2026-2027 calendar updates

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

They mean that in the event of inclement weather closures requiring makeup days, they could open school on non-instructional days that are also religious observances.

That's not how I read it. The point is not to have to open school a week earlier. The way to do that is to open up on religious holidays instead.

Instead of opening earlier, they could keep the start as it currently is and convert religious days to school days if needed if they have too many snow days.

Exactly. The calendar they already have works if they actually use the days they’ve designated

It seems crazy to me that they won't do this. This is a no-brainer. I can't believe the superintendent instead is recommending starting school a week earlier.

Because when they dared to use Eid this year, a day that was already designated as a makeup day in the calendar the approved, they got backlash from a small part of the community who cried equity to Council so now they’re scared to go by what they’ve already said they would do.

I don't care. At a certain point, our kids need to be in school. MCPS needs to grow a pair and stand up to the county council. And if they designate all religious holidays, not just Muslim ones, as potential makeup days, Muslim residents will not feel targeted.

I don’t either. The sarcasm in my post I guess was not apparent… this whole thing is stupid. Kids need to be in school. We can’t cater to every individuals need to be off

Exactly this. All religious holidays should be potential make-up days. When the last snow day is used and it snows again, the next snow make-up day should be used to make it up. The process that we will use should be communicated now and the potential dates should be listed. At that point, the days used simply depend on when it snows and how long our snow days last. This makes it less personal - this process should not be perceived as personal - it is an operational decision on the part of a very large organization.

Lot simpler to just start school one week earlier. I understand the superintendent’s logic

Not for next year it's not.

Why not? Because you would rather be on vacation?

DP here

Yes! I would rather go on the beach vacation I spent time planning and have been looking forward to.

The world doesn't revolve around your beach vacation, Jan. You have 4 months to make new plans, or your kids can skip out on the first days of school.

Well Marcia, some of us make plans with extended family and others would also be impacted by this change with nonrefundable deposits. We made these plans after the calendar came out because oh I don’t know, you think you can relay on the calendar!

You chose to be cheap and make plans with non-refundable deposits knowing that the MCPS schedule shifted quite a bit over the last two years--were you hiding under a rock when the date of the last day of school changed several times this year? and last year? Most MCPS parents are not like you.

If by “cheap” you mean don’t have thousands of dollars to spend to change this vacation with siblings and grandparents then sure.

We’ve had students in the system for a dozen years and they have NEVER changed the first day of school after the calendar is set.

I hope your vitriol makes you happy.

Not as happy as you insisting that the world revolve around your family's beach plans seems to make you. MCPS needs to start earlier in August if it wants to maintain its professional development days, teacher non-instructional days and many religious holidays. Next year is as good a time as any. You have 4 months to adjust.

And you think it’s just one person who has made plans?

What happens to teachers if they don’t show up for the first few days of preservice week? Can they use PTO for those?

Yes, let's shortchange 150,000+ kids out of 180 days of education because a few people have non-refundable beach week plans.

What will you say when the survey shows what a wildly unpopular option this is?

You know what was wildly unpopular? The schedule for this 2025-2026 academic year where kids got shortchanged instructional time.

+1 million. The only happy people this year were teachers who got an extra week of snow day holidays.

The people complaining on this thread sound like MCPS staffers who want to keep the status quo, so they don't have to work more than 177 days a year again next year.

-1. Starting earlier than already announced inconveniences everyone. Cutting into winter or spring break inconveniences everyone. Potentially using the indicated makeup days within the school year inconveniences a small minority, yes, but is ultimately better for learning because the makeup day would be closer to the missed day of instruction. Adding three days at the end of the year is never helpful, no matter which week in June it is.

Starting earlier in August doesn't inconvenience me. Not sure why you think you speak for "everyone." I'm happy to start earlier in August if it means my kids get 180 days of instructional time. Plenty of other parents feel similarly, particularly many of those with kids in high school who were disproportionately negatively impacted this year due to the loss of AP instructional time.

+1 The people I know with kids in AP classes are happy about this proposed change.

[Anonymous]

I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So many of these posts show a real empathy gap. It’s very disheartening. We all want our kids to go to school and we all want to be able to spend time with our families and observing religious occasions. And we need a calendar that doesn’t change multiple times.

The real culprit here is MCPS and the board that doesn’t exercise oversight.

+1. I am not sure why ppl kept saying beach vacation but for some of us, we have booked our trip home to visit grandparents months ago. Starting school earlier has never happened since my kids started ES 5 years ago. If I knew this was even a possibility I would have waited.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

They mean that in the event of inclement weather closures requiring makeup days, they could open school on non-instructional days that are also religious observances.

That's not how I read it. The point is not to have to open school a week earlier. The way to do that is to open up on religious holidays instead.

Instead of opening earlier, they could keep the start as it currently is and convert religious days to school days if needed if they have too many snow days.

Exactly. The calendar they already have works if they actually use the days they’ve designated

It seems crazy to me that they won't do this. This is a no-brainer. I can't believe the superintendent instead is recommending starting school a week earlier.

Because when they dared to use Eid this year, a day that was already designated as a makeup day in the calendar the approved, they got backlash from a small part of the community who cried equity to Council so now they’re scared to go by what they’ve already said they would do.

I don't care. At a certain point, our kids need to be in school. MCPS needs to grow a pair and stand up to the county council. And if they designate all religious holidays, not just Muslim ones, as potential makeup days, Muslim residents will not feel targeted.

I don’t either. The sarcasm in my post I guess was not apparent… this whole thing is stupid. Kids need to be in school. We can’t cater to every individuals need to be off

Exactly this. All religious holidays should be potential make-up days. When the last snow day is used and it snows again, the next snow make-up day should be used to make it up. The process that we will use should be communicated now and the potential dates should be listed. At that point, the days used simply depend on when it snows and how long our snow days last. This makes it less personal - this process should not be perceived as personal - it is an operational decision on the part of a very large organization.

Lot simpler to just start school one week earlier. I understand the superintendent’s logic

Not for next year it's not.

Why not? Because you would rather be on vacation?

DP here

Yes! I would rather go on the beach vacation I spent time planning and have been looking forward to.

The world doesn't revolve around your beach vacation, Jan. You have 4 months to make new plans, or your kids can skip out on the first days of school.

Well Marcia, some of us make plans with extended family and others would also be impacted by this change with nonrefundable deposits. We made these plans after the calendar came out because oh I don’t know, you think you can relay on the calendar!

You chose to be cheap and make plans with non-refundable deposits knowing that the MCPS schedule shifted quite a bit over the last two years--were you hiding under a rock when the date of the last day of school changed several times this year? and last year? Most MCPS parents are not like you.

If by “cheap” you mean don’t have thousands of dollars to spend to change this vacation with siblings and grandparents then sure.

We’ve had students in the system for a dozen years and they have NEVER changed the first day of school after the calendar is set.

I hope your vitriol makes you happy.

Not as happy as you insisting that the world revolve around your family's beach plans seems to make you. MCPS needs to start earlier in August if it wants to maintain its professional development days, teacher non-instructional days and many religious holidays. Next year is as good a time as any. You have 4 months to adjust.

And you think it’s just one person who has made plans?

What happens to teachers if they don’t show up for the first few days of preservice week? Can they use PTO for those?

Yes, let's shortchange 150,000+ kids out of 180 days of education because a few people have non-refundable beach week plans.

What will you say when the survey shows what a wildly unpopular option this is?

You know what was wildly unpopular? The schedule for this 2025-2026 academic year where kids got shortchanged instructional time.

+1 million. The only happy people this year were teachers who got an extra week of snow day holidays.

The people complaining on this thread sound like MCPS staffers who want to keep the status quo, so they don't have to work more than 177 days a year again next year.

-1. Starting earlier than already announced inconveniences everyone. Cutting into winter or spring break inconveniences everyone. Potentially using the indicated makeup days within the school year inconveniences a small minority, yes, but is ultimately better for learning because the makeup day would be closer to the missed day of instruction. Adding three days at the end of the year is never helpful, no matter which week in June it is.

Starting earlier in August doesn't inconvenience me. Not sure why you think you speak for "everyone." I'm happy to start earlier in August if it means my kids get 180 days of instructional time. Plenty of other parents feel similarly, particularly many of those with kids in high school who were disproportionately negatively impacted this year due to the loss of AP instructional time.

+1 The people I know with kids in AP classes are happy about this proposed change.

Nothing demonstrates how many kids are in AP classes they can't actual handle like parents worrying about a few days of instruction here and there. If your kid can't hack it without squeezing every drop of classroom time they can, then they're not cut out for the class.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

They mean that in the event of inclement weather closures requiring makeup days, they could open school on non-instructional days that are also religious observances.

That's not how I read it. The point is not to have to open school a week earlier. The way to do that is to open up on religious holidays instead.

Instead of opening earlier, they could keep the start as it currently is and convert religious days to school days if needed if they have too many snow days.

Exactly. The calendar they already have works if they actually use the days they’ve designated

It seems crazy to me that they won't do this. This is a no-brainer. I can't believe the superintendent instead is recommending starting school a week earlier.

Because when they dared to use Eid this year, a day that was already designated as a makeup day in the calendar the approved, they got backlash from a small part of the community who cried equity to Council so now they’re scared to go by what they’ve already said they would do.

I don't care. At a certain point, our kids need to be in school. MCPS needs to grow a pair and stand up to the county council. And if they designate all religious holidays, not just Muslim ones, as potential makeup days, Muslim residents will not feel targeted.

I don’t either. The sarcasm in my post I guess was not apparent… this whole thing is stupid. Kids need to be in school. We can’t cater to every individuals need to be off

Exactly this. All religious holidays should be potential make-up days. When the last snow day is used and it snows again, the next snow make-up day should be used to make it up. The process that we will use should be communicated now and the potential dates should be listed. At that point, the days used simply depend on when it snows and how long our snow days last. This makes it less personal - this process should not be perceived as personal - it is an operational decision on the part of a very large organization.

Lot simpler to just start school one week earlier. I understand the superintendent’s logic

Not for next year it's not.

Why not? Because you would rather be on vacation?

DP here

Yes! I would rather go on the beach vacation I spent time planning and have been looking forward to.

The world doesn't revolve around your beach vacation, Jan. You have 4 months to make new plans, or your kids can skip out on the first days of school.

Well Marcia, some of us make plans with extended family and others would also be impacted by this change with nonrefundable deposits. We made these plans after the calendar came out because oh I don’t know, you think you can relay on the calendar!

You chose to be cheap and make plans with non-refundable deposits knowing that the MCPS schedule shifted quite a bit over the last two years--were you hiding under a rock when the date of the last day of school changed several times this year? and last year? Most MCPS parents are not like you.

I am asking sincerely: when was the last time MCPS, or any school district, pushed up the 1st of school a week with < 4 months notice?

I believe this is largely unprecedented, but maybe I’m wrong.

I'm asking you sincerely--were you hiding under a rock when the MCPS schedule bounced around half a dozen times this year, including the use of a make-up day, then the cancellation of the use of makeup days, the shifting of the last day of school several times? I am looking forward to an MCPS schedule that starts earlier in August, and hopefully avoids all this drama for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The back and forth on individual days this March, April, and June, while annoying, was not the same as moving up the 1st day, because in the prior instance, those days were already identified as potential makeup days.

No, having the school year end this year on June 22 as was decided at one point was not part of the potential makeup days. I'm not saying that these constant changes to the calendar are a good thing, but let's not pretend that MCPS parents aren't cognizant that the schedule is bouncing around A LOT.

What are you talking about? Ending the year as late as June 26th was always a possibility, it was clearly labeled on the calendar, and so parents could and did plan for it (i.e. I booked a refundable camp for that week knowing that the school year extending into that week was possible due to snow.)

Changing a published calendar to add days that were never flagged as possibilities-- particularly the very first few days of school, which for elementary schoolers are a big deal as far as adjusting to school and are not the kind of thing you can handwave away with a "if you have plans your child can just miss school and it's okay"-- is not something that has ever happened (as far as I know) or that anyone could reasonably expect to happen. Once you pass a calendar and communicate it to families and staff, you can't just change it like this or you'll never be trusted again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

They mean that in the event of inclement weather closures requiring makeup days, they could open school on non-instructional days that are also religious observances.

That's not how I read it. The point is not to have to open school a week earlier. The way to do that is to open up on religious holidays instead.

Instead of opening earlier, they could keep the start as it currently is and convert religious days to school days if needed if they have too many snow days.

Exactly. The calendar they already have works if they actually use the days they’ve designated

It seems crazy to me that they won't do this. This is a no-brainer. I can't believe the superintendent instead is recommending starting school a week earlier.

Because when they dared to use Eid this year, a day that was already designated as a makeup day in the calendar the approved, they got backlash from a small part of the community who cried equity to Council so now they’re scared to go by what they’ve already said they would do.

I don't care. At a certain point, our kids need to be in school. MCPS needs to grow a pair and stand up to the county council. And if they designate all religious holidays, not just Muslim ones, as potential makeup days, Muslim residents will not feel targeted.

I don’t either. The sarcasm in my post I guess was not apparent… this whole thing is stupid. Kids need to be in school. We can’t cater to every individuals need to be off

Exactly this. All religious holidays should be potential make-up days. When the last snow day is used and it snows again, the next snow make-up day should be used to make it up. The process that we will use should be communicated now and the potential dates should be listed. At that point, the days used simply depend on when it snows and how long our snow days last. This makes it less personal - this process should not be perceived as personal - it is an operational decision on the part of a very large organization.

Lot simpler to just start school one week earlier. I understand the superintendent’s logic

Not for next year it's not.

Why not? Because you would rather be on vacation?

DP here

Yes! I would rather go on the beach vacation I spent time planning and have been looking forward to.

The world doesn't revolve around your beach vacation, Jan. You have 4 months to make new plans, or your kids can skip out on the first days of school.

Well Marcia, some of us make plans with extended family and others would also be impacted by this change with nonrefundable deposits. We made these plans after the calendar came out because oh I don’t know, you think you can relay on the calendar!

You chose to be cheap and make plans with non-refundable deposits knowing that the MCPS schedule shifted quite a bit over the last two years--were you hiding under a rock when the date of the last day of school changed several times this year? and last year? Most MCPS parents are not like you.

I am asking sincerely: when was the last time MCPS, or any school district, pushed up the 1st of school a week with < 4 months notice?

I believe this is largely unprecedented, but maybe I’m wrong.

I'm asking you sincerely--were you hiding under a rock when the MCPS schedule bounced around half a dozen times this year, including the use of a make-up day, then the cancellation of the use of makeup days, the shifting of the last day of school several times? I am looking forward to an MCPS schedule that starts earlier in August, and hopefully avoids all this drama for the 2026-2027 academic year.

The back and forth on individual days this March, April, and June, while annoying, was not the same as moving up the 1st day, because in the prior instance, those days were already identified as potential makeup days.

No, having the school year end this year on June 22 as was decided at one point was not part of the potential makeup days. I'm not saying that these constant changes to the calendar are a good thing, but let's not pretend that MCPS parents aren't cognizant that the schedule is bouncing around A LOT.

What are you talking about? Ending the year as late as June 26th was always a possibility, it was clearly labeled on the calendar, and so parents could and did plan for it (i.e. I booked a refundable camp for that week knowing that the school year extending into that week was possible due to snow.)

Changing a published calendar to add days that were never flagged as possibilities-- particularly the very first few days of school, which for elementary schoolers are a big deal as far as adjusting to school and are not the kind of thing you can handwave away with a "if you have plans your child can just miss school and it's okay"-- is not something that has ever happened (as far as I know) or that anyone could reasonably expect to happen. Once you pass a calendar and communicate it to families and staff, you can't just change it like this or you'll never be trusted again.

y


100% this. And you know what’s already on the calendar? Actual potential makeup days they could use if they weren’t so chicken. The calendar does not need to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've worked in the system for over twenty years at the elementary level and here are my thoughts...

1) Nobody likes transition day except for Dr. Taylor. It's a waste of time and screws over the K, 6th, and 9th grade teachers.

2) I would be okay with having half-days for grading and reporting in MP 1 and 3. I do think our secondary counterparts need the full day at the end of MP 2 to prepare for their second semester classes.

3) SPED teachers need more IEP writing days given to them but that doesn't impact whether school is open or closed. There's already not enough time to handle the paperwork on our quarterly grading days.

4) When I did my admin program we were told we closed for Christian and Jewish holidays in order to be able to function as a school system. If we remained open, there wouldn't be enough staff to operate the building. While I appreciate the diversity in our county, I don't know what percentage of staff and students celebrate some of the recent holiday additions to our calendar. Perhaps allow everyone excused absences or leave that day.

I agree with this. They do not know if they need to close for operational reasons. Being open for religious holidays next year would let them collect data to determine whether there is an operational need to close moving forward -- another benefit of doing it.

DP. True, but aren't they only considering marking the religious holidays as potential makeup days, not as school days from the outset?

I don't think so. They would do this instead of starting school early, so those are days they would actually be open.

No, on the survey they sent out Thursday, the option is written as "Identifying days of religious observance as inclement weather makeup days."

Well, that's not what they say in the presentation. These are the three options:

Given the scheduled non-instructional days, three options or combinations of options are possible to meet new requirements to add capacity to address inclement weather closures:

1. Open school on non-instructional days that also are religious observances; allow excused absences and minimize instructional conflicts.

2. Reduce the length of Winter Break and/or Spring Break.

3. Start the school year earlier in August.

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DT7SZF751736/$file/Proposed%20Amendments%202026-2027%20SY%20Calendar%20PPT%20260416.pdf

The superintendent is recommending the worst of the three options.

They mean that in the event of inclement weather closures requiring makeup days, they could open school on non-instructional days that are also religious observances.

That's not how I read it. The point is not to have to open school a week earlier. The way to do that is to open up on religious holidays instead.

Instead of opening earlier, they could keep the start as it currently is and convert religious days to school days if needed if they have too many snow days.

Exactly. The calendar they already have works if they actually use the days they’ve designated

It seems crazy to me that they won't do this. This is a no-brainer. I can't believe the superintendent instead is recommending starting school a week earlier.

Because when they dared to use Eid this year, a day that was already designated as a makeup day in the calendar the approved, they got backlash from a small part of the community who cried equity to Council so now they’re scared to go by what they’ve already said they would do.

I don't care. At a certain point, our kids need to be in school. MCPS needs to grow a pair and stand up to the county council. And if they designate all religious holidays, not just Muslim ones, as potential makeup days, Muslim residents will not feel targeted.

I don’t either. The sarcasm in my post I guess was not apparent… this whole thing is stupid. Kids need to be in school. We can’t cater to every individuals need to be off

Exactly this. All religious holidays should be potential make-up days. When the last snow day is used and it snows again, the next snow make-up day should be used to make it up. The process that we will use should be communicated now and the potential dates should be listed. At that point, the days used simply depend on when it snows and how long our snow days last. This makes it less personal - this process should not be perceived as personal - it is an operational decision on the part of a very large organization.

Lot simpler to just start school one week earlier. I understand the superintendent’s logic

Not for next year it's not.

Why not? Because you would rather be on vacation?

DP here

Yes! I would rather go on the beach vacation I spent time planning and have been looking forward to.

The world doesn't revolve around your beach vacation, Jan. You have 4 months to make new plans, or your kids can skip out on the first days of school.

Well Marcia, some of us make plans with extended family and others would also be impacted by this change with nonrefundable deposits. We made these plans after the calendar came out because oh I don’t know, you think you can relay on the calendar!

You chose to be cheap and make plans with non-refundable deposits knowing that the MCPS schedule shifted quite a bit over the last two years--were you hiding under a rock when the date of the last day of school changed several times this year? and last year? Most MCPS parents are not like you.

If by “cheap” you mean don’t have thousands of dollars to spend to change this vacation with siblings and grandparents then sure.

We’ve had students in the system for a dozen years and they have NEVER changed the first day of school after the calendar is set.

I hope your vitriol makes you happy.

Not as happy as you insisting that the world revolve around your family's beach plans seems to make you. MCPS needs to start earlier in August if it wants to maintain its professional development days, teacher non-instructional days and many religious holidays. Next year is as good a time as any. You have 4 months to adjust.

And you think it’s just one person who has made plans?

What happens to teachers if they don’t show up for the first few days of preservice week? Can they use PTO for those?

Yes, let's shortchange 150,000+ kids out of 180 days of education because a few people have non-refundable beach week plans.

What will you say when the survey shows what a wildly unpopular option this is?

You know what was wildly unpopular? The schedule for this 2025-2026 academic year where kids got shortchanged instructional time.

+1 million. The only happy people this year were teachers who got an extra week of snow day holidays.

The people complaining on this thread sound like MCPS staffers who want to keep the status quo, so they don't have to work more than 177 days a year again next year.

-1. Starting earlier than already announced inconveniences everyone. Cutting into winter or spring break inconveniences everyone. Potentially using the indicated makeup days within the school year inconveniences a small minority, yes, but is ultimately better for learning because the makeup day would be closer to the missed day of instruction. Adding three days at the end of the year is never helpful, no matter which week in June it is.

Starting earlier in August doesn't inconvenience me. Not sure why you think you speak for "everyone." I'm happy to start earlier in August if it means my kids get 180 days of instructional time. Plenty of other parents feel similarly, particularly many of those with kids in high school who were disproportionately negatively impacted this year due to the loss of AP instructional time.

+1 The people I know with kids in AP classes are happy about this proposed change.

Nothing demonstrates how many kids are in AP classes they can't actual handle like parents worrying about a few days of instruction here and there. If your kid can't hack it without squeezing every drop of classroom time they can, then they're not cut out for the class.

I feel like we've gone over this multiple times, but no one is saying the school year should start earlier just for kids in AP classes. MCPS currently has a hard time meeting the 180 day requirement and has a low bar for weather closures, so starting the school year a few days earlier is IMO, the most reasonable way to ensure it can have a full school year. Starting the year ealier, rather than going later into June, would ALSO benefit kids taking AP classes. Going longer in June really does not benefit anyone from an academic perspective.

I'm sorry but some of you really lack critical thinking skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

But that would involve providing more instructional time than what is currently in the calendar. That's a big no-go for MCPS. They would rather wait for the snow days to happen and then spend weeks going back and forth about whether they will use makeup days and/or extend the school year while insisting they shouldn't have to do any of that and the state will grant a waiver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

But that would involve providing more instructional time than what is currently in the calendar. That's a big no-go for MCPS. They would rather wait for the snow days to happen and then spend weeks going back and forth about whether they will use makeup days and/or extend the school year while insisting they shouldn't have to do any of that and the state will grant a waiver.

Then what is the point of recommendation of starting school year early on 8/20? That would also provide more instructional time thsn what is currently in the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

But that would involve providing more instructional time than what is currently in the calendar. That's a big no-go for MCPS. They would rather wait for the snow days to happen and then spend weeks going back and forth about whether they will use makeup days and/or extend the school year while insisting they shouldn't have to do any of that and the state will grant a waiver.

Then what is the point of recommendation of starting school year early on 8/20? That would also provide more instructional time thsn what is currently in the calendar.

No it wouldn't. They are proposing starting the school year 3 days early and ending the school year 3 days early. The purpose is to have 5 days available after the last day of school for makeup days, that occur before Juneteenth to comply with a State BOE mandate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many of these posts show a real empathy gap. It’s very disheartening. We all want our kids to go to school and we all want to be able to spend time with our families and observing religious occasions. And we need a calendar that doesn’t change multiple times.

The real culprit here is MCPS and the board that doesn’t exercise oversight.

+1. I am not sure why ppl kept saying beach vacation but for some of us, we have booked our trip home to visit grandparents months ago. Starting school earlier has never happened since my kids started ES 5 years ago. If I knew this was even a possibility I would have waited.

+2. I actually have no problem with MCPS starting the school year earlier but this should be for 2027-2028. Waiting until 4 months before the start of the new school year to make this change is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

But that would involve providing more instructional time than what is currently in the calendar. That's a big no-go for MCPS. They would rather wait for the snow days to happen and then spend weeks going back and forth about whether they will use makeup days and/or extend the school year while insisting they shouldn't have to do any of that and the state will grant a waiver.

Then what is the point of recommendation of starting school year early on 8/20? That would also provide more instructional time thsn what is currently in the calendar.

No it wouldn't. They are proposing starting the school year 3 days early and ending the school year 3 days early. The purpose is to have 5 days available after the last day of school for makeup days, that occur before Juneteenth to comply with a State BOE mandate

The funny thing is that this set up actually doesn’t comply with the spirit of the regs they passed which stressed makeup days within the year. They know as well as we do that tacking them on at the end provides useless days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am fine to start the school on 8/24, one day early. School may find more than usual kids absent if the school starts on 8/20.

Agree - just get rid of transition day.

Also they should convert the Wednesday before thanksgiving to a half day.

That’s two days right there.

And make Dec. 23rd a half day. Now you have your three days. Done.

But that would involve providing more instructional time than what is currently in the calendar. That's a big no-go for MCPS. They would rather wait for the snow days to happen and then spend weeks going back and forth about whether they will use makeup days and/or extend the school year while insisting they shouldn't have to do any of that and the state will grant a waiver.

Then what is the point of recommendation of starting school year early on 8/20? That would also provide more instructional time thsn what is currently in the calendar.

No it wouldn't. They are proposing starting the school year 3 days early and ending the school year 3 days early. The purpose is to have 5 days available after the last day of school for makeup days, that occur before Juneteenth to comply with a State BOE mandate

The funny thing is that this set up actually doesn’t comply with the spirit of the regs they passed which stressed makeup days within the year. They know as well as we do that tacking them on at the end provides useless days.

Exactly. It will be the same as this year except with added disruption at the start of the school year. So fun.