MCPS's Emergency Snow Day Failures

By Julie Kessel

On Dec. 5, MCPS experienced its first snow day of the school year, with one unique attribute: although the conditions were dangerously snowy, school was not canceled, nor was it delayed.

The decision to operate schools on a normal schedule was incredibly unwise and unsafe. Roads and parking lots were not properly salted and plowed before the school day began, leading to several car and bus crashes throughout the county, although no one was seriously injured. 

At Einstein, the parking lot was not plowed, making parking near impossible as drivers could not see the lines for their parking spots, resulting in some near-misses between cars as students attempted to park in these unsafe conditions. Further, most teachers don’t live in MCPS and were forced to drive through hazardous snowy conditions in Prince George’s and Howard counties, the heaviest hit areas, on their commute to school.

It is likely that MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor chose not to delay or cancel school on the 5th due to the negative response from the MCPS community over delaying school on Dec. 2, when Montgomery County received heavy rain instead of the forecasted and potentially dangerous snow. However, Taylor should not have recklessly disregarded the safety of students and staff in favor of protecting his image.

In addition, Taylor defended his decision not to delay or close schools on Dec. 5 through an email sent out that night, where he portrayed the MCPS students who were rightfully critical of the decision to keep schools open as complaining solely because they wanted to skip school.

“Our goal is to make sure you can attend school. And when it is safe to do so, we are actually required to be open,” Taylor said in his passive-aggressive email to the MCPS community. However, he refused to take accountability for the fact that it was not safe to keep schools open or for the bus crashes that occurred due to his negligence.

“I know it is disappointing when it snows, and we don’t call a snow day,” Taylor added in his email, and he was right, as everyone wants a day off from school. However, when those days off, or even delays, are warranted for student safety, Taylor and the MCPS administration need to make those calls for the greater good of the community, and shouldn’t be blaming students and families for expressing valid concerns about the effects of calling a snow day or delay.