Why is Thursday Oct 3 a Non-Instructional Day?

[Anonymous]

Newbie to MCPS puzzling over the 2024-25 schedule. Why is there a random non-instructional day thrown in on Thursday Oct 3? I get that non-instructional days are required, but why a Thursday?

Also, November 4 is listed as Grading/Planning/Possible Make-Up day. So that means kids stay home right?

[Anonymous]

October 3 aligns with the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.

[Anonymous]

It’s probably someone’s religious holiday so they had to close schools for all MCPS students.

[Anonymous]

Rosh Hashanah

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Newbie to MCPS puzzling over the 2024-25 schedule. Why is there a random non-instructional day thrown in on Thursday Oct 3? I get that non-instructional days are required, but why a Thursday?

Also, November 4 is listed as Grading/Planning/Possible Make-Up day. So that means kids stay home right?

Yes.

[Anonymous]

I think 10/4 is Rosh Hashanah. In MCPS, all major religious holidays are days off for students.

And yes re the Nov date - the day after the end of the marking period is always a day off for students.

[Anonymous]

Thanks from the OP. Am not Jewish and didn't pick up on that. Makes sense now. I couldn't figure out why it was a Thursday and not a Friday.

[Anonymous]

Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think 10/4 is Rosh Hashanah. In MCPS, all major religious holidays are days off for students.

And yes re the Nov date - the day after the end of the marking period is always a day off for students.

It begins at sunset on 2 October and ends at nightfall on 4 October.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

To be sure, winter and spring break are planned AROUND Christmas and Easter. It's a legacy from the days when they paid lip service to the notion of separation of church and state and pretended like schools didn't formally take off for Christian holidays. They always did, of course, since Christianity is the dominant religion in this country, but the fiction was that the breaks' proximity to those holidays we coincidental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

I went to MCPS schools 20 years ago and we had jewish holidays off then too. We just started after labor day so it was a different ligning up of quarter ends to other holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

I went to MCPS schools 20 years ago and we had jewish holidays off then too. We just started after labor day so it was a different ligning up of quarter ends to other holidays.

Yes, did not mention that 10+ years ago at least Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur were days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

They try to have them align with days off, but can't always make it happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, in MCPS, the following days are non-instructional days if they fall on a weekday...

Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Diwali
Chinese New Year
Passover
Eid

Christmas & Easter always fall within Winter & Spring Break

I have high schoolers, and this was not the case when my kids began school here 10+ years ago.

I fall within one of the above non-instructional day groups and would rather have a longer winter break!

My understanding is that the Jewish high holidays have long been off of school because there would be a staff shortage. It isn’t just about the students (though many would be impacted). This was operational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks from the OP. Am not Jewish and didn't pick up on that. Makes sense now. I couldn't figure out why it was a Thursday and not a Friday.

If you are not Jewish, it is the perfect time to take a 4-day weekend and go to Disney. We did that several times.