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Montgomery County's snow day budget is busted already

MCPS announced just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday that schools would be closed on Friday.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Montgomery County Public Schools will not be open on Friday; before the announcement was made, the school district had already busted its budget for snow days for the year.

"The system will utilize a regular snow day with no expectations for students to engage in synchronous "virtual" learning," said one of many letters issued to parents directly for their children's' schools.

>Click here for a list of all current closures.

How to handle Friday's weather is an issue in the county because the two calendar days budgeted for so-called Code Red snow day closures were used Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the school system's website, the next option would be to claw back days that are currently scheduled to be off for students.

The first available day would be Jan. 29, which is planned as a day off for students while teachers complete grading and planning.

"If the school year is disrupted by emergencies and schools are closed three or more days, dates identified as possible make-up instructional days include: November 1, 2023; January 29, March 25-26, April 10, April 22, June 14 and June 17–18, 2024," the school system's online calendar says.

Late Thursday, school authorities reported they were meeting to decide what to do.

Virtual learning, known as a Code Purple day are reserved for when an “impacting event is predictable – or is part of a multi-day scenario" such as a blizzard.   Code Purple also requires time to prepare and communicate with families, the county's website says.

By comparison, Frederick County Maryland has budgeted five snow days and Loudoun County, Virginia has budgeted 15.

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