Montgomery County Public Schools kept campuses closed after an unusual winter storm left neighborhood roads and sidewalks iced over, officials said, keeping more than 156,000 students at home for several days. The district said plows cleared school property, but travel to campuses remained hazardous for buses and the roughly 20 percent of students who walk.
District spokeswoman Liliana López said a street that is passable for a car can still be unsafe for a school bus, which requires more clearance to navigate turns and pass through narrow neighborhood roads. She said post-plowing snow piles and ice-covered lanes have restricted visibility and space needed for drivers to operate without risk.
MCPS uses its own crews and contractors to clear campus parking lots, bus loops and sidewalks. Officials reported that by the prior Thursday crews had cleared 30 percent of campus parking lots and bus loops, and a later update stated that "all schools are ready." Even so, the county said more work on roadways and sidewalks was needed before reopening.
Parents and council members expressed frustration over the prolonged closure. Natasha Tynes, who works from home as a ghostwriter, said, "It's been really hard." Her children remained out of school and she has relied on friends and neighbors to help care for them. Her eight-year-old son Gabriel went sledding as families sought ways to pass the time.
Response Actions Reactions And Next Steps
County leaders described the storm response as hit by an unusual shift to ice. County Executive Marc Elrich said if it had just been snow the response would have been different, adding, "This is ice." Council President Natali Fani-González scheduled a briefing on ice and snow removal and encouraged residents to report unplowed streets online.
Other officials pressed for clearer communication. Council member Andrew Friedson wrote that neighborhood streets should be safely passable and that the county must do better. At-large member Will Jawando announced a virtual town hall and said, "Your frustrations are valid." Parent Ryan Holeywell said he was frustrated that families were not given a clear sense of what it would take to reopen.
The county Department of Transportation said it cleared roads surrounding county schools and was responding to additional requests, sometimes asking the state to address state roads. School leaders said they hoped to reopen once roadways and sidewalks were safe and asked families to remove parked cars from streets, clear sidewalks and report icy roadways to 311.
MCPS officials said the district could not shift to virtual learning because it lacks a state-approved virtual learning plan and not every student owns a computer, and because the closure coincided with a new semester, making a short-term transition impractical, López said. The district said it will evaluate how to make up lost instructional time once the weather incident is over.
