closed.

Here is the plea from the county sent to parents and other concerned citizens over snow removal:

 

Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) thanks you for your patience, support, and understanding during this extended period of inclement weather. The staff of PWCS is working hard to get schools ready to reopen Tuesday, February 16, as scheduled. Please know that the safety of our students and staff is our highest priority. And this is where you can help by ensuring your neighborhood sidewalks, walking paths, and bus stops are cleared so students will have a safe place to walk and wait for buses, and so buses will have a clear route to safely pick up children.
The School Division has completed snow removal efforts at its 88 schools and additional offices, clearing parking lots, sidewalks, and walkways. The staffs at individual schools are continuing to clear miscellaneous areas at each campus. However, we need your help in your communities to make sure students are safe if they walk to school, or wait at bus stops. If everybody pitches in to clear their sidewalks and walkways it will make a tremendous difference. You might consider gathering a group of parents to clear away bus stops. Please contact your residential association to help with bus stop clearing and to urge them to clear fallen trees, common sidewalks, and side streets for school buses if this hasn’t been done already.
With everyone’s help and support, we can make sure schools reopen in a safe and timely fashion. Thank you. Please enjoy the Presidents Day Holiday on Monday, February 15, and keep checking www.pwcs.edu for future updates. Thank you for your continued support of PWCS and the safety of students.

Today in the Manassas News & Messenger, PWC School system also asked for volunteers to remove snow from bus stops and sidewalks. Such a request would be all well and good in a perfect world that doesn’t have 3 feet of snow to start with and a record breaking winter. However, many bus stop areas have 8 foot mountains of snow that need to be machine removed. Sidewalks have been cleared, recleared and dumped on again in the case of Amherst Drive and over in Lindendale (and probably other places we aren’t aware of).

Sidewalks that do not run in front of private residences have not been plowed, blown, shoveled etc.  This was the case over on Dale Blvd. Before the blizzard  Beville students were walking down the middle of the street on that busy road. Sidewalks on one side of Stonewall Middle have been cleared. Those running in front of the bus lot on the other side have not been cleared. As of the weekend, snow had not been removed from in front of Sinclair. An update is need there. How about the bridge crossing between Irongate and Westgate Elementary School? Granted no one has to go in the road but many kids will be sitting in class all day with wet feet.

We are not asking for hot cocoa on their desks when the little dears arrive but some precaution is needed. If the schools cannot have bus stops and sidewalks cleared, then they need to consider not opening for business until these basic safety measures can be ensured. The school system cannot depend on the residents to handle such massive amounts of snow that have been placed by machine and packed down into immovable objects. Many residents have returned to work and others can can barely move because of the muscles they had to use all last week. County trucks, bob cats and snowblowers  need to be brought back out and custodians and county grounds people need to be brought out for some of this snow removal. All hands on deck.   If this is not possible then schools need to stay closed until it is safer to get there.

UPDATE FROM OUR ROVING REPORTER:

I’ve just been to four schools in the WestGate/Sudley area. The conditions as of right now are still not favorable for students to be walking in. The snow did melt a fair amount yesterday and Saturday, but there’s still plenty around. Here’s my review of the schools. We really need the cooperation of all of the county boards(School, County, Park Authority, and Service Authority) with clearing the bus stops. I know this is a record setting winter, but our students safety should be a top priority.
 
Stonewall Middle-The parking lot and sidewalks leading to school are clear. The parking lot is treated with sand. The sidewalk on one side of the school is clear. The sidewalk in front of the bus lot has not been touched. (Lomond Dr)
 
WestGate Elementary-The parking lot, sidewalks, and the bridge to Irongate are all clear. Urbanna Rd is clear, but only a few sidewalks are clear.
 
Sinclair Elementary-Garner Dr has all but three sidewalks clear. The very last house next to the school does not have a clear sidewalk. The driveway has a snow wall about 8 feet tall and 8 feet deep. This makes it impossible for kids to even walk safely on the side of the street the school is on. Then the the kids that walk and cross Sudley Manor have no sidewalk cleared for them to get to school when they cross Sudley Manor to access the school.
 
Sudley Elementary-The parking lot and sidewalks are clear. There’s a loader there now clearing the parking lot. The kids that walk down Dublin Dr from Greenview to Sudley Manor only have one sidewalk clear to walk on. Then when they get to Sudley Manor the corner is piled with snow.

27 Thoughts to “Is County School System Abdicating Snow Removal Responsiblities?”

  1. NokesvilleNeighbor

    School bus stops and sidewalks in communities are not the schools’ responsibilities. They cannot be expected to clean up all those other area’s. Employees are not covered for doing work off of school grounds. If you want a safe environment for student travel, jump in. It is the law in many jurisdictions that property owners are responsible for sidewalk cleanup. In subdivisions where there are common area’s, HOA’s are responsible. What is the priority here? Getting kids back in class or fighting over snow cleanup duties? Keeping schools closed any longer is not just a question of when kids get out for summer, but how much ground is lost in the education process. THE BIG PICTURE PEOPLE!

  2. Vigilant Vulture

    The big picture…kids arrive to school safely.

  3. Nokesville, yea they are the school board’s responsibility. Your kid beats someone up at the bus top or to or from school, watch how quickly those areas become school responsibility.

    The kids can miss 7 more days. Much of snow pile up is from VDOT.

  4. Why not just tell drivers that there will be more kids in the street and to slow down and use more caution? While we’re at it, put out a few more crossing guards.

  5. Lafayette

    PAP, we have many that drive that ignore the speed limit. Streets are barely passable if two cars are going down a side street at the same time. Now, add kids into the mix and school buses. Dangerous!!

    Sudley and Stonewall Middle have two great crossing guards.

  6. @Lafayette
    Will these drivers run a cross guard or traffic cop over?

  7. Lafayette

    PAP, if they can’t stop approaching the intersection. I don’t think it would be intentional an accident. There’s not enough room for parents’ cars in the school lots on a bright sunny shiny day. There will be even less room for parents trying to get their kids to school in a safe manner.

  8. PaP, that won’t clear the 8 feet of ice off the bus stop. It won’t make the roads wider. Tell drivers whatever you want. When has that ever worked.

    The problem is there is no place for the kids to walk in some cases and there is no place for them to stand at the bus stops. The bus stops are buried under 8 feet of snow and ice.

    The county has the affrontery to ask the residents to take care of it. I don’t think so. I don’t own a bobcat.

  9. I wonder if more parents will drive their kids to school, given the bus stop conditions. They might want to, anyway, because you know darn well all the kids will be romping in the snow drifts and showing up to class soaking wet!

    PWC just announced they are planning to open schools pending tonight’s weather.

  10. Lafayette

    PAP, the school parking lots are crazy and don’t have enough room for parents on a good day. There’s less passable pavement due to the amount of snow piled up. The back ups and gridlock will be out of control. I hope the school plans on excusing all tardies to school due to the situation they’ve put our students/parents in to get the kiddos there.

  11. I am not sure more parents driving is good news. Those kiss lots are horrible on good days. Lafayette is not kidding about gridlock.

    Prince William County Schools need to take care of a few more things before they send buses out on the road and kids to bus stops and sidewalks.

    On the weekend, there were plenty of streets that still were coated in ice and snow.

  12. Juturna

    We could raise taxes and buy all the equipment we would need every fifteen years or so. Do or don’t, the schools should open and let parents figure it out.

  13. Lafayette

    I most definately want my student back in school. I have the good fortune of working from home. I will be driving my daughter to and waiting at the bus stop tomorrow morning. I know many single parents that have to be at work, and quite a few of them are county employees.

    Juturna, raise taxes.-lol You know darn good and well a tax hike wouldn’t fly with our board, and certainly not for equipment we don’t need on a regular basis. However, there should be the means and manpower to get the situation under control in an extreme case such as this winter and blizzard blasts this season. This is not Minnesota or New England, this good ole Virginia, don’t ya know? 🙂

  14. anona

    Why not just sit tight for a couple more days until the roads get better? If we’re talking 8″ of snow at the bus stop, I don’t think parents mind helping out by shoveling a bit, but they’re not going to get out there and clear an 8 foot tall ice mound that the plowers pushed onto the bus stop. I don’t even think they could clear it if they wanted to. I went out to our bus stop today and it is rock solid enough to bend or break a regular snow shovel. It is far too tall for any the snow blowers we have in our neighborhood which are the little ones made for sidewalks and short driveways. Our street is one lane so you drive and hope no one is coming the opposite direction or else the SUV yields to the little cars and prays they don’t get stuck.

    It won’t hurt to wait a couple more days until it is safe. To open right after another storm seem silly and a two hour delay isn’t going to help melt a 8 foot glacier ice rock like we have at our bus stop. Opening tomorrow just seems like they are courting disaster. Let the kids watch the Olympics, drink hot cocoa and play in the snow more. They’ll remember this winter for the rest of their lives as the year they got a winter break, a second winter break and a spring break!

  15. Juturna

    Well in NE cities like Boston have more plows than they have in the state of Virginia. That’s because it’s necessary. Unlike NE there are no Towns around here just hundreds of square miles of developments – therefore no town leaf, trash or snow removal.

    It seems to me that the schools should clear their property and tell people we can run buses so drive your kids. Car pool…. Everyone seems to be getting out of their neighborhoods just fine for pedicures, the mall, movies and yes, some do go to work. Drive them for a few days, help out someone that can’t drop off and pick up….

  16. Lafayette

    The City of Manassas and Manassas Park do have leaf, trash and snow removal. There kids are faced with the same situation as county kids as far as getting to school tomorrow.

    Juturna, Stonewall Middle has NOT even cleared the sidewalk in front of the bus lot on the main throughfare of Lomond Dr.. Many students would walk that way and on a good day traffic to the school can be backed up a half a mile. Sinclair Elementary has a snow wall 8 feet high where the houses end and the sidewalk leads into the school driveway. The schools need to have all of their properties in order before they start saying send us your kiddos.

  17. Juturna

    Well, that was bad planning. I’ve experienced this kind of snow on a regular basis – most here have not – and those that live in snowy climates are accustomed to how to clear snow as well. Don’t pile it up in the middle of Dale Blvd so that no one can make a turn safely!!!

    Certainly, we don’t want to pay taxes to have plows that aren’t used for nine of ten years. As someone said, this was a huge disaster. Guess the ones to suffer are the kids. What else is new!! Maybe the schools should have a long term closure plan- certainly one was conceived for H1N1 or bird flu or were they just planning not to educate kids for however amount of time they might have been closed?

    Guess it’s all down to bad planning, VDOT, PWC Schools….

  18. I am going to agree with Anona on this one.

    Additionally, we get a snow like this once every 15 years or so. No point in buying equipment. We just have to slow down and accept that we aren’t Buffalo, NY.

    I don’t know how you create a place for snow. I don’t know how you get those clearing away snow to be thoughtful. I don’t know how you get people to plow sidewalks that arent in front of someone’s home.

    The one thing we are prepared for is built in snow days. We can absorb 7 more days. When we can’t control anything else, keep the kids at home and not walking down the middle of the road. Not everyone has the luxury of driving their kids to school.

  19. Juturna

    Well, driving them them is less a luxury than not going to work or paying extra daycare. I am a consistant believer in parents taking more responsibility. Just like Sarah Palin should have!! LOL

    Besides, Laf pointed out the schools are not clear of the snow. But to chide the schools for asking residents to help out with clearing snow really smacks of entitlements….

  20. Juturna

    Ohhhh doggie…. I take it ALL BACK. I was just informed that the schools claim dominion over the bus stop. If your child misbehaves on your front grass strip they have control. Talk about too much government in our lives….. Mea Culpa MH, Mea Culpa.

    Now where is that Principal of the Year from Forest Park???? His bus stop is on my front grass strip. Will he poop scoop as well????

  21. Diversity Gal

    Prince William County Schools are closed (Code Green) on Tuesday…

  22. Juturna

    Good. I don’t have to shovel my front yard.

  23. Good. They should be closed. Their website is also down.

    I will put up a post.

  24. Lafayette

    Good for PW for putting safety first.

  25. You know, when I was a kid, we had to walk to school in the snow, uphill. And we had no boots. We walked barefoot. We ate the icicles for breakfast and yellow snow for lunch. And we LIKED it!

    Humph.

  26. NokesvilleNeighbor

    The point being that parents and neighborhoods can step up to the plate to make the journey safe. If everyone is all fired up about keeping kids moving forward and gaining on SOL’s, they need to be in schoo. You cannot imagine how much momentum has been lost by missing so many days.l@Vigilant Vulture

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