Montgomery County Public Schools’ handling of the snow days this year has been a great failure and has shown a weakness in its planning. MCPS budgeted far too few snow days and is paying the price for it, as they have been forced to extend the school year.
Families have become increasingly unhappy with the lack of preparation and feel that a change is necessary to address this problem. With students staying home for days on end, the community wishes schools would be opened faster in the event of a prolonged weather event.
MCPS has implemented some policies that have helped to address this snow day problem. They use an alert system that quickly and efficiently informs students and their families when snow days are likely to occur and when new updates will come out. The alert system has different levels of warning that indicate the likelihood of having a snow day, a two-hour delay, or other emergency plan. MCPS posts these warnings on social media and in texts/emails to students and parents. Policies like this are a great start towards a more effective and productive overall plan.
There are a few ways that MCPS can improve this plan. One option is for them to budget for more snow days for next year. Planning 3 or 4 snow days for next year would be a huge step towards solving this issue. There would be no need to add days onto the end of the year- or if there was, it would only be one or two. This would be a much better outcome than the events that occurred this year.
Budgeting more snow days will not change the ability of schools to open faster after snow occurs. A solution for this would be to budget more funding for clearing snow and laying down salt prior to snowstorms. Putting money towards hiring contractors to assist in clearing the snow off the sidewalks and streets around the school would definitely decrease the time it takes to reopen schools.
However, the school’s budget is tight and such an expense might not be the best solution. Another alternative could be a plan for asynchronous learning, where teachers post instructional videos and assignments for students to complete. This would allow teachers to keep on track with their curriculum and not have to eliminate certain lessons. This would keep students on track towards AP tests and other important end-of-year exams.
Some members of the community argue that virtual learning through sites like ZOOM would be the best choice for addressing snow days. This is far from the best option, as most students would not even show up to these online classes, and the process of setting up such a would be nearly impossible on such short notice.
MCPS has created some very effective policies for addressing snow days and with only one or two of these corrections, their plan could be significantly more effective. Such advanced planning for a more flexible school calendar is particularly important given the ever increasing likelihood of extreme weather events due to climate change.
