Saturday, February 13, 2010

Do It Yourself . . . Snow Removal

Will Montgomery County Public School really open on February 16 after the long weekend?

I can't say for sure, the parking lot at my neighborhood high school looks as if it has seen some plowing. In contrast, the elementary school a few short block away doesn't appear to be ready for schools to open. This is in line with the MCPS emergency message saying that high schools are open for community use this weekend.

In the absence of Superintendent Jerry Weast who is sunning in Arizona and no where in the vicinity of snow, MCPS' Dana Tofig, newly arrived from the sunny south, is quoted in the Washington Post:

If Mother Nature cooperates, and if after tomorrow we don’t get another drop of snow, I feel pretty good that we can open on Tuesday .. . . . But Mr. Bowers will keep evaluating that over the weekend.

The Washington Post has another answer.  Its time for the parents to take action and help schools dig out.

The Washington Post has launched a snow cleanup page and it can be really helpful for schools trying to organize big dig-outs this weekend. . . .

We’ll have to see about that cooperation, but until then, the clean-up goes on.
Here’s the link to the page that will help organize a snow cleanup:
http://specials.washingtonpost.com/snow-cleanup/

Once there:

Post your request for help using a title in this format: “School: Washington Elementary School” or “Church: Episcopal Church of Washington”

Make sure to specify clearly what your needs are in the body of your report (example: “We’ve got snow covering all our walkways, we need snowblowers and shovels”) and include your location in your report and using the map function. Also, clearly state when you need people to arrive for help this weekend (example: “we’re looking for 10 people from the neighborhood to come help at 10 a.m. on Saturday”).

After your report is approved by our team, you can use the link to your report to spread the word. We’ll do the same on Twitter (using the #72scu hashtag) and on our Facebook Fan page.


Keep checking the comments in your report, and encourage others to post their attendance in the comments of your report.

The Post will take the reports and highlight them on Twitter, Facebook, and the Web site.

Thanks Ms. Strauss and the Post.   Its good to see some adults in charge with great suggestions and organizational strategies leading to solutions while Dr. Weast is talking about the Seven Keys and MCPS out West.  

Maybe the eighth key in Dr.Weast's presentation should be a snow shovel. 

1 comment:

  1. MCPS has over 20,000 employees. If not ready for students on Tuesday, the system can expect its employees to report for work, and hand them each a snow shovel.

    ReplyDelete

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