Anybody planning to skip school on the half days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be sooo many half days in November...should I feel guilty to drag out kids (lover and higher grade level in elementary school) from school during those kind of school days to plan a vacation?

doesn't MCPS have like four half days in a row in November.

WTF is the purpose of that? What am I supposed to tell my employer? How much money is that for childcare?

No. And you don't have to tell your employer anything, because there aren't four half days in a row.

[Anonymous]

Parents crack me up. MCPS used to have a full day of school before Thanksgiving.

Parents: Why does MCPS have a full day of school the day before Thanksgiving? I need to travel. I'm going to pull my kid out of school early or have them skip.

MCPS: <too many disruptions from parents pulling kids out early>
MCPS: Let's make the day before Thanksgiving a half-day to avoid disruptions and let people travel.

Parents: Why does MCPS have a stupid half-day the day before Thanksgiving? What a waste. I'm going to keep my kid home.

[Anonymous]

Nope, but mine are in MS and HS. in Elem, I wouldn't think it's a big deal for a special occasion.

[Anonymous]

I really don't get it- why can't the half days be combined to fewer whole day off? -which can save the cost on busing, and etc. and what's more, some kids have 45+ minutes door to door commute time, so one and a half hour commute for three hours in school and four times in a month...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don't get it- why can't the half days be combined to fewer whole day off? -which can save the cost on busing, and etc. and what's more, some kids have 45+ minutes door to door commute time, so one and a half hour commute for three hours in school and four times in a month...

§7–103.
(a) Except as provided in subsections (b), (e), and (f) of this section, each public school under the jurisdiction of a county board:
(1) (i) Shall be open for pupil attendance for at least 180 actual school days and a minimum of 1,080 school hours during a 10–month period in each school year; or
(ii) If normal school attendance is prevented because of conditions described in subsection (b) of this section, shall be open for at least 1,080 hours during a 10–month period;
(2) Shall be open for pupil attendance a minimum of 3 hours during each school day; and
(3) May not be open on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays in order to meet the 180–day or 1,080–hour requirement of this subsection.

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmStatutesText.aspx?article=ged§ion=7-103&ext=html&session=2018RS&tab=subject5

In other words: a half day counts as a day of school, a day off does not.

[Anonymous]

TUES: November 6 General Election Day—Offices and schools closed
WED: November 7 Early release day for all students; end of quarter planning
MON: November 12 Early release day for all students
TUES: November 13 Early release day for all students
WED: November 21 Early release day for all students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TUES: November 6 General Election Day—Offices and schools closed
WED: November 7 Early release day for all students; end of quarter planning
MON: November 12 Early release day for all students
TUES: November 13 Early release day for all students
WED: November 21 Early release day for all students

What's your point, PP?

State law requires MCPS to close on November 6 - closed for everybody, not just no school. November 7 is the end of the quarter; it used to be a no-school day, but now it's an early release day, because MCPS has to fit the required days of school into the governor's executive order but still wants to have some teacher in-service time. The early release days on November 12 and 13 are for parent-teacher conferences, which are a good thing, right? And the early release day on November 21 is because Thanksgiving is the next day.

Which of those things do you think MCPS should change, and how?

[Anonymous]

Well we will be missing the half day before thanksgiving because all our family is out of town and we are flying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TUES: November 6 General Election Day—Offices and schools closed
WED: November 7 Early release day for all students; end of quarter planning
MON: November 12 Early release day for all students
TUES: November 13 Early release day for all students
WED: November 21 Early release day for all students

What's your point, PP?

State law requires MCPS to close on November 6 - closed for everybody, not just no school. November 7 is the end of the quarter; it used to be a no-school day, but now it's an early release day, because MCPS has to fit the required days of school into the governor's executive order but still wants to have some teacher in-service time. The early release days on November 12 and 13 are for parent-teacher conferences, which are a good thing, right? And the early release day on November 21 is because Thanksgiving is the next day.

Which of those things do you think MCPS should change, and how?

Election day is coming. Change the Governor. I don't know any other states that have to deal with this degree of state level micromanaging on school calendars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Of course I take vacation. We go on plenty of vacations as a family. However, here's the thing: They're required to be in school a certain number of days. They get built-in vacations that we, as adults, don't get (unless you're a teacher). That means that, outside of those vacation times, they're in school. I would understand your argument if school vacations didn't exist and kids just had a certain number of floating vacation days (like adults do), but that's not how it works.

DP. It's how it works in my current family, and in my family of origin. There's even a word in German for days when you're not really sick but you just plain do not want to go to school or work: krank feiern. My sibling and I both have doctoral degrees, so it doesn't seem to have hurt our academic inclinations much.

I'm happy that krank feiern worked well for your German family in Germany, but something tells me that the idea that people can choose to not go to work or school when they don't feel like it would not end well in America...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Of course I take vacation. We go on plenty of vacations as a family. However, here's the thing: They're required to be in school a certain number of days. They get built-in vacations that we, as adults, don't get (unless you're a teacher). That means that, outside of those vacation times, they're in school. I would understand your argument if school vacations didn't exist and kids just had a certain number of floating vacation days (like adults do), but that's not how it works.

DP. It's how it works in my current family, and in my family of origin. There's even a word in German for days when you're not really sick but you just plain do not want to go to school or work: krank feiern. My sibling and I both have doctoral degrees, so it doesn't seem to have hurt our academic inclinations much.

I'm happy that krank feiern worked well for your German family in Germany, but something tells me that the idea that people can choose to not go to work or school when they don't feel like it would not end well in America...

I'm the PP you're responding to, and actually it worked well for my American family right here in the US. Where the expression (in English) is generally "to take a personal day". You haven't heard of that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. We're going to Disney!

Us too--see you there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TUES: November 6 General Election Day—Offices and schools closed
WED: November 7 Early release day for all students; end of quarter planning
MON: November 12 Early release day for all students
TUES: November 13 Early release day for all students
WED: November 21 Early release day for all students

What's your point, PP?

State law requires MCPS to close on November 6 - closed for everybody, not just no school. November 7 is the end of the quarter; it used to be a no-school day, but now it's an early release day, because MCPS has to fit the required days of school into the governor's executive order but still wants to have some teacher in-service time. The early release days on November 12 and 13 are for parent-teacher conferences, which are a good thing, right? And the early release day on November 21 is because Thanksgiving is the next day.

Which of those things do you think MCPS should change, and how?

I think you made the crazy lunatic point by your psycho response to a posted school calendar. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

How’s the new curriculum selection going?
Have all the 1000s of parent and teacher comments been processed for key take-ways since April/May submittance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be sooo many half days in November...should I feel guilty to drag out kids (lover and higher grade level in elementary school) from school during those kind of school days to plan a vacation?

doesn't MCPS have like four half days in a row in November.

WTF is the purpose of that? What am I supposed to tell my employer? How much money is that for childcare?

You tell them that you didn’t fulfill your duty as a parent to find care for your child on the few days where there’s an early release when you had months of notice, and that you expected the school system to provide child care that is convenient for your schedule every day. I’m sure they’ll find your skills that show your failure to plan to be very valuable to their organization.