President's Day makeup day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

DP. This would have had to be done at the school Board level. There would need to be an established plan after public comment.

This is from SY 225, but I don’t think anything has changed.

“The county school board may authorize the use of virtual education days in severe weather
conditions. Before this authorization is given to local school superintendents, the county school
board must discuss this topic at an open meeting and vote affirmatively on the authorization.
• The county school board shall publish the county’s plan for virtual education on the LEA’s
website.”

https://marylandpublicschools.org/stateboard/Documents/2024/0123/Virtual-Education-for-Severe-Weather-Conditions-2024-2025-School-Year.pdf

BOE and Taylor are anti-virtual. They said because it didn't work for them it doesn't work for anyone which is why they didn't release the MVA data and were very secretative of how the program was doing. Virtual makes sense right now.

Well it looks like Anne Arundel and Baltimore County are pivoting to virtual tomorrow. I know some people don’t love virtual but would they rather go to school until the end of June? A day or two of virtual is sensible if they’re not going to put in enough snow days in the calendar. You can’t just hope it never snows. It always snows!

That’s because those counties had an approved plan before this storm. MCPS cannot do it now. It requires foresight, pubic comment, and BOE approval.

I know. But my point is that it would have been a helpful tool to have had at their disposal for snow events like this one. Fine if it’s not the default. Fine if you choose not to pivot. But goodness, building in one contingency day is like going to Vegas expecting to win big. Maybe you’re lucky sometimes but statistically you will run out of luck.

A more helpful tool would be having more than one snow day built into the calendar to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

And DCUM was pretty insistent that people were fools for preparing. Even the day beforehand, posters insisted everyone would be able to resume their normal routines on Monday.

You are making things up. Maybe I don’t spend as much time on DCUM as you do, but everyone I knew took this storm warning seriously. If you went to many grocery store, shelves were empty, if you went to a hardware store-shovels and salt were in short supply.

+1. I question anyone who makes any statements about what “DCUM says” because there are thousands of posters but there were literally dozens of threads of how to prepare, what to buy in advance, what to cook, what to do if you lost power, experiences from past storms etc.

This storm wasn’t a surprise and MCPS should have done more to plan for a long closure like we’re having now, including virtual learning. That they didn’t means that they didn’t want to do so because it’s easier to do nothing and have kids lose instructional time.

We don't need to lose instructional time. We can add real make-up days to the year. We don't need to wait until the end of June, nor do they need to be half days.

+1 And I think there will be far fewer absences on 3/20 or 4/15 than 6/24-27. And those who do have family/holiday/travel plans can have an excused absence.

Not under current rules. They’ll be forced to lie about illness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Thank you! Those who are advocating for having school on holidays such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, or Eid are in no way minimizing the importance of those holidays. MCPS policy allows both students and staff to take excused absences on religious/cultural holidays and emphasizes excusing or not assigning key assessments or other assignments on those days. Those who celebrate should make plans and take excused absences accordingly.

Because the percentage of students who will be absent if we have school on those dates is far, far less than the percent of students who will not attend school on June 23-27, we should prioritize having school on those dates.

We will NEVER be able to create a school calendar that honors the holidays of every culture and every religion, so we really need to reimplement the former policy that only included such holidays if absenteeism exceeded 15% of students and staff.

This. 100% This.

How do we get this message to the Board?

The problem is that this creates systemic inequity. A student has to decide whether taking the holiday creates too much work making up missed work from a day where they received no instruction. For many, that is too much to overcome, especially if they had a recent illness. SO the excused absence is effectively a major disadvantage.

So because some students may be negatively impacted, that means all students miss out. Race to the bottom, indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Thank you! Those who are advocating for having school on holidays such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, or Eid are in no way minimizing the importance of those holidays. MCPS policy allows both students and staff to take excused absences on religious/cultural holidays and emphasizes excusing or not assigning key assessments or other assignments on those days. Those who celebrate should make plans and take excused absences accordingly.

Because the percentage of students who will be absent if we have school on those dates is far, far less than the percent of students who will not attend school on June 23-27, we should prioritize having school on those dates.

We will NEVER be able to create a school calendar that honors the holidays of every culture and every religion, so we really need to reimplement the former policy that only included such holidays if absenteeism exceeded 15% of students and staff.

This. 100% This.

How do we get this message to the Board?

The problem is that this creates systemic inequity. A student has to decide whether taking the holiday creates too much work making up missed work from a day where they received no instruction. For many, that is too much to overcome, especially if they had a recent illness. SO the excused absence is effectively a major disadvantage.

So because some students may be negatively impacted, that means all students miss out. Race to the bottom, indeed.

No. Because there is a better way without creating systemic bias. Just extend the year and build in more days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

And DCUM was pretty insistent that people were fools for preparing. Even the day beforehand, posters insisted everyone would be able to resume their normal routines on Monday.

You are making things up. Maybe I don’t spend as much time on DCUM as you do, but everyone I knew took this storm warning seriously. If you went to many grocery store, shelves were empty, if you went to a hardware store-shovels and salt were in short supply.

MCPS should have taken it seriously too and made sure kids took their Chromebooks home (my kids always have theirs with them, but I guess other schools differ.)

Neither of my kids (MS & ES) has a Chromebook. They use a cart model at both schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

No one is asking YOU to celebrate it. It’s like the Fourth of July as a Black person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Thank you! Those who are advocating for having school on holidays such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, or Eid are in no way minimizing the importance of those holidays. MCPS policy allows both students and staff to take excused absences on religious/cultural holidays and emphasizes excusing or not assigning key assessments or other assignments on those days. Those who celebrate should make plans and take excused absences accordingly.

Because the percentage of students who will be absent if we have school on those dates is far, far less than the percent of students who will not attend school on June 23-27, we should prioritize having school on those dates.

We will NEVER be able to create a school calendar that honors the holidays of every culture and every religion, so we really need to reimplement the former policy that only included such holidays if absenteeism exceeded 15% of students and staff.

This. 100% This.

How do we get this message to the Board?

The problem is that this creates systemic inequity. A student has to decide whether taking the holiday creates too much work making up missed work from a day where they received no instruction. For many, that is too much to overcome, especially if they had a recent illness. SO the excused absence is effectively a major disadvantage.

So because some students may be negatively impacted, that means all students miss out. Race to the bottom, indeed.

No. Because there is a better way without creating systemic bias. Just extend the year and build in more days

But as has been said throughout this thread, tacking on days is going to do absolutely nothing to help learning. Like last year teachers are done. Kids will be watching movies for 3 days. As opposed to adding days now when kids will actually learn something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

Correct - it is not a religious holiday, and it is traditionally celebrated on the weekend closest to the date. I and my entire family are Asian. We will celebrate Lunar New Year on Saturday and/or Sunday, February 14 and 15 and wonder why our kids aren't in school on Tuesday, 2/17.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

Correct - it is not a religious holiday, and it is traditionally celebrated on the weekend closest to the date. I and my entire family are Asian. We will celebrate Lunar New Year on Saturday and/or Sunday, February 14 and 15 and wonder why our kids aren't in school on Tuesday, 2/17.

Students asked the BOE for the day off. Maybe some communities celebrate differently than your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

But the story wasn’t that Asian students were demanding that they had to have a day off for Lunar New Year (which again, isn’t a religious holiday), they were just pointing out that since MCPS closes for Rosh Hashanah, plus Yom Kippur and Easter Monday, it would be good to have some parity.

I’m all for separating church and state and not closing for any of these holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

Correct - it is not a religious holiday, and it is traditionally celebrated on the weekend closest to the date. I and my entire family are Asian. We will celebrate Lunar New Year on Saturday and/or Sunday, February 14 and 15 and wonder why our kids aren't in school on Tuesday, 2/17.

Huh, interesting. Apparently that's not what the folks lobbying for it said. "More than 14 percent of the MCPS student population is Asian-American, and speakers this week said holding classes on Lunar New Year forces many of these young people to choose between academics and culture." I can see how that argument was persuasive to the Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

Lunar New Year is NOT a religious holiday, and families traditionally celebrate it the weekend BEFORE the holiday. My family and I are of Chinese descent and we and others of similar backgrounds have no idea why MCPS has decided to make this a school holiday. Making up a snow day on Lunar New Year causes no inconvenience whatsoever, and those who have made plans to travel can take a day off.

Apparently this is the backstory: https://bethesdamagazine.com/2018/06/29/asian-american-parents-students-advocate-for-closed-schools-on-lunar-new-year/

For those afraid to click links:

“For years, schools have been closed on the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, and the next calendar aligns a teacher planning and grading day with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr so students don’t have to come to class.

On Monday, several Asian-American students asked school board members to do something similar for Lunar New Year.”

Lunar new year isn't religious though, right? It's like another country celebrating American Thanksgiving. It's a cultural holiday

Correct - it is not a religious holiday, and it is traditionally celebrated on the weekend closest to the date. I and my entire family are Asian. We will celebrate Lunar New Year on Saturday and/or Sunday, February 14 and 15 and wonder why our kids aren't in school on Tuesday, 2/17.

Huh, interesting. Apparently that's not what the folks lobbying for it said. "More than 14 percent of the MCPS student population is Asian-American, and speakers this week said holding classes on Lunar New Year forces many of these young people to choose between academics and culture." I can see how that argument was persuasive to the Board.

Meh. Teachers were lobbying to have more non instructional days for grading and stuff. Packaging them as “culturally sensitive holidays” that would be more inclusive since MCPS observes so many Jewish and Christian holidays was just an extra incentive to get the days approved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

DP. This would have had to be done at the school Board level. There would need to be an established plan after public comment.

This is from SY 225, but I don’t think anything has changed.

“The county school board may authorize the use of virtual education days in severe weather
conditions. Before this authorization is given to local school superintendents, the county school
board must discuss this topic at an open meeting and vote affirmatively on the authorization.
• The county school board shall publish the county’s plan for virtual education on the LEA’s
website.”

https://marylandpublicschools.org/stateboard/Documents/2024/0123/Virtual-Education-for-Severe-Weather-Conditions-2024-2025-School-Year.pdf

DCPS had asynchronous learning today Wednesday. They’re back in school tomorrow with a 2 hour delay opening? How is it that DCPS can plan for a storm and deploy virtual learning while we have MCPS which does nothing but send out stupid snow day videos by its superintendent.