MoCo 24-25 calendar feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would make 11/1 a day off for students every year. It made for a much nicer Halloween.

Lots of families don't celebrate halloween.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would make 11/1 a day off for students every year. It made for a much nicer Halloween.

Lots of families don't celebrate halloween.

No one is asking any families to celebrate Halloween who do not celebrate. That said, a large majority of families with school age kids in MoCo do, in fact, celebrate. They will have a day off for end of MP grading anyway. There’s no harm to non-Halloween celebrating families in having it placed on 11/1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would make 11/1 a day off for students every year. It made for a much nicer Halloween.

Lots of families don't celebrate halloween.

No one is asking any families to celebrate Halloween who do not celebrate. That said, a large majority of families with school age kids in MoCo do, in fact, celebrate. They will have a day off for end of MP grading anyway. There’s no harm to non-Halloween celebrating families in having it placed on 11/1.

Although it is a little close to Thanksgiving, I would love the extra little calm between the 1st and 2nd Quarter. Nov. 1 is also the ED deadline for a lot of colleges and could give Seniors a little wiggle room to get apps done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would make 11/1 a day off for students every year. It made for a much nicer Halloween.

Lots of families don't celebrate halloween.

No one is asking any families to celebrate Halloween who do not celebrate. That said, a large majority of families with school age kids in MoCo do, in fact, celebrate. They will have a day off for end of MP grading anyway. There’s no harm to non-Halloween celebrating families in having it placed on 11/1.

Although it is a little close to Thanksgiving, I would love the extra little calm between the 1st and 2nd Quarter. Nov. 1 is also the ED deadline for a lot of colleges and could give Seniors a little wiggle room to get apps done.

If we want to give seniors "wiggle room" it would be more effective to give them Friday the week before off. That way they have time to contact the College and Career Information Coordinator and / or counselor for help if their Naviance account is not working correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would make 11/1 a day off for students every year. It made for a much nicer Halloween.

Lots of families don't celebrate halloween.

No one is asking any families to celebrate Halloween who do not celebrate. That said, a large majority of families with school age kids in MoCo do, in fact, celebrate. They will have a day off for end of MP grading anyway. There’s no harm to non-Halloween celebrating families in having it placed on 11/1.

Although it is a little close to Thanksgiving, I would love the extra little calm between the 1st and 2nd Quarter. Nov. 1 is also the ED deadline for a lot of colleges and could give Seniors a little wiggle room to get apps done.

If we want to give seniors "wiggle room" it would be more effective to give them Friday the week before off. That way they have time to contact the College and Career Information Coordinator and / or counselor for help if their Naviance account is not working correctly.

If we wanted to give wiggle room we’d start school earlier in general.

[Anonymous]

Still haven't seen anything about a new survey...?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still haven't seen anything about a new survey...?

The new survey is linked here:

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/Community-Update-20231109.html

It has questions about both 2024-25 and 2025-26.

[Anonymous]

Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

The other options have kids in school through 12/23, ugh

[Anonymous]

I prefer Draft A overall, but why do the semesters have to be so uneven? 95 days for semester 1, but only 87 for semester 2? Seems like they could move that grading/planning day at the end of January a few days earlier.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tHVId0RnbYoCMqaBFv2ABetsxoNqgiiT/view?usp=sharing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I prefer Draft A overall, but why do the semesters have to be so uneven? 95 days for semester 1, but only 87 for semester 2? Seems like they could move that grading/planning day at the end of January a few days earlier.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tHVId0RnbYoCMqaBFv2ABetsxoNqgiiT/view?usp=sharing

I think that choice is tied into the ability to do a whole unit, or at least accomplish something new, after the holiday break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

I don’t like that they asked the question in a vacuum, though. Obviously people might say they prefer a longer break, but if that means school goes until late June as a result, they may weigh the response differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

I don’t like that they asked the question in a vacuum, though. Obviously people might say they prefer a longer break, but if that means school goes until late June as a result, they may weigh the response differently.

The way the calendar falls in Dec 2025/Jan 2026 is the issue they are trying to address. MCPS doesn't like to have single school days during a week, and 12/24 is Wednesday. They either have school on 12/22 (Mon) and 12/23 (Tue) and 1/2/26 (Fri), have weird one-day extension for 1/2/26 or have a two-week break. They are pushing it back to the community to vote, because it will necessarily extend the school year by 3 days to have a two-week winter break

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

I don’t like that they asked the question in a vacuum, though. Obviously people might say they prefer a longer break, but if that means school goes until late June as a result, they may weigh the response differently.

The way the calendar falls in Dec 2025/Jan 2026 is the issue they are trying to address. MCPS doesn't like to have single school days during a week, and 12/24 is Wednesday. They either have school on 12/22 (Mon) and 12/23 (Tue) and 1/2/26 (Fri), have weird one-day extension for 1/2/26 or have a two-week break. They are pushing it back to the community to vote, because it will necessarily extend the school year by 3 days to have a two-week winter break

I appreciate that they are at least asking questions and starting to collect input well in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two-week winter break being asked about for 25-26!

I don’t like that they asked the question in a vacuum, though. Obviously people might say they prefer a longer break, but if that means school goes until late June as a result, they may weigh the response differently.

The way the calendar falls in Dec 2025/Jan 2026 is the issue they are trying to address. MCPS doesn't like to have single school days during a week, and 12/24 is Wednesday. They either have school on 12/22 (Mon) and 12/23 (Tue) and 1/2/26 (Fri), have weird one-day extension for 1/2/26 or have a two-week break. They are pushing it back to the community to vote, because it will necessarily extend the school year by 3 days to have a two-week winter break

Personally I'd prefer to extend the year a few days and make that 2 weeks.

I'm team Summer Is Too Long anyway, but I never understand the huge reaction against school getting out a bit later in June. (Although I do get that in general it makes sense to start earlier and end earlier, re: May testing.)