More News

The snow that closed Montgomery County Public Schools for three days last week may have left kids cheering, but many parents grumbled at having to suddenly put their work days on ice.

Lisa Finkelstein of Kensington said because she and her husband both work full time, the pair normally juggle schedules so that one takes the kids to Rock View Elementary School in the morning and the other picks them up in the afternoon.

"We don't do any after care program or anything like that," Finkelstein said. When the news came down that schools were shuttered, Finkelstein had to adjust, making arrangements to work from home part of the day and eventually leaving early for a planned trip to North Carolina for the holidays.

"It's not an easy juggle," Finkelstein said. She said she understands the dangers of the road conditions, and saw firsthand the difficulty her kids would have had crossing Connecticut Avenue to walk to school. But many after care programs remain open in schools as long as school administrative offices are open, a discrepancy lost on Finkelstein.

"I'm thinking, OK, so the school can have people in it for that and not for school? Why?" Finkelstein said. "I wish we had more information about why they make these decisions."

Robert Finkelstein, who is not related to Lisa, said he and his wife have the same complaint. He has lived in Boston and New York City, and the way Montgomery County deals with snow is "crazy."

"Basically it's a complete pain in the neck," Robert Finkelstein said. He and his wife, Lisa Spain, usually each take a half day off from their jobs at the National Institutes of Health on county snow days. He said his complaints about this latest storm, which dumped as much as two feet on the area, aren't as fervent, but he doesn't like the "chronic pattern" of Montgomery County calling snow days.

"In New York they don't even bat an eye. Here it's if they even see a snowflake," Finkelstein said, recalling cancelations that came after only a few inches of snow.

"I'm all for safety, but shutting down the entire county school system because there's one pocket where the roads aren't very good is just crazy," Robert Finkelstein said. "It made my kids happy, obviously, but it basically means people who have jobs can't do their jobs."

Many working parents leaned on their usual before-and-after childcare programs—which extended hours for snow days and often accept drop-ins— to handle the kids' early break.

Debbie Shapiro, a mentor at Bar-T, an after-care program that operates at 29 county schools, said snow days are part of the plan.

"The directors have theme days planned well in advance of snow days so they have a whole day [of activities] planned," Shapiro said, including physical activities, arts and crafts and, in some schools, cooking. Theme days may focus on the holidays or the Olympics, she said.

Angela Magliozzi of Kensington, who is raising two grandchildren and also works at NIH, said she has mixed emotions about snow days. She doesn't remember many when she was raising her own children in the county, even though it snowed, but said she realizes that the more remote parts of the county may have a harder time clearing roads and getting to school.

"I try to think about somebody besides just myself," she said.

Magliozzi said she was grateful the childcare program at Kensington Parkwood Elementary was still open, but she is now crossing her fingers for no more snow days. She has to book snow days in advance with the tuition she pays, and only planned on three this year.

"It's kind of like Russian Roulette," Magliozzi said.

The snow days worked out well for some parents, like Keith Emery and his wife, Marilyn, president of the North Chevy Chase Elementary School PTA. The Emerys have flexible work schedules, so they enjoyed some time with their three children, going to the mall and on a sledding expedition during the unanticipated time off. One complication arose from the family time though.

"I'm going to have more struggles over who gets the computer. They like to play games on my computer when I'm not working," Keith Emery said the afternoon of Dec. 22.

Still, Emery noted that as he spoke, his children and other neighborhood youngsters were building a snowman on his front lawn. He said parents in the area take turns having their neighbors' kids over in such situations. His 12-year-old daughter slept until 10 a.m., grateful for not having to trudge out the door for school at the usual time of 7 a.m.

"I hope they remember how to read and write when they go back to school," Emery joked.

Steve Sluchanksy of Rockville also got to enjoy one snow day, because as a divorced father, it meant he got to keep his kids, who attend Garrett Park Elementary School and Walter Johnson High School, for an extra day on Dec. 21. Usually their mother would have picked them up Sunday afternoon, he said.

"This was an opportunity for me to get a little more time with them, so for me it was actually a gift too," said Sluchansky. "We went outside, we played in the snow, we hand snowball fights and we also played board games and the Wii. It was a busy day."