How to fit school days into Gov Larry Hogan's ridiculous policy on school start and stop dates

[Anonymous]

These are the dates MCPS are required to be closed by State Law

Tuesday, November 6, 2018: Election Day

Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23, 2018: Thanksgiving and the day after

Monday, December 24, 2018 through Tuesday, January 1, 2019: Christmas Eve through January 1

Monday, January 21, 2019: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Monday, February 18, 2019: Presidents’ Day

Friday, April 19, 2019: the Friday before Easter

Monday, April 22, 2019: the Monday after Easter

Monday, May 27, 2019: Memorial Day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is already proposing a schedule option with no professional days during the school year. So I don't understand why you keep saying that the professional days are the problem.

Also, are you seriously proposing putting professional days during Christmas and New Year's? Is that when your office holds training sessions?

No, professional days can be the week before school starts. However, others are also saying that the teachers need days for grading, for cleaning their rooms, and for additional non-student activities that are non-training days. Teachers can take a day during the week between Christmas and New Year's (not on the actual days) or Spring Break if they need additional non-student days for such activities.

Teachers may or may not need days for such things, but they are already not in two of the four proposed calendar options. So they're not relevant to the discussion. If they're already not in the calendar options, you can't solve the calendar problems by removing them.

Two of the proposed calendars have no professional days. The other three have two (which can also be used as make-up days if needed). State law requires the school to be closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you can't put them in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm fine with school starting after Labor Day. The day everyone should petition the state to change is Easter Monday. That is not a holiday. No one goes to church that day or celebrates. That day could easily be reallocated elsewhere. Also, they could push back the end date in June a few days too.

You don't know much about local history. Easter Monday is a traditional African American day at the National Zoo and has been for many years (I just checked, this started in 1891). It's packed. This was started in the days when African Americans were not welcome at traditional Easter celebrations including Easter at the White House. It's still a big annual event for many black families from the metro region. It's often been called the Black Easter.

https://www.theroot.com/for-dc-easter-monday-at-the-national-zoo-is-an-african-1790859364

And kids won't attend school.

That's all there is to that.

Eliminating a holiday doesn't necessarily eliminate the need to celebrate. People will do what people will do. Do you think that wealthy parents will be cutting their spring breaks short?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is already proposing a schedule option with no professional days during the school year. So I don't understand why you keep saying that the professional days are the problem.

Also, are you seriously proposing putting professional days during Christmas and New Year's? Is that when your office holds training sessions?

No, professional days can be the week before school starts. However, others are also saying that the teachers need days for grading, for cleaning their rooms, and for additional non-student activities that are non-training days. Teachers can take a day during the week between Christmas and New Year's (not on the actual days) or Spring Break if they need additional non-student days for such activities.

Teachers may or may not need days for such things, but they are already not in two of the four proposed calendar options. So they're not relevant to the discussion. If they're already not in the calendar options, you can't solve the calendar problems by removing them.

Two of the proposed calendars have no professional days. The other three have two (which can also be used as make-up days if needed). State law requires the school to be closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you can't put them in there.

It's really frustrating that non teachers can't appreciate that planning and grading require current knowledge of your class. Sorry, I can't grade your kid's final exams over your Christmas break, because she hasn't take it yet. Can't grade the research papers that are not yet written... can't develop lesson plans to addess individual student needs that haven't surfaced yet. Teaching requires regular reflection and response. Planning days at intervals are much more beneficial for your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is already proposing a schedule option with no professional days during the school year. So I don't understand why you keep saying that the professional days are the problem.

Also, are you seriously proposing putting professional days during Christmas and New Year's? Is that when your office holds training sessions?

No, professional days can be the week before school starts. However, others are also saying that the teachers need days for grading, for cleaning their rooms, and for additional non-student activities that are non-training days. Teachers can take a day during the week between Christmas and New Year's (not on the actual days) or Spring Break if they need additional non-student days for such activities.

Teachers may or may not need days for such things, but they are already not in two of the four proposed calendar options. So they're not relevant to the discussion. If they're already not in the calendar options, you can't solve the calendar problems by removing them.

Two of the proposed calendars have no professional days. The other three have two (which can also be used as make-up days if needed). State law requires the school to be closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you can't put them in there.

I will readily admit that I have no idea how professional days are used. It makes more sense for the school board to use sensible language like what you just used in order to communicate in a clear, rational way. The emotionally overwrought language they use about this issue is such a turnoff.



It's really frustrating that non teachers can't appreciate that planning and grading require current knowledge of your class. Sorry, I can't grade your kid's final exams over your Christmas break, because she hasn't take it yet. Can't grade the research papers that are not yet written... can't develop lesson plans to addess individual student needs that haven't surfaced yet. Teaching requires regular reflection and response. Planning days at intervals are much more beneficial for your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is already proposing a schedule option with no professional days during the school year. So I don't understand why you keep saying that the professional days are the problem.

Also, are you seriously proposing putting professional days during Christmas and New Year's? Is that when your office holds training sessions?

No, professional days can be the week before school starts. However, others are also saying that the teachers need days for grading, for cleaning their rooms, and for additional non-student activities that are non-training days. Teachers can take a day during the week between Christmas and New Year's (not on the actual days) or Spring Break if they need additional non-student days for such activities.

Teachers may or may not need days for such things, but they are already not in two of the four proposed calendar options. So they're not relevant to the discussion. If they're already not in the calendar options, you can't solve the calendar problems by removing them.

Two of the proposed calendars have no professional days. The other three have two (which can also be used as make-up days if needed). State law requires the school to be closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you can't put them in there.

I will readily admit that I have no idea how professional days are used. It makes more sense for the school board to use sensible language like what you just used in order to communicate in a clear, rational way. The emotionally overwrought language they use about this issue is such a turnoff.




It's really frustrating that non teachers can't appreciate that planning and grading require current knowledge of your class. Sorry, I can't grade your kid's final exams over your Christmas break, because she hasn't take it yet. Can't grade the research papers that are not yet written... can't develop lesson plans to addess individual student needs that haven't surfaced yet. Teaching requires regular reflection and response. Planning days at intervals are much more beneficial for your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I will readily admit that I have no idea how professional days are used. It makes more sense for the school board to use sensible language like what you just used in order to communicate in a clear, rational way. The emotionally overwrought language they use about this issue is such a turnoff.

You're blaming the board of education for your lack of understanding about what professional days are used for.

I wonder whether any of the armchair, "it's simple, just do it!" school board members on this thread are thinking about actually running for the actual school board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is already proposing a schedule option with no professional days during the school year. So I don't understand why you keep saying that the professional days are the problem.

Also, are you seriously proposing putting professional days during Christmas and New Year's? Is that when your office holds training sessions?

No, professional days can be the week before school starts. However, others are also saying that the teachers need days for grading, for cleaning their rooms, and for additional non-student activities that are non-training days. Teachers can take a day during the week between Christmas and New Year's (not on the actual days) or Spring Break if they need additional non-student days for such activities.

Teachers may or may not need days for such things, but they are already not in two of the four proposed calendar options. So they're not relevant to the discussion. If they're already not in the calendar options, you can't solve the calendar problems by removing them.

Two of the proposed calendars have no professional days. The other three have two (which can also be used as make-up days if needed). State law requires the school to be closed the week between Christmas and New Years, so you can't put them in there.

It's really frustrating that non teachers can't appreciate that planning and grading require current knowledge of your class. Sorry, I can't grade your kid's final exams over your Christmas break, because she hasn't take it yet. Can't grade the research papers that are not yet written... can't develop lesson plans to addess individual student needs that haven't surfaced yet. Teaching requires regular reflection and response. Planning days at intervals are much more beneficial for your children.

I completely appreciate it. What I don't appreciate it is the fact that your union isn't looking for changes to get your full days back or ever pushing back on more days off.

1. Why hasn't the teachers union addressed the state mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

2. If there are calendar options here without the Jewish holidays off, obviously the BOE knows this won't be a major scheduling issue. Is the teacher's union okay with removing those dates for teacher's day? I have yet to hear an opinion on that. How about Eid? How does the teacher's union feel about the BOE giving off for that day? What if Diwali, Lunar NY, and other holidays start requesting off. What is the teacher's union position on that?

3. Ask the BOE why are they ending school on June 11th when they could end June 14th and give you full day teacher days that, if it snows would turn back into half days 2nd and 3rd quarters.


If you want your days turned into full work days, something has got to give.

[Anonymous]

How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

Ask the BOE to request a waiver to include Good Friday and Easter Monday as optional snow days so that the regularly scheduled days June 12-14 can be used as full days and not snow days. This reduces the risk that kids will get less than 180 days of school in the event of snow days and still keeps to the mandated opening and closing dates.

Other schools have asked to use President's Day as an optional snow day and have been given waivers to that effect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

Ask the BOE to request a waiver to include Good Friday and Easter Monday as optional snow days so that the regularly scheduled days June 12-14 can be used as full days and not snow days. This reduces the risk that kids will get less than 180 days of school in the event of snow days and still keeps to the mandated opening and closing dates.

Other schools have asked to use President's Day as an optional snow day and have been given waivers to that effect.

That's not what I consider to be the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

Ask the BOE to request a waiver to include Good Friday and Easter Monday as optional snow days so that the regularly scheduled days June 12-14 can be used as full days and not snow days. This reduces the risk that kids will get less than 180 days of school in the event of snow days and still keeps to the mandated opening and closing dates.

Other schools have asked to use President's Day as an optional snow day and have been given waivers to that effect.

That's not what I consider to be the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue.

One of the reasons that this nation is getting so divided is that so many make everything black and white. Both sides make stands that something must be changed completely immediately. Over the last 20 years, the nation has slowly decimated the moderates of both parties who used to make compromises and get actual work done. Instead, people are taking strong stands and digging in their heels that change must happen. Here's the real problem; change happens slowly. Progress happens slowly. And you need to make changes slow enough that those who are opposed to said changes don't just have to "live with it" but can adapt to the changes.

In this case, start by making the Easter holidays snow days. It eliminates the requirements to have a guaranteed holiday. But in the event that there are snow days, they become the first days that go back in as replacement school days and kids go to school. Families who resist the change will get used to sometimes losing their long Easter weekend and will start to plan accordingly. They know that they may have to cancel or adjust plans. After they become accustomed to not having a guaranteed long Easter weekend, and after the kids have to be in school a couple of times on Easter weekend, then it becomes easier to eliminate it as a state-mandated holiday and you'll get a lot less push-back on such a change.

[Anonymous]

Getting rid of state-mandated religious holidays in the school calendar (to the extent that Easter Monday even is a religious holiday) is such a fraught issue that we have to gently, gradually sneak up to getting around to eventually doing it some time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

Go out as a UNION and request to the state that they remove one or both of these days as state mandated so the BOE of each district can handle the 180 days better, the kids get a full week of Spring Break without another day off in the beginning or the end (depending on when they have Spring Break) for either Good Friday or Easter Monday. As a matter of fact, why not just make Spring break after 3rd quarter and then you don't even need a Q3 planning half or full day. Teachers get a whole week to grade and report before 4th quarter. Because really neither are a holiday that kids need to be out of school for and Easter is on a Sunday so there is no need to have any days around it off. I say this as a Catholic. I much rather Jewish families fasting for Yom Kippur be off from school than my kids on Easter Monday doing nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How should the teachers union address the state-mandated Good Friday and Easter Monday issue?

Go out as a UNION and request to the state that they remove one or both of these days as state mandated so the BOE of each district can handle the 180 days better, the kids get a full week of Spring Break without another day off in the beginning or the end (depending on when they have Spring Break) for either Good Friday or Easter Monday. As a matter of fact, why not just make Spring break after 3rd quarter and then you don't even need a Q3 planning half or full day. Teachers get a whole week to grade and report before 4th quarter. Because really neither are a holiday that kids need to be out of school for and Easter is on a Sunday so there is no need to have any days around it off. I say this as a Catholic. I much rather Jewish families fasting for Yom Kippur be off from school than my kids on Easter Monday doing nothing.

Unfortunately the state can't do that. Only the General Assembly can do that. It's state law.