MCPS announced its decision to close all schools and offices on Tuesday, Jan. 27, originally scheduled to be the first day of the second semester, on Sunday afternoon in response to the snow and ice accumulation resulting from a winter storm that impacted numerous states across the country. Nationwide, 250 million people are under cold weather alerts and 800,000 customers have lost power as temperatures dip significantly below freezing throughout the week, while Montgomery County continues to remain under a state of emergency.
As the first major snowstorm in years, the storm brought back memories of the 2016 blizzard for many, which covered Montgomery County in several dozen inches of snow. Though the present storm, dubbed Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel, has not been nearly as severe, it has still managed to dump anywhere between half a foot to nearly a foot of snow throughout the county, with Rockville receiving around eight inches. Clarksburg, one of the most heavily-impacted areas of the county, measured 11.8 inches of snow on Sunday evening as the precipitation was largely tapering off.
MCPS’s decision to notify families two days in advance rather than early in the morning the day of, as they have done previously, proved convenient for many students. “I am extremely satisfied with how MCPS has handled the closure of schools this time, especially after the recently scrutinized choice made by MCPS to not close schools on that one particular snow day, which led to what I believe was a county-wide safety hazard that actually caused accidents on the road, junior Henry Yang said.
Junior Bennett Parisi was similarly satisfied with the administration’s handling of this decision. “I think they actually handled it pretty well. It was good to get the notice early that school would be cancelled, and looking at the state of the streets near me, I think it was definitely necessary for them to cancel school,” he said.
Likewise, junior Audrey Huang also preferred the early notice. “I think the early announcement is such a better decision as it gave us reassurance and time to decide what to do regarding the announcement,” she said.
When asked about the impacts of the snow day on their schoolwork and extracurriculars, students had mixed opinions about the effects.
On one hand, students had time to do things they ordinarily would not have been able to given the pressures of school and work. “The closure allowed me to make plans and see friends I haven’t seen in a while, which was great,” Parisi said. “Yesterday, I got to go out in the snow with a bunch of my friends from middle school, then watch football together, which was really nice.”
On the contrary, however, the snow interfered with students’ plans and extracurriculars. “The snow definitely affected me [as] sports facilities all over the county closed due to the heavy weather,” Yang said.
However, others expressed more neutral opinions giving the timing of the snowfall, which happened to fall right before the start of the second semester. “The closure barely affected me, as everything was closed due to the heavy snowfall, and my schoolwork was barely affected since the quarter just ended,” Huang said.
As promised, MCPS announced shortly before Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m. that schools would be closed for Wednesday and Thursday. Many students reiterated that the early announcements have been beneficial, and hope that MCPS will continue to follow this precedent in the future. “It looks like MCPS has learned from its mistakes, and moving forward, I hope they continue this trend,” Yang said. “Additionally, I imagine that most, if not all, students are happy that the decision to close the schools was made in advance, instead of on the early morning of the planned closure.”
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