PGCPS Cancels After-School Activities, Weekend Facility Use; Basketball Postponed

Prince George's County Public Schools has ordered all after-school activities and athletic practices to end by 6:00 p.m. Monday, March 2 and will not provide transportation for after-school programs, the district announced; boys’ and girls’ basketball games originally scheduled for Monday were postponed to Tuesday, March 3.

The transportation cutoff leaves coaches, program leaders and families scrambling to arrange pickups for students who normally ride district buses after practices. The district’s advisory specifically states “No transportation provided for after-school programs,” and athletic schedules for March 3 have been adjusted to reflect the postponements.

PGCPS also posted on its Facebook account that “Due to the forecasted inclement weather, Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) has canceled all weekend activities and facility use,” adding to a series of facility cancellations the system has issued this winter. The district’s Inside Scoop blog on Feb. 2 stated plainly: “All facility use is cancelled.” That blog, titled “Update: School Closure for Tuesday, Feb. 3 & Our Path Toward Virtual Learning,” framed the decisions as part of a larger emergency response.

District leaders tied the March 2 directives to what PGCPS described on Feb. 2 as “this historic winter weather event—a storm of a magnitude not seen in more than a decade,” and emphasized safety in every operational choice. The blog’s safety section carried the heading “Safety as Our #1 Priority” and said, “Decisions regarding school operations are guided by one unwavering obligation: ensuring that no student, staff member, or family member is placed in harm’s way.” PGCPS officials joined County leadership for an aerial assessment and said facilities teams have been working to clear school parking lots and entrances.

Local road conditions have driven part of the district’s caution. County headlines in late January documented lingering problems — Jan. 30 coverage noted “Fort Washington residents navigate icy roads,” and Jan. 31 reporting said “Some Prince George's County roads unplowed more than a week after snowstorm.” NBC4 warned that “Some neighborhoods are still digging out from the storm. Hard-to-reach streets and iced-in cul de sacs and neighborhood roads are still a concern, and it's those same roads that bus drivers need to navigate. Children may end up standing in the street to wait for buses.”

The winter disruptions prompted wider administrative responses: PGCPS labeled the Feb. 3 closure a Code Blue, announced Administrative Offices and all 12-month school-based and Central Office employees would report on a two-hour delay, and activated a Liberal Leave policy allowing employees to “use annual leave or leave without pay, if no annual leave is available, without prior approval,” with the requirement that “Employees must notify their leave-granting authority if they choose to use Liberal Leave.” At an emergency school board meeting on Feb. 4 the board approved a Virtual Education Day plan; local TV reporting said students had missed seven school days while the system has used eight snow days, and that makeup days under discussion include March 20, May 27 and June 15–18, with April 6 also a possibility.

Councilmember Ed Burroughs framed the risk calculus bluntly: “If one life is lost or one child hurt, it's not worth it.” Councilmember Wala Blegay added a note on restoration efforts: “We’re all working hard. Give us a couple days, and we will get everything back to normal.” PGCPS Chief Operating Officer Charoscar Coleman told News4 the district looks “forward to getting back to normal schedule servicing our children because we know that this is a partnership, that our parents rely on us, and we need to be there for our children.”

For now, after-school programming will end at 6:00 p.m. Monday, March 2, and the postponed boys’ and girls’ basketball games are set for Tuesday, March 3; PGCPS officials say continued road assessments and facilities-clearing will determine when normal schedules and facility use resume.