After the first snowstorm of the season forced District school closures, the D.C. metropolitan area received another couple of inches of snow last weekend, though not enough for District residents to deviate from their daily routines this week.
However, with more storms, and school delays and closures likely to come this winter season, some District parents, like LaJoy Johnson-Law, said they anticipate working parents having to make hard decisions.
“There’s the issue of if you get paid when your job is closed. Employers have to do better around that,” said Johnson-Law, Ward 8 representative on the D.C. State Board of Education.
Last week, Johnson-Law helped some of her elderly constituents navigate the aftermath of the first, larger storm. She hinted at her first-term priorities, telling The Informer that elected officials, community members and advocates must rally around parents, especially those who are without paid leave or teleworking abilities when schools close for inclement weather.
“Even if someone is hourly, do they get paid for that day? Rent is still due,” Johnson-Law said. “Lights and water due. Food needs to get bought. We can stand in solidarity on the state board [with] a lot of work around parent engagement.”
Parents Push for More Protections
On Jan. 6, many students received an unexpected extension to their winter break when D.C. public schools closed and the District experienced nearly 9 inches of snowfall and wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour.
That night, the Executive Office of the Mayor announced another day of school closures on Jan. 7, with the D.C. government opening late and D.C. Department of Public Works conducting trash collection on one-day slide schedule. Not long after, Zach Israel, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner and father of one D.C. public charter school student, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, asking what becomes of parents, like essential D.C. government personnel, with obligations to their children.
As Israel recounted, his wife called off from work on the first day of inclement weather this month to watch their children, 2 and 4 years old, while he worked virtually at home. On the second day, the couple called on their babysitter, a teenage D.C. public school student who also had the day off, to take on that responsibility.
“We’re fortunate to have options but in this city, a lot of people don’t have those options available to them,” said Israel, who, as part of his full-time job, engages local and county governments across the U.S. in advocacy. “It poses the question of what they do [during prolonged school closures]. We owe it to those families.”
In 2020, the District launched its universal paid leave program at the height of a pandemic that presented similar circumstances for parents.
Israel and his wife, then parents of a newborn boy, counted among several new parents who applied for up to eight weeks of paid leave. Two years later, with the birth of their second child, they re-enrolled into the program that, by that time, provided up to 12 weeks of paid leave.
When it comes to inclement weather, Israel said parents deserve a safety net, regardless of whether they already have paid leave and sick leave.
“Those blessed with time off should not have to burn through a significant percentage for inclement weather,” he said. “What do we do with day jobs, limited paid time off and no family nearby? It’s a problem that’s been ongoing and people feel it when there are snow days.”
As budget season quickly approaches, Israel implored the D.C. Council to explore funding inclement weather-related paid leave.
“If it does get to that point, there will be debate about how extensive it should be,” he admitted.
“It shouldn’t be unreasonable to have a law that [requires] private employers to give up to five days of paid time off for employees with children on an annual basis,” Israel added. I’m sure many in the private sector might voice disapproval but we got universal paid leave through a tax structure. We need a leader who’s willing to take this on.”
D.C. Council Member Weighs In
During last budget season, the council’s quest to help early childcare educators, and in essence working parents, countered D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s focus on cost savings and downtown revitalization.
When council members criticized the elimination of the Early Childcare Educator Pay Equity Program in her Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal, Bowser, working within parameters set by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), warned of costs potentially ballooning over time. As D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At large) recently pointed out however, the council, in collaboration with OCFO, confirmed the government’s ability to support the Early Childcare Educator Fund for four fiscal years.
Henderson called the program an investment in the very people and institutions that continue to help working parents.
“If we got rid of the early childcare educator pay equity program altogether, we could have a much more challenging situation with the workforce and the collapse of the childcare sector,” Henderson told The Informer. “You would see childcare centers closing or limiting the seats they’re offering.”
During the inclement weather, Henderson and her husband, a business owner, traded, and at times shared, periods of time watching their daughter. She said it brought back memories of the pandemic, when home and work life became inseparable.
“In some industries, people are not shocked that you can be on a Zoom call and you might see…children’s heads pop up,” Henderson said. “In some ways, the children of working parents are no longer invisible.”
Henderson told The Informer she’s been in conversations about how to provide childcare for essential workers who are on duty at “unconventional” hours. This budget season, she has identified public health, increasing funding and administrative premiums for D.C. Public Schools, expanding after-school programming for middle school students, and commercial real estate challenges as some of her priorities.
Though she acknowledged the challenges that working parents face during inclement weather, Henderson said that providing paid leave for such situations isn’t on her radar — at least for the time being.
“The biggest question is what triggers that,” she told The Informer. “We don’t make every call for businesses and entities for their inclement weather policy. We don’t even do it for all of the schools.”
The Informer unsuccessfully attempted to gather comment from At large D.C. Councilmembers Robert White (D) and Kenyan McDuffie (I); Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7) and Trayon White (D-Ward 8) — all of whom are parents of school-age children or children entering school in a matter of years.
The Executive Office of the Mayor also didn’t return a request for comment about paid leave for inclement weather.
One Year Later, A D.C. Government Employee Continues to Challenge Telework Policy
As District parent Dr. Kofi Onumah recounted, the second day of inclement weather, Jan. 7, proved stressful for him and other D.C. government employees who had to report to duty on a two-hour delay while their children stayed home for another day.
“Many of my colleagues had to go in…[and] some of them had to leave their children,” Onumah said. “Any responsible government worker wants to make sure their children’s safety is being ensured. But you have to make income, and hopefully when you get home, things work out.”
Last year, Onumah counted among several D.C. government workers who raised concerns about a mayoral order reducing their weekly teleworking days from two to one. In his capacity as first vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2725, Onumah has since continued to engage the Bowser administration and D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At large), chair of the council’s Committee on Executive Administration and Labor, in dialogue about shaping policy that best accommodates working parents.
As he too prepares for budget season deliberations, Onumah said that government officials cannot escape a pandemic-era question that keeps surfacing, as recently as earlier this month. Despite Bowser’s insistence on raising in-office staffing levels, Onumah remains adamant that working parents deserve flexibility, especially during inclement weather.
“The telework policy is something we can figure out,” Onumah said. “Something more rational where employees can do their job at home and make sure their children are protected,” Onumah continued as he outlined what could be budget-season priority. “The government should lead by example and prioritize workers by offering telework for inclement weather.”
Bonds’ office didn’t return The Informer’s request for comment.