MCPS updated calendar is insane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's 2018-2019: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/0285_18_2018-19_SchoolCalendar&ved=2ahUKEwjQ7LaSmeiSAxVXFlkFHR48GuQQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Bv9-dJpYrnJ4juwux-MaD

Looks like they used to have half days for end of quarter grading/planning instead of full.

They need to go back to that.

Yes, we can't have BOTH full-day grading days and take off every single religious holiday. I don't care which we get rid of, but it has to be one.

Or you start one week earlier in August like FCPS dose, and which also has a lot of religious holidays built in (and 3 snow days, unlike stupid MCPS which only puts in 1). There are a lot of options here that are preferrable to this annual chaos around MCPS snow days.

Where I grew up we had 3 snow days. If they weren't used, school ended earlier. If there were more than 3 snow days, they were added on in June. There wasn't this drama and constantly shifting calendars like MCPS does.

I hate MCPS but FCPS goes by hours so they have a lot of flexibility in their schedule. They added 30min to every day about 10 years ago and didn't have to make up a week of snow days

Going by hours makes so much sense. Why don’t we do that?

Because the rest of the country does 180 days in school and because half the kids in MCPS can't read or do math at grade level. But if we're following FCPS as an example, can we start 1 week earlier in August than MCPS currently does like they do? FCPS has several snow days built into their calendar.

Actually only a few states ACTUALLY require 180 separate calendar days. Maryland is one so is New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Others allow a specific amount of hours to count as equivalent of 180 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's not forget that the 26-27 calendar that was just approved also has only one built in snow day and two post-winter makeup days that probably also won't be used. Not only are our children not learning, but the people in charge can't learn from their two years of mistakes.

You know no one is forcing you to live in MoCo, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's 2018-2019: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/0285_18_2018-19_SchoolCalendar&ved=2ahUKEwjQ7LaSmeiSAxVXFlkFHR48GuQQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Bv9-dJpYrnJ4juwux-MaD

Looks like they used to have half days for end of quarter grading/planning instead of full.

They need to go back to that.

Yes, we can't have BOTH full-day grading days and take off every single religious holiday. I don't care which we get rid of, but it has to be one.

Or you start one week earlier in August like FCPS dose, and which also has a lot of religious holidays built in (and 3 snow days, unlike stupid MCPS which only puts in 1). There are a lot of options here that are preferrable to this annual chaos around MCPS snow days.

Where I grew up we had 3 snow days. If they weren't used, school ended earlier. If there were more than 3 snow days, they were added on in June. There wasn't this drama and constantly shifting calendars like MCPS does.

I hate MCPS but FCPS goes by hours so they have a lot of flexibility in their schedule. They added 30min to every day about 10 years ago and didn't have to make up a week of snow days

Going by hours makes so much sense. Why don’t we do that?

Because the rest of the country does 180 days in school and because half the kids in MCPS can't read or do math at grade level. But if we're following FCPS as an example, can we start 1 week earlier in August than MCPS currently does like they do? FCPS has several snow days built into their calendar.

Actually only a few states ACTUALLY require 180 separate calendar days. Maryland is one so is New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Others allow a specific amount of hours to count as equivalent of 180 days.

NJ, CT and MA have among the highest performing states in education. I would rather my kids have 180 days like their residents than this hours BS. Also, NJ, CT and MA all have snow but seem to manage doing 180 days without all the chaos of MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zero chance school will EVER start a week earlier than it already does.... UNLESS it ENDS a week earlier. Teachers unions are very strong and teachers DO NOT want to come back a week earlier. I'm trying to figure out how when Hogan was in office, we managed to start after Labor Day and end by June 15 while still going 180 days??? I think the BOE and Taylor need to review the old calendars from those 8 years.

I agree with this! I’ve been working in mcps for 25 years and here are the recent changes off the top of my head:

Wednesday before Thanksgiving was a half day
Eid (x2) and Lunar New Year were not days off
Grading and reporting days were half days
Some years one Jewish holiday falls on a weekend
No transition day (although I do see the value for some grades)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's 2018-2019: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/0285_18_2018-19_SchoolCalendar&ved=2ahUKEwjQ7LaSmeiSAxVXFlkFHR48GuQQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Bv9-dJpYrnJ4juwux-MaD

Looks like they used to have half days for end of quarter grading/planning instead of full.

They need to go back to that.

Yes, we can't have BOTH full-day grading days and take off every single religious holiday. I don't care which we get rid of, but it has to be one.

Or you start one week earlier in August like FCPS dose, and which also has a lot of religious holidays built in (and 3 snow days, unlike stupid MCPS which only puts in 1). There are a lot of options here that are preferrable to this annual chaos around MCPS snow days.

Where I grew up we had 3 snow days. If they weren't used, school ended earlier. If there were more than 3 snow days, they were added on in June. There wasn't this drama and constantly shifting calendars like MCPS does.

I hate MCPS but FCPS goes by hours so they have a lot of flexibility in their schedule. They added 30min to every day about 10 years ago and didn't have to make up a week of snow days

Going by hours makes so much sense. Why don’t we do that?

Because the rest of the country does 180 days in school and because half the kids in MCPS can't read or do math at grade level. But if we're following FCPS as an example, can we start 1 week earlier in August than MCPS currently does like they do? FCPS has several snow days built into their calendar.

Actually only a few states ACTUALLY require 180 separate calendar days. Maryland is one so is New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Others allow a specific amount of hours to count as equivalent of 180 days.

NJ, CT and MA have among the highest performing states in education. I would rather my kids have 180 days like their residents than this hours BS. Also, NJ, CT and MA all have snow but seem to manage doing 180 days without all the chaos of MCPS.

MA schools are by town not by county. Resulting in serious segregation's between school districts next to each other. My SILs district has like 2 HS outside Boston.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most ridiculous MCPS school calendars ever. Every single one of these clowns need to be voted out.

Essentially, you have starting on the 18th School
No school
Weekend
School
No school
School- half day
School- half day

Nobody’s going to be there after the 18th. Flat out ridiculous and a waste of resources.

This is stupid and bad planning by McPS, particularly since we had this same issue last year. But I sent both my kids to school last year on the half days and they said about 2/3 of the kids were there and they did fun activities with the teacher.

But my kids aren’t in a rich school where everyone goes to sleepaway camp.

Last year's makeup days were June 16 and 17 still ending before Juneteenth and the 1st official day of summer. June 25 goes beyond both of those and there is even a cherry on top with the election day on June 23. Just hold school (full, 3/4, or half days) on March 20 and April 15 and end June 22. While being open for one day after a 3-day weekend is awful it at least curtails the problem to one day and ends before that election day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zero chance school will EVER start a week earlier than it already does.... UNLESS it ENDS a week earlier. Teachers unions are very strong and teachers DO NOT want to come back a week earlier. I'm trying to figure out how when Hogan was in office, we managed to start after Labor Day and end by June 15 while still going 180 days??? I think the BOE and Taylor need to review the old calendars from those 8 years.

I agree with this! I’ve been working in mcps for 25 years and here are the recent changes off the top of my head:

Wednesday before Thanksgiving was a half day
Eid (x2) and Lunar New Year were not days off
Grading and reporting days were half days
Some years one Jewish holiday falls on a weekend
No transition day (although I do see the value for some grades)

Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving also used to be evdill days. They should definitely ditch the transition day. It is such a waste. I had a kid that transitioned to HS this year and th kids all thought it was dumb waste of their time and were irritated they had to go on a day their older siblings didn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So why does MCPS include makeup days in the calendar, and then not use them? 3/20 and 4/15 would have been preferable to these June days.

Exactly the insanity. They can avoid June 24 and 25 by using these days that they marked with M.
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DRFV9T7FA98B/$file/Apprv%20Tech%20Amends%202025-2026%20SY%20Calendars%20260219.pdf

Wednesday
April 15, 2026
Quarter 3 Grading
and Reporting Day Teacher Work Day
Contractual agreement with
Montgomery County Education
Association
--------------------------------------
This is so stupid, they did just fine after losing January 26 and that was also the end of the 1st semester. They can easily use April 15 but are so dang INEPT!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what 3 contingency days could have been used?
March 20, June 18 and APRIL 15
Just do that and resubmit. June 25 is outrageous for a last day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most ridiculous MCPS school calendars ever. Every single one of these clowns need to be voted out.

Essentially, you have starting on the 18th School
No school
Weekend
School
No school
School- half day
School- half day

Nobody’s going to be there after the 18th. Flat out ridiculous and a waste of resources.

This is stupid and bad planning by McPS, particularly since we had this same issue last year. But I sent both my kids to school last year on the half days and they said about 2/3 of the kids were there and they did fun activities with the teacher.

But my kids aren’t in a rich school where everyone goes to sleepaway camp.

Last year's makeup days were June 16 and 17 still ending before Juneteenth and the 1st official day of summer. June 25 goes beyond both of those and there is even a cherry on top with the election day on June 23. Just hold school (full, 3/4, or half days) on March 20 and April 15 and end June 22. While being open for one day after a 3-day weekend is awful it at least curtails the problem to one day and ends before that election day.

I agree. But MCPS in its infinite wisdom doesn't want to use the makeup days it submitted for approval to the BOE and no one is holding them accountable. I truly don't understand why make-up days exist on the MCPS calendar if they're not to make up school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is sending their kids from June 22-25??? But with a day off on June 23? Who comes up with these idiotic decisions??

More to the point, where are they going to get the money to pay staff to work then. And don't start with that "they got paid with the snow days" bullshit. They're going to have to be paid. For Juneteenth, too.

MCPS employee here.... If I remember correctly, we got paid for make-up days last year. And this poster is correct. They probably will have to pay for Juneteenth and election day. Taylor said in the meeting that for each additional day that schools are open, it costs 2 million TAXPAYER dollars per day (that was his quote).

That depends on the type of employee. Make up days are part of the professional staff contracts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please let us start earlier in August and put some more snow days in the calendar, so this doesn't keep happening every year.

If we keep shrinking the summer so much, just get rid of it at this point. My high schoolers go until June 25th and start fall sports practices the beginning of August. So that’s one month off now. Shorter if you want them to start earlier in Aug.

So just make everyone have a one month summer and then every religion, culture, federal, and state holiday can be off too. On top of the staff days home to grade too.

Oh calm down. Having 8 weeks of summer rather than 9 weeks of summer isn’t going to harm kids. Lots of districts start earlier in August. And then McPS can close for every snowflake or speck of ice, having embedded 4 snow days into the calendar

Again for HS,?/ lot of jobs require 8 weeks minimum so it makes it harder hS students. For HS, mid August to end of May makes so much more sense for a lot of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who is sending their kids from June 22-25??? But with a day off on June 23? Who comes up with these idiotic decisions??

More to the point, where are they going to get the money to pay staff to work then. And don't start with that "they got paid with the snow days" bullshit. They're going to have to be paid. For Juneteenth, too.

MCPS employee here.... If I remember correctly, we got paid for make-up days last year. And this poster is correct. They probably will have to pay for Juneteenth and election day. Taylor said in the meeting that for each additional day that schools are open, it costs 2 million TAXPAYER dollars per day (that was his quote).

That depends on the type of employee. Make up days are part of the professional staff contracts.

Hourly workers get paid the make up days (ex: para educators), but they do not get paid if they do not work that day so they can't use leave and still get paid that day since they were paid the snow day. Salary workers (Ex: teachers) do not get paid for the make up days added on to the end of the school year. And it also impacts them starting their summer jobs. Teachers will be working into a new pay period without a paycheck and not able to go to the jobs many depend on to supplement their income.

If MCPS used the make up days in the calendar, teachers are paid those days since they were already professional days! I do not understand why MCPS will not use the days they agreed to and why they even pretend they will next year. At least stop labeling them if you have no intent on using them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is mismanaged. Is this a surprise? No, we will not be going. After AP exams, little teaching is done depending on the class.

Pare ts of AP students have such main character syndrome

[Anonymous]

I do not see any value in the transition day as is.

It was better when it was a half day the week prior. It did not take the place of a snow day then and the half day is better suited for introducing things and easing in.