Why is There no School Next Year on Monday, October 20th?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

Yes, MCPS tries to align these holidays with mid or end of marking period days for teachers.

This is part of inclusion that parent complained about because of Yom Kipper and rosh hosannah the system has closed for the last couple of decades due to the make up of teachers and student body.

As a Chinese immigrant, I also I did not request or vote for a day to be given a school holiday for lunar new year. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. I’d prefer my kids be in school.

I’d rather they be in school rather than these crappy extended school year due to snow days.

As a HS student parent, I’m happy with the days off for my DC to take a break.

It would be nicer to have a longer winter break + maybe even a fall break vs all the following: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Passover, Eid. And I'm in a group that observes one of the above. I did not want this.

It should be an excused day off for those observing. Obviously, winter break and spring break are organized around Christmas and Good Friday.

After graduation, no workplace or college/university has all of the above days off.

Why should spring break "obviously" be organized around Good Friday-- a holiday very few people observe in any public way. It's a PITA to have spring break move all around the calendar when the semester deadline are fairly inflexible.

For the same reason we get "Easter Monday" off as a holiday?

That doesn't explain spring break being the week of Good Friday despite that shifting weeks every year.

That's just MCPS's longtime preference. Since the state requires Good Friday and Easter Monday to be days off, MCPS schedules spring break to be either the week before or the week after.

The last time they chose after was 2016 which will be 10 years. They should be having if the week after if Easter is before the 1st full week of April.
This year the break is 2 weeks earlier than last year. If they had chosen the week after it would only be 1 week earlier. Easter 2027 is another week earlier (3 weeks earlier than 2025) so the week before should not even be an option.

Why not? The end of March feels like a good time for a spring break.

Too early given the mid to late June end date. If the school year ended by the 1st week of June I'd agree with you. 2.5-3 months after spring break with only a day or two off is a lot.

It's the same 2.5-3 months from after winter break to spring break.

That is true but the longest stretch should not be at the end of the year. This is an ideal calendar although January-March is long. https://content.myconnectsuite.com/api/documents/fae640107bb948e59c1ffc043c580e4e
Unfortunately Maryland law doesn't allow this.

[Anonymous]

January 4-March 19, 2027-11 weeks
March 30-June 16 through 23-11.5 to 12.5 weeks
January 4-March 25, 2027-12 weeks
April 5-June 16 though 23-10.5 to 11.5 weeks
----------------
Both have 2 long double digit week stretches on either side of spring break but the earliest spring break could leave the longest stretch without a 4+ day weekend to the end of the year when people are checking out mentally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Diwali is a fun holiday. Our whole neighborhood celebrates with parties and fireworks.

Couldn’t your celebration continue after school for those who are there for fun and not religious beliefs? Do we really need to shut the system down?

MCPS does that for all religions- Jewish holidays, Ramadan, Easter, Christmas etc. As an Indian immigrant, I did not request or vote for this day to be given a school holiday. We still have to go to work and do not celebrate it until that evening. MCPS aligns those dates with end of quarter/ grading/ teacher work days- so no there are no extra school days off because of Diwali.

In the past we never had the Jewish holidays off. It’s newer as too many teachers took off and not enough subs.

I am 52 and went to MCPS for elementary school and we always had Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur off.

[Anonymous]

If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

Sure! And then MCPS can stay open for Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas because they're all not "fasting holidays."

[Anonymous]

The state law around Good Friday/Easter Monday is ridiculous. Let school districts choose what to do. But in the meantime stop complaining about the inconvenience of observing other holidays since Xmas, Good Friday and Easter Monday are literally written into state law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The state law around Good Friday/Easter Monday is ridiculous. Let school districts choose what to do. But in the meantime stop complaining about the inconvenience of observing other holidays since Xmas, Good Friday and Easter Monday are literally written into state law.

Remove the closures after the 1st and 3rd quarters to offset these extra days off. Those closures are not for observances or breaks and are not required closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The state law around Good Friday/Easter Monday is ridiculous. Let school districts choose what to do. But in the meantime stop complaining about the inconvenience of observing other holidays since Xmas, Good Friday and Easter Monday are literally written into state law.

It may shock you, but laws are able to be changed...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The state law around Good Friday/Easter Monday is ridiculous. Let school districts choose what to do. But in the meantime stop complaining about the inconvenience of observing other holidays since Xmas, Good Friday and Easter Monday are literally written into state law.

Remove the closures after the 1st and 3rd quarters to offset these extra days off. Those closures are not for observances or breaks and are not required closures.

Those are for grading and report cards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

I have this memory around 2019 mcps putting out a survey about holidays and if staff or your student would be absent on Jewish High Holidays/Diwali/Eud/Lunar New Year. I think that informed the calendar. I guess a critical number of parents/staff influenced that decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The state law around Good Friday/Easter Monday is ridiculous. Let school districts choose what to do. But in the meantime stop complaining about the inconvenience of observing other holidays since Xmas, Good Friday and Easter Monday are literally written into state law.

Remove the closures after the 1st and 3rd quarters to offset these extra days off. Those closures are not for observances or breaks and are not required closures.

Those are for grading and report cards

I know make those each 2 half days so winter break is a full 2 weeks OR the year ends sooner. Same amount of time for teachers to grade but 2 extra days are gotten in for Maryland law requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

Sure! And then MCPS can stay open for Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas because they're all not "fasting holidays."

+1! I don't care about Christmas, it's the most boring day of the year

- a jew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

Sure! And then MCPS can stay open for Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas because they're all not "fasting holidays."

Sure why not. X-mas is over "winter" break. And usually "spring" break is during week of Good Friday into Easter, but they could schedule spring break same time each spring and those that need tme off around Easter can be off (for religious reasons --excused absence. Instead they could give off a week at the end of the three quarters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's not a fasting holiday, keep schools open. Isn't Diwali a holiday for the evening? If it is, why are schools closed? Does MCPS have a large student and staff population that celebrate? Maybe in Loudoun county VA there are, but in Montgomery county??

Sure! And then MCPS can stay open for Rosh Hashanah, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Christmas because they're all not "fasting holidays."

+1! I don't care about Christmas, it's the most boring day of the year

- a jew

I think December 24 is the most boring since there is hardly any sports on that day.

[Anonymous]

There are only 180 days of school
Which means there are frequent days off and breaks.
Squabbling over not giving one religious holiday but should give another religious holiday is just a bad look. Seriously, the number of school days remains constant year to year.