Why is Winter Break so short?

[Anonymous]

We are planning a move next to the MC area and while reading the MCPS website, I was surprised to see that Winter Break does not start the third Friday of December. I could not find any other holiday break that was longer to compensate, so I'm just wondering why it is so short, especially since the school year goes into mid-June? Is this the norm back East? If so, then the school year must be more than 180 days. We are looking forward to moving there but I know the kids are certainly going to miss those extra days.

[Anonymous]

The MCPS school year is 184 days. There are 4 snow days built into the calendar. If the county uses less than 4 snow days in a given year, then yes, the school year is more than 180 days.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, Christmas is on a Sunday this year so we usually go to school until Dec. 23 which is Friday. We have off until Jan. 3. It is often longer than a week and a day depending on when Christmas falls.

[Anonymous]

I have teacher friends in Seattle who are already on winter break, and don't quite see how. MCPS break runs at least Dec 24-Jan 1, longer depending on what day of the week those dates fall. The school year is 184 days, and a quick Google search shows 180 to be the average for the US.

[Anonymous]

Family in Seattle has 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 in Feb and 2 more in April. Private school but WOW!

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is the norm in this area. All public schools only do the one week (and whatever days might add on, depending on when Christmas falls) between Christmas and New Year's. No districts in this area have the February break that some other regions do, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have teacher friends in Seattle who are already on winter break, and don't quite see how. MCPS break runs at least Dec 24-Jan 1, longer depending on what day of the week those dates fall. The school year is 184 days, and a quick Google search shows 180 to be the average for the US.

I bet teachers in Seattle don't get the Jewish holidays off (Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur) as MCPS does. That further shortens the calendar.

[Anonymous]

I absolutely agree that its too short. We have family out in CA and the school calendar makes it difficult if not impossible to attend family events for Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter.

My kids' cousins in CA get a full week off for Thanksgiving and are off starting this Monday for Christmas. They don't end earlier for the summer and go back later in the fall. They also don't have all these professional half days in the middle of the week that MCPS seems to love. In CA, the professional days are positioned right before breaks so families can out of town.

Its is cheaper for us since we work and would need to arrange for childcare is we were not traveling but the short breaks along with the intense pressure to never take them out for vacations really negatively impacts our time with extended family. It sucks because we have a large extended family out there and none here. They all get together around the holidays but not in the summers when there is more break time.

[Anonymous]

Look at next years school calendar. Spring break is 10 days, and every monday holiday they get the Tuesday off too. But winter break is still a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids' cousins in CA get a full week off for Thanksgiving and are off starting this Monday for Christmas. They don't end earlier for the summer and go back later in the fall.

I grew up in California, post-Prop 13.

Yes, we got a lot of time off. We also got to take our lunch every day (no cafeteria), we could study Spanish or French only until Level II (freshman year if you started in MS), and we had our choice of 3 whole AP classes -- with enrollment capped at 30 students each per year.

[Anonymous]

This country needs more school (with the proper subject matter being taught- Reading/Writing/Arithmetic), not LESS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family in Seattle has 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 in Feb and 2 more in April. Private school but WOW!

Sure sounds like they're getting their money's worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They also don't have all these professional half days in the middle of the week that MCPS seems to love.

Not sure what professional half-days in the middle of the week you're talking about. Perhaps it's an elementary and/or middle school thing. In the high schools, we have 2 professional half days during the enitire school year (for grading at interim time 1st and 3rd quarters), and both count towards the 184 day calendar. There are three professional days where there is no school for students during the school year. Each one is at the end of the marking period and is for grading and report card prep.

The only way MCPS could extend Winter Break is if they got rid of the built in snow days. If school has to be cancelled at all under such a system, the day(s) must be made up. Parents would then be screaming about the school year being extended in June or about losing days from Spring Break.

Many students in the school where I teach are missing multiple days this week (some are missing the entire week) so they can go on trips. Not the visiting family for the holidays type of trip. I'm talking cruises, time at the ski house in Colorado, etc. trips involving just the immediate family. I personally find that ridiculous and will continue to teach new material the entire week. No homework over the break though. A break is a break!

Take trips when there is no school and during the 10 weeks students have off in the summer.

[Anonymous]

How much grading and reporting time is really needed these days with on-line grading?

[Anonymous]

Only secondary schools and a very small handful of elementary schools in MCPS use online grading. Most elementary schools are still using bubble sheets for report cards that teachers have to fill out individually for each student. They have to keep their own gradebooks (some use a paper pencil gradebook, some use the computer like Excel).