MoCo 24-25 calendar feedback

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s close school for everyone’s religious holidays: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Chinese New year. And given the big Persian population in Moco, we should add Persian new year to the list!

I believe the decision to observe religious holidays is informed by census data.

It's informed by teachers requesting time off and the lack of enough substitutes.

No different than any other school day when there aren’t enough subs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

[Anonymous]

Also, MCPS calendar is 185 school days instead of the state minimum of 180. Let’s cut those 5 days first. We have all these snow make up days built in above the 185 days as noted in the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, MCPS calendar is 185 school days instead of the state minimum of 180. Let’s cut those 5 days first. We have all these snow make up days built in above the 185 days as noted in the calendar.

No it’s not. It’s 182 and has been since Hogan mandated a start after Labor Day. I think we’ve used at least two emergency days ever year since I started teaching 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

First, no law requires this. MCPS has Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off because too many teachers are absent/not enough subs to cover those who take off to observe the holidays. Second, it’s not “now.” I graduated from MCPS in the mid-1990s and we had those two days off.

[Anonymous]

Way too many random non-instructional days. Why can't they do professional training and development during breaks or in June in one pass?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

Why don't we stop taking off Christian holidays and we can use those days for Jewish holidays?

The issue is lots of staff request off and they don't have enough coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

The past few years MCPS has scheduled teacher professional days to coincide with Muslim and Hindu holidays. I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm with an earlier PP, why not include Nowruz too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

Why don't we stop taking off Christian holidays and we can use those days for Jewish holidays?

The issue is lots of staff request off and they don't have enough coverage.

Name on Christian holiday that is not a state or federal holiday where lots of staff request off.

There is a sub shortage on any given day. Your argument is antiquated. The demographics of MCPS have also shifted.

Explain why private schools, many with larger proportions of Jewish students, don’t have Jewish holidays off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, MCPS calendar is 185 school days instead of the state minimum of 180. Let’s cut those 5 days first. We have all these snow make up days built in above the 185 days as noted in the calendar.

No it’s not. It’s 182 and has been since Hogan mandated a start after Labor Day. I think we’ve used at least two emergency days ever year since I started teaching 20 years ago.

“The Annotated Code of Maryland, Section 7-103 requires that schools be open for pupil attendance 180 days and a minimum of 1,080 hours during a ten-month period.”

http://marylandpublicschools.org/about/Pages/School-Systems/Open-Closing-Dates.aspx

Why does MCPS have any extra days? They have designated certain days as possible make up days like the first day or Spring Break, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Way too many random non-instructional days. Why can't they do professional training and development during breaks or in June in one pass?

Same reason you don't want your kid pulling all-nighters before an exam. Spreading it out makes it more effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, MCPS calendar is 185 school days instead of the state minimum of 180. Let’s cut those 5 days first. We have all these snow make up days built in above the 185 days as noted in the calendar.

No it’s not. It’s 182 and has been since Hogan mandated a start after Labor Day. I think we’ve used at least two emergency days ever year since I started teaching 20 years ago.

“The Annotated Code of Maryland, Section 7-103 requires that schools be open for pupil attendance 180 days and a minimum of 1,080 hours during a ten-month period.”

http://marylandpublicschools.org/about/Pages/School-Systems/Open-Closing-Dates.aspx

Why does MCPS have any extra days? They have designated certain days as possible make up days like the first day or Spring Break, etc.

It's much easier to build in two extra days than to have to cancel scheduled days off whenever there are unplanned closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

Why don't we stop taking off Christian holidays and we can use those days for Jewish holidays?

The issue is lots of staff request off and they don't have enough coverage.

Name on Christian holiday that is not a state or federal holiday where lots of staff request off.

There is a sub shortage on any given day. Your argument is antiquated. The demographics of MCPS have also shifted.

Explain why private schools, many with larger proportions of Jewish students, don’t have Jewish holidays off.

There's no explaining private schools. They can do whatever they choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

The past few years MCPS has scheduled teacher professional days to coincide with Muslim and Hindu holidays. I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm with an earlier PP, why not include Nowruz too?

They did a survey asking staff which holidays they would most likely take off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to start after labor day and end before memorial day. Plenty of time to get 180 instruction days in then.

Sure. Let's change state laws on requiring that school be closed on Good Friday, Eastern Monday, and Christmas to New Years.

Now laws requiring we take Jewish holidays off

Thank you for your antisemitism. MoCo has a sizeable Jewish population and the move to have Yom Kippur off is well justified

Not antisemitism, just pointing out we take off a Jewish holidays in addition to state and federal holidays but not for other religions. Either take all of them or just the ones required by law

Why don't we stop taking off Christian holidays and we can use those days for Jewish holidays?

The issue is lots of staff request off and they don't have enough coverage.

Name on Christian holiday that is not a state or federal holiday where lots of staff request off.

There is a sub shortage on any given day. Your argument is antiquated. The demographics of MCPS have also shifted.

Explain why private schools, many with larger proportions of Jewish students, don’t have Jewish holidays off.

Some private schools are closed for Jewish holidays, of course.

But you are welcome to provide your input to the BoE that, in your opinion, schools should only be closed on Christian holidays.