Earlier start date proposed for MCPS

[Anonymous]

BOE has a meeting scheduled for Monday at 2:30 pm for the calendar.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2015/DraftAgenda%2012142015.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:O'Neill voted against the EID proposal in Nov the basis that it would create a big calendar mess. Guess she was right.

Kauffman was the other member who voted against Eid. He deserves praise, too!

What did he say?

He and O'Neill expressed similar reasons during the Nov. meeting ... the State calendar says Eid is on Sunday, 9/11, so this was really not an issue for the 2016-2017 school year. Also, the board had no clue on how they would get the 184th day of school for students.

I have noticed they have voted similarly on other hot issues (bell times).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they afraid of giving a threshold because they think people will abuse the policy by picking random days of school to miss to legitimize days off?

Didn't they have a threshold prior to this year?

I don't think there would be enough of a unified effort within MCPS to legitimize a "random day" off. Certainly the Day before Thanksgiving has higher than normal absenteeism. And that day isn't a holiday/day off/Day of PD.

No that's the problem. They refuse to articulate a threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BOE has a meeting scheduled for Monday at 2:30 pm for the calendar.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2015/DraftAgenda%2012142015.pdf

Do we know anymore about the meeting? Is this a vote on the current calendar offered? Just discussion and questions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BOE has a meeting scheduled for Monday at 2:30 pm for the calendar.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2015/DraftAgenda%2012142015.pdf

Do we know anymore about the meeting? Is this a vote on the current calendar offered? Just discussion and questions?

As far as the meeting goes, I'm not aware of anything that has been publicized. The one canned email I got from a BOE staffer said how they were taking and considering input, how they wanted to come up with the best solution, blah, blah, blah.

I interpreted the MCPS staff comments in Bethesda Beat on Tuesday as the BOE was going to have some internal discussion/meetings prior to the next calendar meeting. And that those discussion/meetings would help form their decision. Now, is that decision going to be this exact same crap-tastic calendar? or something else???

I'm not a teacher or MCPS employee, but I keep up with the local news, the MCPS website, and DCUM.

[Anonymous]

I thought whoever was fighting for Eid off encouraged all those kids celebrating to be absent. Have we EVER gotten a clear percentage of how many kids/teachers were off for the Jewish holidays in the 70's versus Muslim teachers/students off the past few years. I mean this is not rocket science here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BOE has a meeting scheduled for Monday at 2:30 pm for the calendar.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2015/DraftAgenda%2012142015.pdf

Thanks for posting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BOE has a meeting scheduled for Monday at 2:30 pm for the calendar.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/agenda/2015/DraftAgenda%2012142015.pdf

Thanks for posting!

Why haven't they posted materials? I mean, don't they need to post the draft calendar if that is what they are going to discuss?

[Anonymous]

My guess is they don't have a new draft calendar yet.

Still encourage people to email the BOE!

[Anonymous]

If past experience is any guide, look for more information on Thursday or Friday for the Monday meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is they don't have a new draft calendar yet.

Still encourage people to email the BOE!

So what will they be considering? Or do you mean that they will post it when they have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:O'Neill voted against the EID proposal in Nov the basis that it would create a big calendar mess. Guess she was right.

Kauffman was the other member who voted against Eid. He deserves praise, too!

All Praise Kauffman. Let's hope that he and O'Neill have some power of persuasion with the more junior members of the BOE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If past experience is any guide, look for more information on Thursday or Friday for the Monday meeting.

That's true. They didn't post the most recent calendar proposal until Friday for this Tuesday's meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who has an opinion about the calendar and did not have a chance to communicate their views prior to Tuesday should continue to write to the Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who has an opinion about the calendar and did not have a chance to communicate their views prior to Tuesday should continue to write to the Board.

Yes. Has anyone seen this concern raised on school listservs or neighborhood/community listservs? I wonder how many people are actually aware.