situation.