Photo by María Helena Carey
Really, DCPS? A two hour delay today? What. The. Hell?
I’m done. I’ve been defending our fair city to anyone who would listen and explaining that DC does not shut down in winter. That our school system is living proof that DC can still function with a little snow. That while our suburban neighbors recoil at the mere whiff of a snowflake, DC Public Schools stay strong. But you’ve embarrassed me with this one. They were right, I was wrong; apparently, DC just can’t handle the winter. You’re on your own, guys.
DCPS has historically been predisposed to keep schools open. We don’t rely upon school buses (outside of special ed kids) to get our children to school; and most kids walk, bike, or take public transportation. We don’t have far flung rural areas, like, for example, Montgomery County, that get considerably more snow than we do. So it is easier for us to keep our schools running.
Also, the downside of closing can be greater for city residents. We have a special challenge of large numbers of children who depend upon schools for breakfast and lunch. Furthermore (and this problem isn’t unique to DC), we have many children whose parents both work or who come from single-parent households. Closing or delaying schools can have ripple effects that disrupt thousands of households.
Which is not to say we shouldn’t take safety lightly. There’s no way I’d unduly risk my child’s safety, even if some guy from Chicago thinks I’m a wuss because his kid’s private school was closed. But what risk was there today? A little ice that did require a bit of caution to walk over? Drowning in the slush? Sunburn?
Judging from the crowd at Peregrine this morning, parents were safely able to get their kids out of the house. If we can make it to get coffee, we could have made it to school without mishap.
Now, often you hear the argument that, sure the kiddos can make it in fine, but what about all the teachers that live in the suburbs? What about those who don’t have the advantage of the dense, urban fabric where they can walk, or take the Metro, or the bus, or any of the transportation modes that managed to work fine (or at least no worse than normal) today? Who can’t afford to live in half million dollar townhouses on a teacher’s salary. What if you have to drive in?
Well, that’s a philosophical argument I won’t get into here, but let me just note that the rest of DC government opened on time today. So, surely teachers are no less hardy that, say cops, firemen, or even receptionists at the Wilson Building; all of whom were expected to be on work this morning, ready to go. If they can process paperwork at the DMV, surely they can open the classrooms on time.
So really, DCPS, what’s your excuse?
Both directions of 395, including the HOV lane, were a mess this morning, and I know someone who couldn’t get to work on time because the express bus wasn’t running– apparently Metrobus shut down a few routes.
Maybe these events influenced the decision to close DCPS. Still, it does seem that a 2-hour delayed opening would have been more appropriate.
Sorry, I should have been more clear in my rant. DCPS did have a 2 hour delay.
I stand by the rest of my whining.
Regarding school breakfasts and work schedules, people should not have kids unless they are prepared to support them.
Say who, Steve? And what do we do with the kids who’s parents can’t support them to your satisfaction? Leave them out to rot until they have kids of their own?
It’s in all of our best interests to educate ALL of DC’s kids. Not just the ones Steve feels should or should not exist in the first place.
None of which has anything to do with my original post, which was simply about a snow delay…
@Steve
or the people who could afford to have kids until they couldn’t (job loss, divorce, death, deadbeat parent ). . . by your rationale we should the parents by starving their kids.
that should read “punish the parents”
. . . obviously idiocy is contagious
Hear, Hear.
To top it off, DCPS apparently FORGOT to send an email (as they have for each alleged weather event so far this school year.), so several of us, not noticing any reason to have a delay, dropped off our kids. (Preemptive to flamers, yes I know I should have realized at the moment my child was conceived I had an obligation to never make a dumb mistake for the next 20 years.) Watkins, apparently out of a commitment to our children’s safety according to their insurance policy, did not let them in the building to call home.
I live on the Hill but work quite a distance away. I have to drive. There is no mass transit going there. Because of my decision to live where I do and work where I do, I occasionally have to spend the night in the distant suburb where I work. It’s part of the trade-off I make for being able to live where I want to live. Why can’t teachers, who make no less than I do, do the same?
You had me at Peregrine!
We had a two hour delay only because OSSE could not get the buses out on time to pick up special needs children. That is directly from Chancellor Henderson.
Its not all about the students. What about the teachers that live in places outside the city that received more snow? A high percent of DCPS teachers live outside the city.
Or maybe you should just be happy that dcps offers and my taxes pay for full day pre k and 3 yo programs for free. Unless your child is in kinder, I really cannot feel bad for you on snow or delay days. Most folks who work in this country are still paying for ft childcare at 3 and 4. Just saying.
Stanton Park, thedofc, I think I explained it fairly well in the original post, but in today’s case, the rest of the DC government was expected to make it in on time. If they could, why not teachers?
Mama, my kid is in 1st grade. Are you cool paying taxes for that? Because I was fine for paying for pre-K even when I had no kids.
I’m glad someone finally noticed the state of coffee shops on snow days. Not only are many people magically able to make it to the coffee shop but not to work, but the staff at the coffee shop managed to make it to work too!
I’m in the same boat as Stanton Park. I live a long ways from where I live and still manage to get myself to work every day, on time. If necessary I am prepared to stay in a hotel (although I’ve never had to yet). And I manage to keep those emergency funds available on a meager salary that is about half the average DCPS salary. It’s called being an adult and taking responsibility for one’s life.
Oh! What fine whine
Actually, wasn’t yesterday a furlogh day for DC govt? Police and fire fighters, etc. were expected to show, but I imagine there weren’t any receptionists at Wilson. However, if anything, that would have been even more reason to have the schools open on time– traffic should have been that much lighter.
I’m a huge supporter of teachers and workers in general, but the idea that teachers/administrators need an extra 2 hours to get to work when the rest of the city – including metrobus drivers, police officers, and baristas – need to arrange their lives to get to work on time regardless of the weather. I regularly fail to see why teachers need more time than anyone else, no matter where they live.
No LMR, Monday was the furlough day. They would have been off for the holiday anyway, but this yr instead of it being a paid holiday, it was unpaid.
I let myself get distracted mid-comment and left off the end of my sentence. I meant to write:
I’m a huge supporter of teachers and workers in general, but the idea that teachers/administrators need an extra 2 hours to get to work when the rest of the city – including metrobus drivers, police officers, and baristas – need to arrange their lives to get to work on time regardless of the weather is overkill.
Reposted it so Tim’s story gets a record number of comments. Take that Frisky Franny! 🙂
Ha!
Thanks, Jill, but you’re assuming I’m not FF?
Do you know more children are conceived during snow days/weather, or so I heard, once–that would be material for FF! Maybe DC gov wants to up the population so it can create more preschoolers to drain your tax dollars . What a plot!
No problems with my bicycle commute yesterday: Potomac Ave mtro area to Foggy Bottom and back in the evening.
Oops, not sure how I missed the part about the 2-hour delay. If a teacher were to rely on one of the cancelled bus routes to get to work, I can see how they would have been delayed. Sure, you’re supposed to plan ahead when there’s a snowstorm, but they hardly could have expected that yesterday’s weather would cause so many issues with public transit and the roadways.
I think the other professions you mentioned have a bit of leeway when it comes to arriving on time. If a fire or crime break out there is probably someone else on duty that can cover for the late person. But you can’t leave lots of children unsupervised if half the teachers are stuck in a traffic jam or delayed because their usual mode of transit suddenly became unavailable.
thanks Nicole! i stand corrected. I will hereafter rely on Hill is Home for my news rather than idle gossip around my office. Hill is Home FTW!
Glad my kids are grown and gone and I no longer have to worry about this stuff. Someday it will happen to all of you.
OK now I’m really confused. Nicole above said that Tuesday Feb 22 was not a furlogh day. but this article from teh Examine indicates that it was– and that emergency responders were furloghed– which indicates that my point about receptionists at Wilson may still stand? I generally don’t trust the Examiner– what say you folks? Is Nicole right, or the Examiner?
LMR – both. Presidents’ Day was a furlough day for most of the city employees. 911 operators were required to be furloughed during that same pay period, and my understanding was that they chose the midnight – 6am shift on the 22nd, the day after the 22nd. (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dc/2011/01/presidents_day_will_be_furloug.html)
Ahh! thanks again, Nicole! you are a font of info!