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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
2026-2027 calendar updates
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Anonymous
T. Taylor wrote the article. |
Anonymous
School in July should be banned anywhere in the US and probably anywhere with a similar climate pattern, Canada, European Countries. Places in the tropics have the same weather all year round so it doesn't matter there and those further south have opposite seasons where December, January and February is equivalent to June, July and August here, thus in the Southern hemisphere south of the tropics there should be no school in January. Since Christmas is in their summer it would be expected for a late February to early March start with a mid-year vacation in part of-not all of July. |
Anonymous
You are bizarre and way too invested in this. DH's family is all down south, as are some of my relatives, and I've literally never heard them complain about going back to school at the end of July or early August. They're all sick of the summer weather by then and had nice less-crowded beach vacations while our kids were still in school. They are fine, truly. SImilarly my family up north that doesn't start school until after Labor Day are fine too. It's seemingly only the DMV that loses their mind about the potential shift in the calendar by a few days. (FWIW I completely agree with others that the change should not be for this year, but 2027-2028. This is a mess of Taylor's own making by refusing to build enough snow days into the calendar and then actually use them) |
Anonymous
this seems like a great and easy solution, I don't understand why it's not the one they are going with. we are not rich by any means and due to a number of factors beyond my control, that week is the only week we can take a vacation this summer. we've already paid for it (not because we're cheap, but because that's just how it works where we're going). my DD is special needs and will be starting middle school so she just won't be okay missing the first few days, leaving us in a really tough position. this whole situation is really frustrating |
Anonymous
I know! She was great. |
Anonymous
Who starts school in late July and is ALREADY sick of summer? |
Anonymous
If you don’t end by June 18 (and we do currently), then we have the situation we had this year when there’s three or more days of snow (which has happened 4 out of the past five years): (1) you run into Juneteenth and have to skip that; (2) you then are into the week after school was supppsed to end, and you might run into a primary election. So suddenly everyone is pushed deep into the week after school ends just to make up a few days. The schools then whine that nobody wants that, everyone’s angry, and really the whole mess could have been avoided if tje schools just had makeup days in spring when they are most likely to be used. |
Anonymous
Everyone will be angry if MCPS extends the school year, regardless on which particular day the last scheduled day of school falls. More importantly, extending the school year has no educational value. It is just something MCPS has done this year and last year to comply with state law. They could have set up the calendar to allow for educationally meaningful makeup days, but they did not prioritize that for the 2024-25, 2025-26 or 2026-27 calendars. |
Anonymous
No. “Everyone” will not be angry at the change to extend the school year because opinions on this issue are not universal. Many parents are frustrated at MCPS’s inability to provide our kids with 180 school days and to shortchange kids the education they deserve because they have makeup days they refuse to use and want to close for more than a week after a snow storm ends, long after other school districts reopen. I want my kids to have a full 180 days of school next year, and I’m fine with starting earlier in August so that happens. |
Anonymous
Good luck with that. The proposed calendar is likely to lead to the exact same outcome as this year except that they can't mention Juneteenth in their excuses for an illegal waiver |
Anonymous
Meh. For two years in a row, MCPS failed to put in an adequate number of snow days and had to make changes to the school calendar first with adding half days in end June and encouraging students not to come, and even worse this year by asking the state of Maryland to validate its “dog ate my homework” planning and allow them to waive 3 required days of instructional time. I do expect better from MCPS in terms of providing kids with the required instructional time and starting earlier in August will allow McPS to do that and still have its gazillion teacher development days, non-instructional days and religious holidays built in. It’s unfortunate that they didn’t come to this conclusion earlier, but compared to their usual last minute changes, telling people 4 months in advance that the summer schedule is changing isn’t that bad. |
Anonymous
It will literally be the same as this year but shifted 3 days earlier |
Anonymous
It is more annoying if you have to come back the following week, than if you just finish out the week. This year, school ended on a Wednesday. People are less annoyed about having to come Thursday and Friday, than having to come Thursday, skip Friday and return the following Monday. Or this year, doing that, returning Monday, then taking a day off for primary elections, then coming back Wednesday. It’s more likely people book camps starting the Monday after school ends than the Thursday. So yah, the State Board is right that ending before Juneteenth is better logistically. |
Anonymous
+1 Like I care what people in the south are doing. We are all free to have our own opinions and preferences. |
Anonymous
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I'm down for an early August start date (and end by Memorial Day) but they have to decide that more in advance than mid-April, when camps, vacation plans, summer jobs, etc are already set for everybody, students and staff alike.
There are many good reasons to move in that direction, but we need some notice. |