Allyson_Wilson's Blog

It's  nearly 10pm and I'm just about ready to get that glass of wine I've been needing since noon.  Montgomery County schools shuttered today in response to PREDICTIONS of freezing rain and sleet.  When I awoke to the news I knew my dream of a laid back day off from work-- and maybe a matinee with my husband, was about as likely Mayor Fenty awarding CFSA the agency of the year award.

Suddenly I was thrust into at home mommy mode and mentally prepared myself for a trip to the public library, Laurie Berkhner and Jack Johnson dominating my stereo, and the inevitable request for pigs in a blanket (beef cocktail wieners wrapped in crescent rolls) and a banana smoothie.  Thats not all that bad-- but add in there countless tantrums any time mommy says no, flat out refusals to use the potty and the subsequent pull-up accidents, and the fact that I spent 80% of the day cleaning up messes left by both my 2 year old (Andrew) and my 11 month old (Brian.)  I'm not ashamed to admit it-- I get more peace at work.  And peace was all I wanted today.  As the day progressed I did more driving from my home in Tanglewood, which is about 6 miles from the Howard county line-- down to Downtown Silver Spring.  I realized, not only was their absolutely nothing wrong with the roads but all the sleet and freezing rain that was supposed to fall was looking less and less likely.  I got really upset.  My kids should have been in nursery school.  Then I heard on WTOP that Michelle Rhee was catching all kinds of flap for keeping DC schools open. 

Supposedly, some 70% of DC public school teachers live outside of DC.  Many of those teachers had called the Chancellor's office to express their disapproval over the decision to remain open.  Well I commend Rhee for opening DC schools.  She had the wisdom to wait and see if the forecasted weather would actually happen. 

It seems about half a dozen other superintendents in this area didn't think about the fact that they could always decide to close a few hours early IF the weather actually got bad.  That seems like the logical thing to do rather than make a snap decision at the expense of kids education and parents schedules. 

I can sum up this day in two words-- cold and wet-- and thats not enough to shut down a school system.  I hope better judgement goes into school closing decisions the next time a storm is forecast.  You can't look at the DC school as a good example of most anything, but today they clearly did a better job of managing a potential severe weather situation.