2026-2027 calendar updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
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.

What is so magical at 180? Approximate half the days in a calendar year?
Get rid of the makeup days and things aren't so insane.

Atlanta, GA schools have the 9 week summer that Maryland has, however they get SIX full weeks off a year! Many of the Maryland schools don't even get 3 weeks off and have the same length of summer!
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1765379078/atlantapublicschoolsus/dyfacecbkuogwsftacsu/2026-2028_student_calendar.pdf
https://go.boarddocs.com/ga/fcss/Board.nsf/files/DB8Q4B676D37/$file/26-27%20Instructional%20Calendar%20Draft%20Proposed%2011-12-24.pdf

What’s nice about that Atlanta calendar is the full consolidated weeks off that you can actually use for travel or are at least easier to manage childcare for than the scattered days . Personally I think 6 weeks off during the school year is a bit much, but at least most school weeks are 5 days instead of day off every other week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

I agree with this.

An earlier start should be on the table for future years, but not for this upcoming year, when people have already made plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

I agree with this.

An earlier start should be on the table for future years, but not for this upcoming year, when people have already made plans.

It is going to be an operational nightmare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

[Anonymous]

I guess staff and students will just be trickling in during pre-service and the first week of school. So fun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

The teachers are not going to want to come back for an extra week after the last day of school next year either. I don't understand what you think is going to be different just because the calendar has been shifted 3 days earlier. People will still make plans for the week after school ends.

[Anonymous]

As a first time parent of a high schooler I find it absurd that we are twisting ourselves into pretzels to meet the 180 when high school students miss multiple days due to testing (only certain grades report at 7:45 to take a test, everyone else arrive at noon).
If high schoolers have to miss considerable class time so staff can administer testing (SAT, AP, MCAP, etc) then why can’t we call it a year with 168 days when weather events happen.
This is stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

The teachers are not going to want to come back for an extra week after the last day of school next year either. I don't understand what you think is going to be different just because the calendar has been shifted 3 days earlier. People will still make plans for the week after school ends.

It’s even worse than that. Because there will be so many absences and subs for the Thur/Fri before the first full week, those will not be real instructional days. So you’ll be down to 179 days BEFORE and weather closure days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

Your kids better not be absent a single day then. No sickness, no trips, no mental health days, no funerals, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess staff and students will just be trickling in during pre-service and the first week of school. So fun

What happens to teachers who miss pre-service week? Is it a problem? Or do they just use leave?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

The teachers are not going to want to come back for an extra week after the last day of school next year either. I don't understand what you think is going to be different just because the calendar has been shifted 3 days earlier. People will still make plans for the week after school ends.

The MCPS calendar should be defined by meeting state requirements for instructional time, not by "what teachers want." By starting 3 days early and getting more days completed earlier in the year, they'll be less likely to need a waiver next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess staff and students will just be trickling in during pre-service and the first week of school. So fun

What happens to teachers who miss pre-service week? Is it a problem? Or do they just use leave?

This is a good question. I certainly don’t begrudge a teacher using PTO for these days that were sprung on them, but even if it’s not an HR issue, it means they’ll be less prepared for the beginning of the year, right? Which affects everyone. (Unless pre-service is more like useless meetings rather than actual preparation work.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

Your kids better not be absent a single day then. No sickness, no trips, no mental health days, no funerals, etc.

Sure--let that apply to teachers too. We can all be robots, because you're conflating the requirement for MCPS to have a calendar with the required instructional time the same as other Maryland school districts with your whining about being forced to work 180 days a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a first time parent of a high schooler I find it absurd that we are twisting ourselves into pretzels to meet the 180 when high school students miss multiple days due to testing (only certain grades report at 7:45 to take a test, everyone else arrive at noon).
If high schoolers have to miss considerable class time so staff can administer testing (SAT, AP, MCAP, etc) then why can’t we call it a year with 168 days when weather events happen.
This is stupid.

Yes--the solution is clearly to cut the number of instructional days when only 1/3 of MCPS students meet state requirements for proficiency in math, and 1/2 meet state requirements for reading.

Kids can just stay home and teach themselves with tik tok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do people honestly want to start a week earlier this year? That is just ridiculous! If they want to implement this policy, it needs to wait until 2027-2028. Teachers AND students have vacation plans, summer school, work obligations, internships, etc. that go until August 22. We are already going back 2 weeks before Labor Day....

Yes, I want my kids to start earlier so they can actually have 180 days of school this year. If we start earlier we can get some more actual school days in before the snow day craziness starts and now have this mess of trying to add June days until June 22, realizing that the teachers don't want to do that and then giving up and cutting 3 days out of the school year.

The teachers are not going to want to come back for an extra week after the last day of school next year either. I don't understand what you think is going to be different just because the calendar has been shifted 3 days earlier. People will still make plans for the week after school ends.

The MCPS calendar should be defined by meeting state requirements for instructional time, not by "what teachers want." By starting 3 days early and getting more days completed earlier in the year, they'll be less likely to need a waiver next year.

No, that is not how math works.