wmal.com:
Stewart told NewsChannel 8 Thursday that it was “ridiculous” that children still had not returned to class after a week-long closure.
VDOT did a good job of clearing roads, Stewart said, and that every road in the district had been hit by a plow at least once by Monday.
He blames “helicopter parents” and risk-adverse school systems for the lengthy closures, adding that schools systems tend to copy one another with school closures because they don’t want to be culpable if something bad happens.
“It’s gotten to the point where we’re pushing our kids through an entire week of school, and that’s going to, at some point, cut into their summer time recess,” said Stewart.
“So I’m a bit concerned about the school system.”
Stewart also noted the inconvenience that the extended closing had on parents in the area.
“Most parents got Monday off, and a lot of us got Tuesday off as well,” said Stewart. “Most people were back to work Wednesday, Thursday, and then tomorrow, and their kids are going to be off of school. So this presents a major inconvenience for many people.”
Steven L. Watts, the Superintendent of Prince Williams County Schools, could not be reached for comment, as the offices were closed for the day.
Just because Corey is working for TRUMPet doesn’t mean he has to take leave of his senses. He also doesn’t need to comment on everything.
PWC, like every place else, just experienced an historic blizzard accompanied by some freezing temperatures. Some roads would thaw and refreeze, making travel in the morning treacherous. Some school lots weren’t even plowed out at the end of the week, nor were the roads leading up to those schools. (call me if you want to know where)
Many county roads like Antioch were still one lane or one and a half lane roads. Sidewalks were not shoveled so walkers would have had to go walk to school in the middle of the road where all sorts of crazy drivers attempted their poor driving skills in autos not made for snow travel.
Good for Prince William County Schools for not racing back to resume classes. Safety first. It’s always best to err on the side of caution when dealing with the county’s most precious possessions. It doesn’t hurt to be somewhat cautious about the staff either.
Corey, you aren’t on the school board. It’s your job to support them publicly, not run them down. There’s no point in starting a war here. It won’t help you get elected. Seriously.
Good job, Prince William County Schools, Good job! Live to fight another day. Mother Nature is a bitch. Know when you can’t win. You did the right thing. I drove all over the county in my rich-bitch rental car to assess things. You absolutely made the right call.
Stewart sounds as though he’s been holed up in his office or house and hasn’t bothered to see what the roads in subdivisions and the rural roads are like. Many are one lane with mounds of snow on the sides. Where are the kiddos supposed to stand?
Good question. There wasn’t even room for my garbage cans today. I just see no reason to pick a fight with the school board over this. Also, they weren’t out of sync with the rest of the surrounding jurisdictions.
As a parent of children in the PWC school system I’m with Moon on this matter. Corey said also, “We don’t want any risk whatsoever. Well, there’s no such thing as zero risk.” Corey must be hanging around with Trump too much. It’s fine if Trump wants to take risk in his business ventures. That’s what has made him so wealthy. However, that risk-taking does not extend to our kids. They are two totally different things. I didn’t even know what a “helicopter parent” is and had to look it up on Wikipedia. They say it’s, “a parent who pays extremely close attention to a child’s or children’s experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions.” Guilty on my part. I thought that’s what parents are supposed to do. I had trouble getting out of my own driveway last Friday and had to dig my car out after getting stuck then. I certainly didn’t want my kids trying to get to school.
I agree with Corey about the teacher workday today. The school system should not be so rigid as to have a teacher workday even if they had already scheduled it long ago rather than showing enough flexibility to cancel it and get the kids back to school after missing so many days. That absurd move showed a typical bureaucratic mentality and lack of practical thinking.
Score – PWCS one. Corey one.
On the other hand, Corey is not in charge of the school board. His comments should be seen as a parent.
How do you inform everyone that the teacher workday is cancelled? Grades are going out regardless. Do we just tell the teachers “tough crap?” Get those grades done on your own time? Grades are in the county system. You can’t just tape into the county system from your trusty Dell at home. The teachers needed to be able to access a variety of information and data from within the school system. They needed a work day. It’s the end of the semester.
That’s one of those situations where being on the outside makes you think this is idiotic. If you think about it, you will realize that the workday is/was totally necessary on so many levels. Corey is on the outside. He should not have spoken. He was as ill-informed about how semester is handled as he was about plowing out schools and walkways.
Gone are the days that the teachers sit around with their grade registers and calculate if Little Johnny passed or not.
The sidewalks here are not clear and many children walk to the schools in the neighborhood. He’s just playing his ” I’m the most conservative, I’m the most conservative…” game.
I don’t know where people live but it isn’t all shoveled out here by a long shot. Sidewalks are particularly dangerous. The sidewalks are what got the brunt from the snowplows.
Corey needs to support his schools, rather than talk smack about them.
Pandering to that other blog? They’re into full on attacks on Walts now that Peacor is gone.
I think Corey is trying to take a page out of the Trump playbook by saying outrageous things just to get press. It’s a last ditch effort to gain traction for higher office. I don’t believe it will get him anywhere. Especially since there are 70,000 plus school children with parents whose streets were full of massive piles of snow.
@Lyssa
I will have to go look. If someone there says something Pete’s relatives don’t like, the speaker gets accused of coming from my blog.
Yup. Walts is next, then Sawyers. No one will want to work in this county under such a toxic situation. Can you imagine that a person’s success or failure is being routinely orchestrated by an anonymous blog?
Hopefully no one is listening.
I am sure that an unholy alliance has been cut with the devil, btw. It’s obvious.
Sawyers doesn’t seem like the kind of person who will back down. I have high hopes for him.
So do I.