2026-2027 calendar updates

[Anonymous]

https://wjla.com/news/local/fairfax-county-calendar-academic-student-changes-holidays-veterans-early-release-parents-staff-changes-school-board-public-indigenous-peoples

Fairfax county fed up with how "long" their school year is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/fairfax-county-calendar-academic-student-changes-holidays-veterans-early-release-parents-staff-changes-school-board-public-indigenous-peoples

Fairfax county fed up with how "long" their school year is.

Yet they have it. And they had an appropriate amount of snow days last year and didn't have to have their students miss out on 180 instructional days like MCPS does. You all can feel free to campaign to get rid of religious holidays from the school calendar, but there doesn't seem to be much momentum behind that. And since MSDE is now calling out MCPS on their crap planning with only 1 snow day built into the calenadar for the last 2 years, MCPS needs to make a change.

Any change makes people unhappy--this thread is proof--but I think what MCPS has proposed here with an earlier start date is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://wjla.com/news/local/fairfax-county-calendar-academic-student-changes-holidays-veterans-early-release-parents-staff-changes-school-board-public-indigenous-peoples

Fairfax county fed up with how "long" their school year is.

Yet they have it. And they had an appropriate amount of snow days last year and didn't have to have their students miss out on 180 instructional days like MCPS does. You all can feel free to campaign to get rid of religious holidays from the school calendar, but there doesn't seem to be much momentum behind that. And since MSDE is now calling out MCPS on their crap planning with only 1 snow day built into the calenadar for the last 2 years, MCPS needs to make a change.

Any change makes people unhappy--this thread is proof--but I think what MCPS has proposed here with an earlier start date is a good thing.

Or again, MCPS could simply use the makeup days it already proposed and already approved. The problem is they are now admitting they had no intention to use those makeup days just like they didn't want to this year.

[Anonymous]

It sucks. I am a single mom with little help. The moment the upcoming school year comes out, I put it in my calendar. My child rarely misses school because I plan everything around the calendar. I start setting up summer camps in January. My leave usually has to be approved way in advance so I also plan around that. To have such little notice really pisses me off. What is the point of all these calendar studies if you can just pull the rug out from under people. I also fall into the camp of getting rid of PD days and holidays. I fall under one of the holiday categories and would rather send my child in if I had the choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No chance they start a week early. Again, people forget about the teacher's union. They can't just change dates without consulting the union

It is against state law for teachers to negotiate the calendar

[Anonymous]

To the poster who said the earlier start would be a good thing, I would be willing to discuss that through an open process. There is a solid reasoning behind it. However, the system can’t just drop this on us, give two weeks for public feedback that they will likely ignore, and then make the change anyways. The process of making public policy in a fair, democratic manner has withered significantly, and this whole calendar issue is another example. Earlier start for 2027-2028? I can talk about it. This last minute change, though, is an unacceptable way to govern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who said the earlier start would be a good thing, I would be willing to discuss that through an open process. There is a solid reasoning behind it. However, the system can’t just drop this on us, give two weeks for public feedback that they will likely ignore, and then make the change anyways. The process of making public policy in a fair, democratic manner has withered significantly, and this whole calendar issue is another example. Earlier start for 2027-2028? I can talk about it. This last minute change, though, is an unacceptable way to govern.

And the Board seems to keep doing this... look at what's happening with the math curriculum. No one knows they're about to upend that...

[Anonymous]

Drop the religious holidays for this upcoming year, make them excused absences for those who observe, and then shorten the summer next year with the religious holidays restored if there's time for them. I'm all for a shorter summer to minimize the summer slide in general, but at this point, as folks have said, summers are planned out and the weeks out of school are accounted for with camps, parental time off, vacations, etc. It's a little late to be making such a big change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop the religious holidays for this upcoming year, make them excused absences for those who observe, and then shorten the summer next year with the religious holidays restored if there's time for them. I'm all for a shorter summer to minimize the summer slide in general, but at this point, as folks have said, summers are planned out and the weeks out of school are accounted for with camps, parental time off, vacations, etc. It's a little late to be making such a big change.

+1. And observing a religious holiday is already an excused absence, and has been for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop the religious holidays for this upcoming year, make them excused absences for those who observe, and then shorten the summer next year with the religious holidays restored if there's time for them. I'm all for a shorter summer to minimize the summer slide in general, but at this point, as folks have said, summers are planned out and the weeks out of school are accounted for with camps, parental time off, vacations, etc. It's a little late to be making such a big change.

+1. If you need to make changes, it does seem logical to make the bigger changes that affect everyone for school years after this one, and the smaller changes that affect smaller groups sooner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Everyone needs to fill out the survey and say as much and indicate you’re okay designating some of the religious holidays as makeup days.

I'm not super comfortable for this option, but I'm OK to short upcoming winter break or next spring break days, assuming that they give us enough ahead-of-time notice. Apparently MCPS is leaning toward a last-minute-notice pattern nowadays...

AT THIS POINT I prefer using holidays as a first choice and shortening spring and winter break as a second choice. In the future starting earlier is fine, especially if we can know when the prior school year will end at a reasonable time.

Everyone acting like childcare/camp is some 1 percent privilege is completely out of touch. I like in a solidly MC neighborhood in Rockville and basically every family I know with working parents has made a plan for how they will cover that week. For many it’s camp (and a half week is often the worst, because camps will cancel for the full week, so it’s extra hard to find child care for those handful of days) or they run and you have to pay for days you don’t use. I have a friend who is still scrambling to get a refund for a camp that was supposed to run the week after school ends this year, that was canceled before MSDE gave the waiver. The camp moved to a different week, and it’s not coming back. To make people do that again, for another week this same summer, is ridiculous. Many families in our neighborhood also fly overseas and either leave their kids with grandparents or stay the whole summer to get help with childcare. All of these things have been planned for and set up for months and are very expensive to change.

What about high school sports? Will they start even earlier? I don’t actually care about that but it’s just annoying to so many people.

I agree wholeheartedly with your comments on camps. It's not a privilege, it's a necessity in a HCOL area where almost every household needs dual incomes to survive. Especially considering WFH options are becoming increasingly rare. Do I want to pay thousands for camp every summer? No, but I do it because I have to work to put food on the table, a roof over our heads, and all the other myriad expenses that comes with life. At least it's tax deductible.

You may see it as a necessity in your high cost bubble, but you are out of touch. But most MCPS kids aren't in summer camps all summer--and very few are paying thousands every summer for camps. They can't afford it. And even for those with kids in camp-there aren't that many options available for the end of August--there are so many threads about the lack of options at for those last weeks in August because some school districts have already gone back to school earlier than MCPS (ex: FCPS).

I live in Montgomery County, it's all a "high cost bubble"

Also keep in mind that people of all backgrounds travel. Just because most can't afford to spend 5 weeks in Europe staying in fancy hotels doesn't mean nobody else takes vacations. Those weeks in August before school starts are hard to find childcare for and it's often the one time of year some families do plan to travel.

This. Plus us non-rich folks usually don’t have a lot of vacation and have to get permission to use it well in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drop the religious holidays for this upcoming year, make them excused absences for those who observe, and then shorten the summer next year with the religious holidays restored if there's time for them. I'm all for a shorter summer to minimize the summer slide in general, but at this point, as folks have said, summers are planned out and the weeks out of school are accounted for with camps, parental time off, vacations, etc. It's a little late to be making such a big change.

This is a sensible suggestion. However, although our federal lead is running toward the right, this county is deep deep waken still. Unless you can wrap your "cancelling religious holiday" suggestion with the "equity" coating, you are just politically incorrect here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drop the religious holidays for this upcoming year, make them excused absences for those who observe, and then shorten the summer next year with the religious holidays restored if there's time for them. I'm all for a shorter summer to minimize the summer slide in general, but at this point, as folks have said, summers are planned out and the weeks out of school are accounted for with camps, parental time off, vacations, etc. It's a little late to be making such a big change.

This is a sensible suggestion. However, although our federal lead is running toward the right, this county is deep deep waken still. Unless you can wrap your "cancelling religious holiday" suggestion with the "equity" coating, you are just politically incorrect here.

Yeah they are not going to do this

[Anonymous]

Does moving the first day back also mean moving the last day to earlier? On another thread about a similar topic, someone said that the new last day would be June 11?

[Anonymous]

For the 12 years that I was a student in MCPS we had no problems starting after Labor Day, ending by mid-June and still getting a decent winter break and spring break. MCPS has become politically correct to the point that their scheduling has become ridiculous. They could easily make 1/2 day inservice days for teachers (as a 20+ year teacher in the county I know that most inservices are a waste of time and do nothing to make us better teachers). They need to get rid of this ridiculous transition day, stop giving off for every religious holiday (exempt teachers and students who celebrate with approved absences) to appease a few squeaky wheels, and just go back to teaching children.

It shouldn’t be this difficult.