Weather Tuesday? (Chantilly: apartment, bus, office)

[tgbwc]

We cleared our driveway too. We are on a side of the street that stays colder and doesn't melt as fast. We have snow for days after everyone else has melted.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

Coming from NJ, I can't understand why the county can't use road salt or other effective measures. There has been nothing going on all morning and it isn't supposed to even start doing anything until this afternoon. There was just a trace on the roads in the Vienna area early in the morning, and that's with the noisy scraping truck of some kind going up and down my street at 5 am.

I realize the conditions are different in various parts of the county, but that just leads me to believe the FCPS district covers an area that is way too large, having to take into account so many different areas when making a judgement call on weather.

This would have never been a snow day in NJ, but then again Minnesota looks at NJ snow days and thinks, "6 inches?? You call off snow for 6 inches?? Pansies!" =)

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by Alltheusernamesaretaken

Coming from NJ, I can't understand why the county can't use road salt or other effective measures. There has been nothing going on all morning and it isn't supposed to even start doing anything until this afternoon. There was just a trace on the roads in the Vienna area early in the morning, and that's with the noisy scraping truck of some kind going up and down my street at 5 am.

I realize the conditions are different in various parts of the county, but that just leads me to believe the FCPS district covers an area that is way too large, having to take into account so many different areas when making a judgement call on weather.

This would have never been a snow day in NJ, but then again Minnesota looks at NJ snow days and thinks, "6 inches?? You call off snow for 6 inches?? Pansies!" =)

I went in for about an hour this morning. A couple of other teachers were in too. My principal thought we should have been delayed. The parking lot and sidewalks were sloppy and you had to be careful on them, but the roads weren't too bad. If I had my rear wheel drive car out it may have had some trouble.
I used the rest of this morning to send some notes to parents via email. I figure I'll use the rest of the day to work on bubbling in scan sheets for grades and working on homework for a class I'm taking.

[robbobobbo]

Originally Posted by Alltheusernamesaretaken

I realize the conditions are different in various parts of the county, but that just leads me to believe the FCPS district covers an area that is way too large, having to take into account so many different areas when making a judgement call on weather.

This would have never been a snow day in NJ, but then again Minnesota looks at NJ snow days and thinks, "6 inches?? You call off snow for 6 inches?? Pansies!" =)

I agree, and am glad to be in Alexandria, not having to think about make-up days for a day of rain.

Would it be impossible for Ffx Co schools to operate autonomously in some areas, like weather-related closings? If it's only icy in McLean, why should students in Mt Vernon have to stay home, for example?

[car54]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Well, i learned a valuable teacher lesson today in the midst of my student teaching. The proper order is "check windows, check school closures, THEN shower/dress/make lunch/gather papers/run out the door".

I woke up as usual and rushed around getting ready for school, opened the front door and realized I should probably check the website. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I DID check the website...the only problem was, I leave for the school bus yard at 4:45 am...and they didn't decide to close until 5:00 am.!

As usual, I sat in my car eating my morning apple, but co-workers that should have been starting to stream in....didn't. I thought, uh oh, somthing's wrong. So, I tuned in the car radio (what I should have done when I left the house!) to find out we were closed. No biggie, I only live 6 miles fron the bus yard. I felt more sorry for my friend that lives in Stephens City. She leaves at 4:00 am and made it all the way to Manassas before she heard about it.


This was the type of morning that gives FCPS nightmares.....wet roads with temps near freezing. NOBODY has forgotten 2003! Same situation (except no snow in the forcast)....they decided to open on time. Then the temps suddenly dropped a few degrees and the roads started icing....and we wrecked almost 40 buses in 30 minutes!

I was one of them. I had just rounded the bend on Chapel Road (in Clifton) and started down that long, steep hill just before Frosty Meadows. The road was a sheet of black ice and the back end of the bus started to come around and I hit the guard rail with the right front. I got it straightened out and intentionally kept the bus scraping along against the guard rail allllll the way down the hill...snapping tree limbs along the way. I could have rolled that bus and hurt some kids! As it was, they loved it! One kid said it was more fun than King's Dominion! LOL

I don't care what the northern types say....I did thousands of dollars in damage to that bus and it just ain't worth it over a lousy 2-hour delay!

[stpickrell]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

I agree, and am glad to be in Alexandria, not having to think about make-up days for a day of rain.

Would it be impossible for Ffx Co schools to operate autonomously in some areas, like weather-related closings? If it's only icy in McLean, why should students in Mt Vernon have to stay home, for example?

For example, you could close down Clifton or Great Falls, but if it's better in Burke/north McLean, other parents in Robinson and Langley get annoyed.

I feel a little annoyed I didn't try to make it in, I probably could have done 8am to 2pm or something.

[tgbwc]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

I agree, and am glad to be in Alexandria, not having to think about make-up days for a day of rain.

Would it be impossible for Ffx Co schools to operate autonomously in some areas, like weather-related closings? If it's only icy in McLean, why should students in Mt Vernon have to stay home, for example?

I could see how it would be tricky with scheduling. Think of make-up days. Cluster V has used two days, Cluster VI three. Cluster I has one day to make up...

[finini01]

Armageddon is coming. winter storm warning. Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by finini01

Armageddon is coming. winter storm warning. Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Armageddon's ok. Just no more Snowmageddons, please.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

I could see how it would be tricky with scheduling. Think of make-up days. Cluster V has used two days, Cluster VI three. Cluster I has one day to make up...

More importantly, how do you deal with kids who are bussed across the county for magnet programs? Sure, the roads are clear in Alexandria, so open those schools--but what about the kids who are bused to the GT center there but don't live in the immediate neighborhood?