How to fit school days into Gov Larry Hogan's ridiculous policy on school start and stop dates

[Anonymous]

Add 15 minutes to each school day. That's 45 additional hours of school per year (equivalent to about 6 additional days of school). <drops mic.... walk away....>

[Anonymous]

Things I don't need my kids out of school for:
1) Teacher union days off on weekdays throughout the school year.
2) Religious holidays that affect <25% of the school population, including the secular Jews and Christians. Take the day off yourself and do the make-up work. Cinco de mayo, Eid, Yon Kippur, Good Friday, Diwali, etc.
3) Columbus Day, Prez Day, MLK Day, Veterans' Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add 15 minutes to each school day. That's 45 additional hours of school per year (equivalent to about 6 additional days of school). <drops mic.... walk away....>

Pick the microphone back up to tell us how you propose to pay for this, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things I don't need my kids out of school for:
1) Teacher union days off on weekdays throughout the school year.
2) Religious holidays that affect <25% of the school population, including the secular Jews and Christians. Take the day off yourself and do the make-up work. Cinco de mayo, Eid, Yon Kippur, Good Friday, Diwali, etc.
3) Columbus Day, Prez Day, MLK Day, Veterans' Day.

Why stop there? I don't need my kids out of school for weekends, either. The two-day weekends is a union thing anyway, and the Sabbath (on whichever day) is religious. 180 days of school, straight through from the day after Labor Day until mid-March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add 15 minutes to each school day. That's 45 additional hours of school per year (equivalent to about 6 additional days of school). <drops mic.... walk away....>

Pick the microphone back up to tell us how you propose to pay for this, please.

<shakes head.... picks up mic....> If the previous school year included 184 instructional days and the new one only includes 180 instructional days it sounds like it's almost a wash. <drops mic again....>

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add 15 minutes to each school day. That's 45 additional hours of school per year (equivalent to about 6 additional days of school). <drops mic.... walk away....>

Pick the microphone back up to tell us how you propose to pay for this, please.

<shakes head.... picks up mic....> If the previous school year included 184 instructional days and the new one only includes 180 instructional days it sounds like it's almost a wash. <drops mic again....>

Albeit obnoxious, this idea isn't all that bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you!

I would like to point out one thing in your statement. You can not disregard the achievement gas as an argument. Montgomery County BOE has announced this as their highest priority from the hiring of the superintendent to how they rate their schools. I agree it is best for ALL students, but BOE only really focusses on the minorities, not on the majority.

Indian-American students and Hindu students are minorities.

Yes, they are. However, they are not the ones who are lagging behind in achievement. And if the BOE is concerned only on closing the gap by limiting achievement of high performers, then that is futile. High performing minorities will continue to increase the achievement gap because they are not relying wholly on MCPS for their education. Closing the achievement gap is a laudable priority as long as they are not trying to bring down the ceiling on achievement.

We do not want to live in a society where people are not well educated. It does not matter if they are minority or majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On an average, an Indian student in India gets an average of two whole years of extra schooling compared to American students by the time they graduate from high school. Imagine what an advantage it is for students to get an additional 700 days of instruction from K-12. No wonder US is falling behind.

(On average, an Indian student in India doesn't complete secondary school.)

You are correct. I am however not talking of every child in India. I am talking about the middle class and upper class students who may be a relatively small %age of all students in India, but are in high enough numbers to make a dent when they are hired by other countries because of their qualifications.

The culture of prioritizing education continues in this country among Indian-Americans students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thank you!

I would like to point out one thing in your statement. You can not disregard the achievement gas as an argument. Montgomery County BOE has announced this as their highest priority from the hiring of the superintendent to how they rate their schools. I agree it is best for ALL students, but BOE only really focusses on the minorities, not on the majority.

Indian-American students and Hindu students are minorities.

Yes, they are. However, they are not the ones who are lagging behind in achievement. And if the BOE is concerned only on closing the gap by limiting achievement of high performers, then that is futile. High performing minorities will continue to increase the achievement gap because they are not relying wholly on MCPS for their education. Closing the achievement gap is a laudable priority as long as they are not trying to bring down the ceiling on achievement.

We do not want to live in a society where people are not well educated. It does not matter if they are minority or majority.

BINGO!

[Anonymous]

One of the calendars (the second one) has off for Spring Break and for the Jewish holidays. Why can't that one be used? I can't figure out what days it eliminates to get to 182.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/calendar/proposed-calendar-2018-19.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the calendars (the second one) has off for Spring Break and for the Jewish holidays. Why can't that one be used? I can't figure out what days it eliminates to get to 182.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/calendar/proposed-calendar-2018-19.aspx

I like that one too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the calendars (the second one) has off for Spring Break and for the Jewish holidays. Why can't that one be used? I can't figure out what days it eliminates to get to 182.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/calendar/proposed-calendar-2018-19.aspx

I like that one too.

It eliminates two professional days. Never going to happen with the teachers union.

[Anonymous]

Do we have any full day professional
Days this year? I think the Union is more flexible than you give credit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easy solution: move the teacher "admin days" from during the school year to the summer.

The reason the union opposes it is that it cuts into the teachers' (paid) summer vacation.

Teachers aren’t currently paid for summer. They would be paid for any service days scheduled during summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things I don't need my kids out of school for:
1) Teacher union days off on weekdays throughout the school year.
2) Religious holidays that affect <25% of the school population, including the secular Jews and Christians. Take the day off yourself and do the make-up work. Cinco de mayo, Eid, Yon Kippur, Good Friday, Diwali, etc.
3) Columbus Day, Prez Day, MLK Day, Veterans' Day.

Cinco de Mayo isn’t a religious holiday and MCPS has never closed for Cinco de Mayo.