Next year's calendar has school on December 23, 2025 and has only 1 free emergency day built in-180 requirement issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because that's a Tuesday expect many absences on Dec 22/23.
Next year's calendar has the perfect storm of challenges: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Diwali (new), Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha all land on otherwise school days and unlike this year none coincide with a quarter end. Yom Kippur 2024 was on a Saturday, Lunar New Year and Eid al-Fitr 2025 double up with Grading days but there is no such luxury next year leading to 3 extra days off and Diwali makes that 4.
Without any other tweaks there is the battle of starting a mini week on undesirable dates on Monday the 22nd either in December or June.
They could move the new transition day to the week before school to build a day in and adjust the calendar to avoid the low attendance days in late December but there would not be any freebies for cancelations. If the PD day in October is moved from the 17th to the 20th doubling with Diwali that would help but that is not much cushion in most years especially in brutal winters.

What needs to happen is for Maryland to join other states like neighboring Virginia and tweak the school calendar law to allow flexibility while still having a similar sized school year.
A. Schools must schedule 180 days but up to four free cancelations can occur before any makeup days are needed.
B. Up to 4 professional development days count towards the 180 day requirement (if there are 3 or less more student days are required)
C. 180 Day Hours equivalent {Some states including Virginia, Georgia, Florida have this option. (For Virginia it's 990 hours)}

It sure didn't take long for MCEA to cut school days after getting Zimnerman on the board. They could have at least waited until Zimmerman bothered to show up to a meeting.

The transition day was Taylor's idea, not MCEA's.

Read the OP. They want to cut 4 school days.

It would only be cutting 4 school days if there are 4 or more emergency closures. If there are 0-3 then there are more school days. There would still have to meet the 1080 hour requirement which is higher than many other states.

That's not what the OP proposed. They suggested only requiring 176 instructional days.

Well things like bad weather happen. For the current school year if the calendar was the same except for Jan 2 & 3 there would be 180 days.... if there were 0 cancelations. For next year no school on Dec 22 & 23 would only leave 179 scheduled days so the new transition day would need to be previous week or the PD on October 17 would need to be moved to October 20 (Diwali) but then there would be 180 days..... before emergency closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because that's a Tuesday expect many absences on Dec 22/23.
Next year's calendar has the perfect storm of challenges: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Diwali (new), Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha all land on otherwise school days and unlike this year none coincide with a quarter end. Yom Kippur 2024 was on a Saturday, Lunar New Year and Eid al-Fitr 2025 double up with Grading days but there is no such luxury next year leading to 3 extra days off and Diwali makes that 4.
Without any other tweaks there is the battle of starting a mini week on undesirable dates on Monday the 22nd either in December or June.
They could move the new transition day to the week before school to build a day in and adjust the calendar to avoid the low attendance days in late December but there would not be any freebies for cancelations. If the PD day in October is moved from the 17th to the 20th doubling with Diwali that would help but that is not much cushion in most years especially in brutal winters.

What needs to happen is for Maryland to join other states like neighboring Virginia and tweak the school calendar law to allow flexibility while still having a similar sized school year.
A. Schools must schedule 180 days but up to four free cancelations can occur before any makeup days are needed.
B. Up to 4 professional development days count towards the 180 day requirement (if there are 3 or less more student days are required)
C. 180 Day Hours equivalent {Some states including Virginia, Georgia, Florida have this option. (For Virginia it's 990 hours)}

It sure didn't take long for MCEA to cut school days after getting Zimnerman on the board. They could have at least waited until Zimmerman bothered to show up to a meeting.

The transition day was Taylor's idea, not MCEA's.

Read the OP. They want to cut 4 school days.

It would only be cutting 4 school days if there are 4 or more emergency closures. If there are 0-3 then there are more school days. There would still have to meet the 1080 hour requirement which is higher than many other states.

That's not what the OP proposed. They suggested only requiring 176 instructional days.

Well things like bad weather happen. For the current school year if the calendar was the same except for Jan 2 & 3 there would be 180 days.... if there were 0 cancelations. For next year no school on Dec 22 & 23 would only leave 179 scheduled days so the new transition day would need to be previous week or the PD on October 17 would need to be moved to October 20 (Diwali) but then there would be 180 days..... before emergency closures.

There are always weather closures because MCPS can't get their act together. That's why we build some days in from thr start in addition to the make-up days identified in the calendar.

[Anonymous]

You can't make everyone happy with the school calendar. My advice is to homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

I prefer a shorter winter break actually. I'd rather have a fall break so we can take a vacation without the sky high prices of winter break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

I prefer a shorter winter break actually. I'd rather have a fall break so we can take a vacation without the sky high prices of winter break.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

Employers typically limit how many people are allowed to take off on any given workday.

[Anonymous]

Would transition day be counted as an instruction day since they are only offering school to new students in elementary, middle and high school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

Employers typically limit how many people are allowed to take off on any given workday.

There are actual laws that require employers to accommodate employees wrt religious observance. So yeah, they may limit the number of teachers wanting to take off December 22nd or whatever, which is not a holiday, but they need to follow the law when staff request leave for religious reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

Employers typically limit how many people are allowed to take off on any given workday.

There are actual laws that require employers to accommodate employees wrt religious observance. So yeah, they may limit the number of teachers wanting to take off December 22nd or whatever, which is not a holiday, but they need to follow the law when staff request leave for religious reasons.

That doesn't mean there need to let anyone take off for a religious holiday. You know that, don't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would transition day be counted as an instruction day since they are only offering school to new students in elementary, middle and high school

No, it would be a non-instructional day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

Employers typically limit how many people are allowed to take off on any given workday.

There are actual laws that require employers to accommodate employees wrt religious observance. So yeah, they may limit the number of teachers wanting to take off December 22nd or whatever, which is not a holiday, but they need to follow the law when staff request leave for religious reasons.

"Reasonably accommodating" religious holidays doesn't require employers to give any practicing employee the day off if it would leave them without coverage. MCPS can absolutely deny/limit leave based on substitute teacher availability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You want to get rid of 4 days of school-- how does that not get rid of instructional time?

Instructional time doesn't occur on 100% of "instructional days" maybe 95-97% of them. NOBODY wants makeup days during weeks where no school is planned. Bad weather and other things ex water main break happen. Built in time for that is good without lowering student or teacher moral. As long as the hours are still sufficient why not? Maryland requires 1080 hours which is 90 more than Virginia and some other states.

There isn't going to be enough instructional time if you cut 4 days. The remaining days and hours are going to be magically 100% utilized either. Some classes already don't get through everything.

You're kidding, right? The amount of time already wasted during any given school day could easily fill any gap created by 4 (!) days of no school. "Learning lab" time, silent work time... there's a lot of slush that could be rerouted. I'd advocate that childcare be made available for families for whom that would be a hardship, but I seriously doubt we'd see any real learning loss with 4 missing days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish all those religious/cultural days off were school days and also excused absences for those observing. It really would nicer to have a long winter break.

I also wish MD would get rid of the Monday after Easter.

And we fall into one of those groups!

That's a terrible idea. Semi-religious people will send their kids to school because missing a day of school is worse than taking a day off - Cultural Jew who'd be pissed sending her kids to school on Rosh Hashanah.

It should be put up on a survey in the future. I think the majority would choose a longer winter break or even a fall break. I think many of us are okay being flexible about when we celebrate occasions.

They have done this survey post-pandemic, so recently. Operationally, they cannot open on Rosh & Yom because they do not have enough subs/staff to cover the absences that would occur. Maybe there is flexibility in when you can celebrate some of these holidays, but that isn’t really possible with these two, unfortunately. They do have enough staff to operate on the other religious/cultural holidays but organizations representing those groups have lobbied to have those days off, and MCPS is interested in being responsive and inclusive.

Employers typically limit how many people are allowed to take off on any given workday.

There are actual laws that require employers to accommodate employees wrt religious observance. So yeah, they may limit the number of teachers wanting to take off December 22nd or whatever, which is not a holiday, but they need to follow the law when staff request leave for religious reasons.

"Reasonably accommodating" religious holidays doesn't require employers to give any practicing employee the day off if it would leave them without coverage. MCPS can absolutely deny/limit leave based on substitute teacher availability.

Yes well fortunately MCPS isn’t going to do that. They are going to thoughtfully plan the calendar being mindful of their staff and students who they know will need this very reasonable accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You want to get rid of 4 days of school-- how does that not get rid of instructional time?

Instructional time doesn't occur on 100% of "instructional days" maybe 95-97% of them. NOBODY wants makeup days during weeks where no school is planned. Bad weather and other things ex water main break happen. Built in time for that is good without lowering student or teacher moral. As long as the hours are still sufficient why not? Maryland requires 1080 hours which is 90 more than Virginia and some other states.

There isn't going to be enough instructional time if you cut 4 days. The remaining days and hours are going to be magically 100% utilized either. Some classes already don't get through everything.

You're kidding, right? The amount of time already wasted during any given school day could easily fill any gap created by 4 (!) days of no school. "Learning lab" time, silent work time... there's a lot of slush that could be rerouted. I'd advocate that childcare be made available for families for whom that would be a hardship, but I seriously doubt we'd see any real learning loss with 4 missing days.

You don't think there would still be "Learning lab, time, silent work time..."?

Of course removing 4 days would reduce actual instructional time. Don't be ridiculous. And that's an absurd thing to do while students are still recovering from 18 months of closed schools.