2026-2027 calendar updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

[Anonymous]

it is just too late to start school earlier for 2026! We are one of many families that has a nonrefundable trip already planned that week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

They can't do it because they aren't interested and didn't try. As far as whether there is an "operational reason to close" on Eid, well when we as a society accept that Eid is a valid holiday and that Muslim communities belong here, then in many schools there absolutely would be an operational reason to close. So while the politicans sound annoying to you, they aren't wrong that this is about inclusivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

They can't do it because they aren't interested and didn't try. As far as whether there is an "operational reason to close" on Eid, well when we as a society accept that Eid is a valid holiday and that Muslim communities belong here, then in many schools there absolutely would be an operational reason to close. So while the politicans sound annoying to you, they aren't wrong that this is about inclusivity.

When did we “as a society” decide to conform to the needs of a small minority?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

They can't do it because they aren't interested and didn't try. As far as whether there is an "operational reason to close" on Eid, well when we as a society accept that Eid is a valid holiday and that Muslim communities belong here, then in many schools there absolutely would be an operational reason to close. So while the politicans sound annoying to you, they aren't wrong that this is about inclusivity.

When did we “as a society” decide to conform to the needs of a small minority?

We're not "confirming" we are accommodating diverse needs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

They can't do it because they aren't interested and didn't try. As far as whether there is an "operational reason to close" on Eid, well when we as a society accept that Eid is a valid holiday and that Muslim communities belong here, then in many schools there absolutely would be an operational reason to close. So while the politicans sound annoying to you, they aren't wrong that this is about inclusivity.

When did we “as a society” decide to conform to the needs of a small minority?

We're not "confirming" we are accommodating diverse needs

We will never be able to include every religious or cultural group by honoring every holiday. Someone will always be shortchanged. So, why not base school closure decisions solely on data? The Jewish holidays were added decades ago when the absentee rate for those holidays exceeded 15% of students and staff. The populations whose holidays we have now added to the calendar simply do not reach those levels in MCPS and therefore do not impact operations in a way that makes having school difficult on those holidays. This is not racist or exclusive - in practical terms it just doesn't make sense to close a school system of our size to accommodate a very small percentage of people who are welcome and encouraged use excused absences to celebrate those holidays and who should absolutely be given maximum flexibility in making up missed work.

[Anonymous]

Just make the religious days half days. I can imagine many parents would like their kids to be at school for a bit while they cook/set up whatever, then they can have a meal/travel etc together.

I'm Orthodox Christian and we don't get Orthodox Good Friday off (unless it overlaps with Catholic/Protestant Good Friday.) I'd bet there are tons of people in this situation (Ukrainians, Russians, Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians, many Arab Christians etc etc etc) Old calendars had a bunch of Saints days off, which we no longer do. This MCPS way of trying to please everyone and therefore not actually getting anything done needs to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

That's a bad metric. Many will come to school because they feel they have to. It's not a real choice.

MCPS can accommodate different religions and not lengthen the school year by eliminating the transition day, having school on presidents day and keeping spring break to one week by eliminating the requirement to not have school on Easter Monday or Good Friday. It will require advocacy but they clearly can do this seeing as they get waivers from the state every year.

They have a choice - it's an excused absence. And if they show up despite the excused absence, then that's not an operational reason to close.

And I agree that the state should revise the law to remove the requirement to be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but that's not something that MCPS can do in this calendar.

They can't do it because they aren't interested and didn't try. As far as whether there is an "operational reason to close" on Eid, well when we as a society accept that Eid is a valid holiday and that Muslim communities belong here, then in many schools there absolutely would be an operational reason to close. So while the politicans sound annoying to you, they aren't wrong that this is about inclusivity.

Their own policy does not allow them to close for religious reasons. They can only close for operational reasons, which means that a substantial portion of teachers and/or students does not show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

Here is the policy on calendar: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/policy/pdf/ida.pdf

It says: "To close schools districtwide on any day other than those mandated by Maryland law, the district must establish that a school closure furthers a
secular purpose, such as any of the operational needs or educational
interests enumerated above. A student’s observance of a religious holiday
is an excused absence under Maryland law."

MCPS explicitly cannot close for a religious reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it is just too late to start school earlier for 2026! We are one of many families that has a nonrefundable trip already planned that week.

Then go on your trip and enjoy it. A few missed days of school is ok. They will probably placate families by making that first week excused absences if necessary