The legislature may end up reverting the makeup days...

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

That's not the only alternative. We could go back to scheduling 184 school days. And we could actually use the make up days we identify.

Of course we *could* go back to scheduling 184 days of school. Massachussets schedules 185 to make sure its kids get 180. But what evidence do you see that MCPS wants to do that? All I see is MCPS being happy to have 5 extra paid vacation days this year to give kids 175 days of instruction (and so many of them are stupid half days/early releases.)

Everyone has grown to love the days off in the middle of the year, so we need to start a week earlier.

This. We need to start one week earlier

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

That's not the only alternative. We could go back to scheduling 184 school days. And we could actually use the make up days we identify.

Of course we *could* go back to scheduling 184 days of school. Massachussets schedules 185 to make sure its kids get 180. But what evidence do you see that MCPS wants to do that? All I see is MCPS being happy to have 5 extra paid vacation days this year to give kids 175 days of instruction (and so many of them are stupid half days/early releases.)

Everyone has grown to love the days off in the middle of the year, so we need to start a week earlier.

This. We need to start one week earlier

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

And didn't have a virtual plan in place for extended closures. - DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

[Anonymous]

We need to take off all holidays that aren't federal holidays for one year. Analyze how many students are out and how many subs need to be hired and make an informed decision for the following year. This coming from someone who would need to take days off for religious holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

NO SHORTENING SUMMER, that goes for both starting earlier and ending later!
______________________________
Look at Atlanta, GA !
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1765379078/atlantapublicschoolsus/a9733qixf8k9n8y28zzk/2025-2026_Student_Calendar_updated_v2.pdf
They start at the beginning of August but end in May, they have similar summers but they get SIX full weeks off a year!
The catch? GA has more flexibility in school year and makeup rules. Their calendar is secular with Christmas as the only religious holiday off (since there is no way around that).
Los Angeles has slightly shorter summers with around 9 weeks off but has more single off days unlike Atlanta, however they still get FIVE full weeks off!
The catch? While CA requires 180 calendar days they don't have to makeup for emergency closures! LA doesn't appear to have staff only days besides the day before the 1st student day and the day after the last student day. https://www.lausd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=4432518&type=d&pREC_ID=2672183&tota11y=true
---------------
Here people are pulling for a summer length that is like LA or shorter but with only a mere TWO full weeks off a school year! If you are going to have a 9 week summer there better be 5 weeks off during the year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

NO SHORTENING SUMMER, that goes for both starting earlier and ending later!
______________________________
Look at Atlanta, GA !
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1765379078/atlantapublicschoolsus/a9733qixf8k9n8y28zzk/2025-2026_Student_Calendar_updated_v2.pdf
They start at the beginning of August but end in May, they have similar summers but they get SIX full weeks off a year!
The catch? GA has more flexibility in school year and makeup rules. Their calendar is secular with Christmas as the only religious holiday off (since there is no way around that).
Los Angeles has slightly shorter summers with around 9 weeks off but has more single off days unlike Atlanta, however they still get FIVE full weeks off!
The catch? While CA requires 180 calendar days they don't have to makeup for emergency closures! LA doesn't appear to have staff only days besides the day before the 1st student day and the day after the last student day. https://www.lausd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=4432518&type=d&pREC_ID=2672183&tota11y=true
---------------
Here people are pulling for a summer length that is like LA or shorter but with only a mere TWO full weeks off a school year! If you are going to have a 9 week summer there better be 5 weeks off during the year!

Air conditioners exist now. I don't see how a long summer break is advantageous. 4-5 weeks would be plenty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

That's not the only alternative. We could go back to scheduling 184 school days. And we could actually use the make up days we identify.

Of course we *could* go back to scheduling 184 days of school. Massachussets schedules 185 to make sure its kids get 180. But what evidence do you see that MCPS wants to do that? All I see is MCPS being happy to have 5 extra paid vacation days this year to give kids 175 days of instruction (and so many of them are stupid half days/early releases.)

Right. And they don't *want* to do virtual, either. So if we need to pressure MCPS into doing something that they don't want to do, then we should pressure them into something that works (i.e., the former 184 day calendar) rather than something that would just check a box (i.e., virtual school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to take off all holidays that aren't federal holidays for one year. Analyze how many students are out and how many subs need to be hired and make an informed decision for the following year. This coming from someone who would need to take days off for religious holidays.

I would totally support that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

NO SHORTENING SUMMER, that goes for both starting earlier and ending later!
______________________________
Look at Atlanta, GA !
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1765379078/atlantapublicschoolsus/a9733qixf8k9n8y28zzk/2025-2026_Student_Calendar_updated_v2.pdf
They start at the beginning of August but end in May, they have similar summers but they get SIX full weeks off a year!
The catch? GA has more flexibility in school year and makeup rules. Their calendar is secular with Christmas as the only religious holiday off (since there is no way around that).
Los Angeles has slightly shorter summers with around 9 weeks off but has more single off days unlike Atlanta, however they still get FIVE full weeks off!
The catch? While CA requires 180 calendar days they don't have to makeup for emergency closures! LA doesn't appear to have staff only days besides the day before the 1st student day and the day after the last student day. https://www.lausd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=4432518&type=d&pREC_ID=2672183&tota11y=true
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Here people are pulling for a summer length that is like LA or shorter but with only a mere TWO full weeks off a school year! If you are going to have a 9 week summer there better be 5 weeks off during the year!

A shorter summer would be great — kids could get more content on before testing, there would be less summer slide, and we would have enough built-in and true comtingency days to avoid adding time at the end of the year. Win-win-win.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

That's not the only alternative. We could go back to scheduling 184 school days. And we could actually use the make up days we identify.

Of course we *could* go back to scheduling 184 days of school. Massachussets schedules 185 to make sure its kids get 180. But what evidence do you see that MCPS wants to do that? All I see is MCPS being happy to have 5 extra paid vacation days this year to give kids 175 days of instruction (and so many of them are stupid half days/early releases.)

Everyone has grown to love the days off in the middle of the year, so we need to start a week earlier.

This. We need to start one week earlier

That would solve nothing. Anyone here whining also should stop taking their kids on vacations during the school year if 180 days is SoOoOoOoO important. No days off either! Your kid MUST be in school for 180 days! That's the ONLY way they will EVER learn!

[Anonymous]

Shorter summer is the way to go..along with a longer winter break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

Why Easter Monday and not Good Friday? Spring break should not always be the week before Easter.