Snow This Weekend - School Next Week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks is enough? You shorten my summer break to 6 weeks I better get a 4-5k a year raise to make up for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

They are starting literally one day earlier than this year, August 25 rather than August 26.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks is too short. 8 weeks of summer and 4 weeks of winter break would be the best. We need to switch to what Asian countries do. Winter break at the coldest time Jan to Feb and no need to worry about snow days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember that one year in the 90s(probably 96 because of the Blizzard) where they extended the school day by like 20 minutes every day for the last like 2 months?

That’s actually genius, but I bet the pushback nowadays would be enormous

Besides being ineffective educationally,it doesn't work as an alternative to using make-up days.

It really isn't complicated. We need at least 185 scheduled days.

I think it happened in VA not MD

It happened in MoCo. I was in elementary school and we stayed in school until almost 4 PM because of it

Howard too. We closed for 11 days or so that winter and they could not extend the school year that much because of summer school. Some people on this forum would lose their minds of we had a repeat of that winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember that one year in the 90s(probably 96 because of the Blizzard) where they extended the school day by like 20 minutes every day for the last like 2 months?

That’s actually genius, but I bet the pushback nowadays would be enormous

Besides being ineffective educationally,it doesn't work as an alternative to using make-up days.

It really isn't complicated. We need at least 185 scheduled days.

+1. Or they should create more contingency days Feb-May and actually use them. Otherwise they will simply need to keep extending the school year.

People complain whatever they do. If they use a contingency day, me any kids do not show up and they cannot teach new material.

That would absolutely not be an issue if they use March 20 or April 15. Why would a kid not show up on a random Friday or Wednesday just because it used to be a one-off day off? (Maaaybe some small number of families planned something for the 3-day weekend that included Friday March 20th, but not enough to not teach new material. And making Weds April 15 a school day would be totally indistinguishable from any other school day.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember that one year in the 90s(probably 96 because of the Blizzard) where they extended the school day by like 20 minutes every day for the last like 2 months?

That’s actually genius, but I bet the pushback nowadays would be enormous

Besides being ineffective educationally,it doesn't work as an alternative to using make-up days.

It really isn't complicated. We need at least 185 scheduled days.

+1. Or they should create more contingency days Feb-May and actually use them. Otherwise they will simply need to keep extending the school year.

People complain whatever they do. If they use a contingency day, me any kids do not show up and they cannot teach new material.

That would absolutely not be an issue if they use March 20 or April 15. Why would a kid not show up on a random Friday or Wednesday just because it used to be a one-off day off? (Maaaybe some small number of families planned something for the 3-day weekend that included Friday March 20th, but not enough to not teach new material. And making Weds April 15 a school day would be totally indistinguishable from any other school day.).

This. Also where is there a rule that teachers can’t teach new material if a kid doesn’t show up? The PP you responded to is just making stuff up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks? Lol. Start relying on someone other than schools to provide you with free childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone remember that one year in the 90s(probably 96 because of the Blizzard) where they extended the school day by like 20 minutes every day for the last like 2 months?

That’s actually genius, but I bet the pushback nowadays would be enormous

Besides being ineffective educationally,it doesn't work as an alternative to using make-up days.

It really isn't complicated. We need at least 185 scheduled days.

+1. Or they should create more contingency days Feb-May and actually use them. Otherwise they will simply need to keep extending the school year.

People complain whatever they do. If they use a contingency day, me any kids do not show up and they cannot teach new material.

That would absolutely not be an issue if they use March 20 or April 15. Why would a kid not show up on a random Friday or Wednesday just because it used to be a one-off day off? (Maaaybe some small number of families planned something for the 3-day weekend that included Friday March 20th, but not enough to not teach new material. And making Weds April 15 a school day would be totally indistinguishable from any other school day.).

This. Also where is there a rule that teachers can’t teach new material if a kid doesn’t show up? The PP you responded to is just making stuff up.

I mean, there's no rule, but at least for younger kids there is definitely not a lot being taught the last couple days before Thanksgiving or winter break when huge number of kids are out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

There is no money to fix the ac and kids work, go to camps, do jobs like run the pools, etc. and, they have sports in hs in the summer so that gives them 4 weeks. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks? Lol. Start relying on someone other than schools to provide you with free childcare.

It's not free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

They are starting literally one day earlier than this year, August 25 rather than August 26.

One day earlier in August but two weeks before Labor Day instead of one. They never started more than one week before Labor Day before EVER! When Labor Day has fallen later summer would be a week longer. In 2014 Labor Day was September 1 and the first day was August 25, 2014
In 2015 Labor Day was September 7, the first day was August 31, 2015
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2014-15_Calendar
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2015-16_SchoolCalendar(1)
2020 was the previous time Labor Day was 53 weeks after the previous Labor Day instead of 52 but that was skewed by the Hogan law ending so they started after Labor Day in 2019 but on August 31, 2020
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/p-s/ritchieparkes/uploadedfiles/schoolcalendar-2020-2021-traditional-english.pdf
This is the first year EVER that school started before the final Monday of August. The reason is more religious holidays but still 180 calendar days required.

It is time for the law to be revised to HOURS only!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks is too short. 8 weeks of summer and 4 weeks of winter break would be the best. We need to switch to what Asian countries do. Winter break at the coldest time Jan to Feb and no need to worry about snow days

Murray County GA has the shortest school year in the country! Only 150 days https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/3460/mcs/5154470/MCS_2025-26_District_Calendar_PDF_aproved_10.7.24_Eng.pdf
Georgia law: a minimum of 180 school days or its equivalent. Minimum number of hours per school day Grades kindergarten-3=4.5; grades 4-5=5.0; grades 6-12=5.5
Equivalent = 810 hours for K-3, 900 hours for 4&5, 990 hours for 6-12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maryland requires 1080 hours for K-8 and 1170 for 9-12 which range from 90 to 270 more hours than Georgia. I'm not complaining about more time in the classroom. It's the lack of freedom towards planning that time, that is hard. I don't expect a year like Murray County with only 150 days but a 170-175 day year depending on bad weather days should be allowed especially if the schools have plenty of hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks is too short. 8 weeks of summer and 4 weeks of winter break would be the best. We need to switch to what Asian countries do. Winter break at the coldest time Jan to Feb and no need to worry about snow days

Murray County GA has the shortest school year in the country! Only 150 days https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/3460/mcs/5154470/MCS_2025-26_District_Calendar_PDF_aproved_10.7.24_Eng.pdf
Georgia law: a minimum of 180 school days or its equivalent. Minimum number of hours per school day Grades kindergarten-3=4.5; grades 4-5=5.0; grades 6-12=5.5
Equivalent = 810 hours for K-3, 900 hours for 4&5, 990 hours for 6-12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maryland requires 1080 hours for K-8 and 1170 for 9-12 which range from 90 to 270 more hours than Georgia. I'm not complaining about more time in the classroom. It's the lack of freedom towards planning that time, that is hard. I don't expect a year like Murray County with only 150 days but a 170-175 day year depending on bad weather days should be allowed especially if the schools have plenty of hours.

We should not be begging for less instructional days. Instead, get rid of some stupid transition day and holidays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should just start earlier. First day of school in mid August, not late. That way, we can keep all of our existing non-instructional days.

Build in 4 snow days at the very end.

August is hot, and they start early enough as they are starting a week earlier next year (2 weeks before Labor Day which never happened before) due to the extra religious holidays.
Starting earlier shortens summer, same with ending later. Nothing accomplished towards saving summer by doing that.

We can fix the AC in schools.

The problem is not shortening summer. 6 weeks is enough. The problem is the uncertainty about make up days.

6 weeks is too short. 8 weeks of summer and 4 weeks of winter break would be the best. We need to switch to what Asian countries do. Winter break at the coldest time Jan to Feb and no need to worry about snow days

Murray County GA has the shortest school year in the country! Only 160 days https://core-docs.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/3460/mcs/5154470/MCS_2025-26_District_Calendar_PDF_aproved_10.7.24_Eng.pdf
Georgia law: a minimum of 180 school days or its equivalent. Minimum number of hours per school day Grades kindergarten-3=4.5; grades 4-5=5.0; grades 6-12=5.5
Equivalent = 810 hours for K-3, 900 hours for 4&5, 990 hours for 6-12.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 160 days not 150
Maryland requires 1080 hours for K-8 and 1170 for 9-12 which range from 90 to 270 more hours than Georgia. I'm not complaining about more time in the classroom. It's the lack of freedom towards planning that time, that is hard. I don't expect a year like Murray County with only 160 days but a 170-175 day year depending on bad weather days should be allowed especially if the schools have plenty of hours.

We should not be begging for less instructional days. Instead, get rid of some stupid transition day and holidays

Transition day is useless so we could have a day back there but there still isn't enough room for a full summer anymore under the current law. As for holidays some people would be upset if they were removed.
Scheduling 175 days restores time off in summer and creates a mini rest in the school year. Going based on hours eliminates the makeup day dilemma. This storm is the perfect time to compare state laws since if has effected so many states!

[Anonymous]

There’s no evidence to support that a longer school year increases student achievement.