President's Day makeup day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

They do, that's why it wasn't marked as a designated makeup day.

Asians didn't lobby much for Lunar New Year as a day off.

Teachers lobbied hard for additional teacher development days/grading days to be added into the schedule, and it was easier to add those in if you could say a certain ethnic group or religion was asking for additional days off to be on par with the Christians and the Jews.

Feb 17 is not a professional development or grading day. There's no school for students and teachers.

Tuesday Feb 17 is a non-instructional day. Why would they have Monday Feb 16 President's Day as a school day, but not have Feb 17 as an instructional day?

I don’t understand this. Why is it possible to designate a federal holiday as a makeup day but not the day after?

Yeah this is super weird. Also if we are going to go on a Federal holiday I think Juneteenth is one that I’d pick, not President’s Day, since I think finding teacher coverage for a major holiday in less than a month is going to be problematic.

Juneteenth is June 19. How much teaching do you think is going to go on at the end of marking period 4? Days should be added earlier if McPS is serious about instruction.

None, but you are wildly unrealistic if you think meaningful instruction will/can/should be conducted on President’s Day given the extreme lack of advance notice and the precedent that the day has always been off for everyone since the dawn of time. Don’t be like those posters who insist you shouldn’t plan a vacation the week after school ends in case it is extended, etc. President’s Day is a Federal holiday that has never been and is still not designated as a make up day. If they somehow negotiate to use this day, which is a long shot, it’ll be a throwaway day, not a meaningful instruction day.

Very few people take trips over Presidents' Day. Attendance would be fine. Certainly far higher than the days late in June, and probably much higher than days adjacent to major holiday breaks.

How on earth could you possibly know this information?

Because despite the Bethesda contingent here, most people don’t have the disposable income for a random trip every long weekend

I think you’d be very surprised to know many people who you consider poor do still save up money and travel.

Take your privilege goggles off. Sure they may be saving for one big trip. Maybe it’s scheduled for Presidents’ Day but for most it will be spring break or in the summer. The number of families who will be impacted by having school on Presidents Day is likely pretty small. And for those who it does, not a huge deal (we were going to go up to NY and see a show… but no big deal to reschedule)

Broadway shows do not run on Mondays, hon, nor do they do Tuesday matinees.

Did you consider that the PP is seeing a Sunday matinee and has train tickets back on Monday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im traveling that weekend so will have to get a sub if they make it a school day

And then MCPS will say they can't open school because not enough staff...just like these snow days. Or they could act more responsibly and add snow days to the calendar like a normal school district.

Orrrrr… md could just accept hours of instruction and this would all be a moot point.

We don't get through the curriculum as it is. Reducing the number of instructional days would just make that worse.

Sorry, your summer vacation plans are not more important than school.

I’d agree if the tack on days actually had instruction. I’m not cancelling my kid’s sleepaway camp so she can sit in school and watch movies.

I’m an elementary parent so it matters less but I know high schoolers are in the midst of prepping for APs and IBs. This especially impacts them.

How does cutting instructional days help high schools prepping for AP tests? That's even more reason to pressure MCPS into using the earlier make up days already in the calendar.

You and I are saying the same thing. Tacking days on at the end of the year helps nothing. The should use the two days in March and April and President’s Day and the Day after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

They do, that's why it wasn't marked as a designated makeup day.

Asians didn't lobby much for Lunar New Year as a day off.

Teachers lobbied hard for additional teacher development days/grading days to be added into the schedule, and it was easier to add those in if you could say a certain ethnic group or religion was asking for additional days off to be on par with the Christians and the Jews.

Not entirely true. Asian families didn’t protest in front of the BOE, but they frequently brought it up in surveys as a sign their culture was not valued in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

They do, that's why it wasn't marked as a designated makeup day.

Asians didn't lobby much for Lunar New Year as a day off.

Teachers lobbied hard for additional teacher development days/grading days to be added into the schedule, and it was easier to add those in if you could say a certain ethnic group or religion was asking for additional days off to be on par with the Christians and the Jews.

Feb 17 is not a professional development or grading day. There's no school for students and teachers.

Tuesday Feb 17 is a non-instructional day. Why would they have Monday Feb 16 President's Day as a school day, but not have Feb 17 as an instructional day?

I don’t understand this. Why is it possible to designate a federal holiday as a makeup day but not the day after?

Yeah this is super weird. Also if we are going to go on a Federal holiday I think Juneteenth is one that I’d pick, not President’s Day, since I think finding teacher coverage for a major holiday in less than a month is going to be problematic.

Juneteenth is June 19. How much teaching do you think is going to go on at the end of marking period 4? Days should be added earlier if McPS is serious about instruction.

None, but you are wildly unrealistic if you think meaningful instruction will/can/should be conducted on President’s Day given the extreme lack of advance notice and the precedent that the day has always been off for everyone since the dawn of time. Don’t be like those posters who insist you shouldn’t plan a vacation the week after school ends in case it is extended, etc. President’s Day is a Federal holiday that has never been and is still not designated as a make up day. If they somehow negotiate to use this day, which is a long shot, it’ll be a throwaway day, not a meaningful instruction day.

Very few people take trips over Presidents' Day. Attendance would be fine. Certainly far higher than the days late in June, and probably much higher than days adjacent to major holiday breaks.

How on earth could you possibly know this information?

Wow... You really don't know?

I'd love to know your HHI and zip code...

You are making up statistics. My HHI and zipcode are irrelevant. We aren’t traveling that weekend but to boldly say very few people take trips that weekend is really extra. Flight data and AAA road data says otherwise.

The median household income of families with kids at seven MCPS high schools is under $100k. Another eight have median HHIs under $150k.

It's not just the cost of the trip- it is also the cost of
missing work during any trip.

You are remarkably out of touch.

[Anonymous]

I would love it as I’m stressed about losing all this time for my HS kids with APs but I also realize it’s unlikely to happen.
I wish the state would get rid of the dumb rule about Good Friday and Easter Monday. I’m Catholic and I think it is dumb to mandate schools have these days off. The only religious days off should be because too many teachers will call out absent due to daytime religious obligations. That was historically th case with him kipper and rosy hashanah. I don’t know any Catholics that take off Good Friday or any Asians that take off lunar new year or any Muslims that take off Ramadan. I work with people of all stripes and the only people I know who take off are the Jews for the high holidays as they spend all day in temple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im traveling that weekend so will have to get a sub if they make it a school day

And then MCPS will say they can't open school because not enough staff...just like these snow days. Or they could act more responsibly and add snow days to the calendar like a normal school district.

Orrrrr… md could just accept hours of instruction and this would all be a moot point.

We don't get through the curriculum as it is. Reducing the number of instructional days would just make that worse.

Sorry, your summer vacation plans are not more important than school.

I’d agree if the tack on days actually had instruction. I’m not cancelling my kid’s sleepaway camp so she can sit in school and watch movies.

I’m an elementary parent so it matters less but I know high schoolers are in the midst of prepping for APs and IBs. This especially impacts them.

How does cutting instructional days help high schools prepping for AP tests? That's even more reason to pressure MCPS into using the earlier make up days already in the calendar.

You and I are saying the same thing. Tacking days on at the end of the year helps nothing. The should use the two days in March and April and President’s Day and the Day after.

Got it. My earlier message was replying to the poster that wanted to cut the 180-day requirement. I didn't realize you were a different poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love it as I’m stressed about losing all this time for my HS kids with APs but I also realize it’s unlikely to happen.
I wish the state would get rid of the dumb rule about Good Friday and Easter Monday. I’m Catholic and I think it is dumb to mandate schools have these days off. The only religious days off should be because too many teachers will call out absent due to daytime religious obligations. That was historically th case with him kipper and rosy hashanah. I don’t know any Catholics that take off Good Friday or any Asians that take off lunar new year or any Muslims that take off Ramadan. I work with people of all stripes and the only people I know who take off are the Jews for the high holidays as they spend all day in temple.

I’ve taught in this county for 22 years. I’ve always had students who take off for Lunar New Year, sometimes two days. And I’ve always had students who take the Eids off.

We’re closed Good Friday by State law otherwise, I’d imagine we would see absences then as well.

In this political climate whatever affirmation we can make to religious and cultural diversity, I support.

It’s also good for students’ mental health. Many Asian and Muslim students have faced such prejudice in our schools. Let them spend a day surrounded by their community’s love and joy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But there are two days off that week. Presidents’ Day and Tuesday is also a day off for teacher development or something.


So McPS is going to use both of them to get back the snow days?

Tuesday is Lunar new year. If you want to respect religious holidays, you should respect lunar new year too.

They do, that's why it wasn't marked as a designated makeup day.

Asians didn't lobby much for Lunar New Year as a day off.

Teachers lobbied hard for additional teacher development days/grading days to be added into the schedule, and it was easier to add those in if you could say a certain ethnic group or religion was asking for additional days off to be on par with the Christians and the Jews.

Feb 17 is not a professional development or grading day. There's no school for students and teachers.

Tuesday Feb 17 is a non-instructional day. Why would they have Monday Feb 16 President's Day as a school day, but not have Feb 17 as an instructional day?

I don’t understand this. Why is it possible to designate a federal holiday as a makeup day but not the day after?

Yeah this is super weird. Also if we are going to go on a Federal holiday I think Juneteenth is one that I’d pick, not President’s Day, since I think finding teacher coverage for a major holiday in less than a month is going to be problematic.

Juneteenth is June 19. How much teaching do you think is going to go on at the end of marking period 4? Days should be added earlier if McPS is serious about instruction.

None, but you are wildly unrealistic if you think meaningful instruction will/can/should be conducted on President’s Day given the extreme lack of advance notice and the precedent that the day has always been off for everyone since the dawn of time. Don’t be like those posters who insist you shouldn’t plan a vacation the week after school ends in case it is extended, etc. President’s Day is a Federal holiday that has never been and is still not designated as a make up day. If they somehow negotiate to use this day, which is a long shot, it’ll be a throwaway day, not a meaningful instruction day.

Very few people take trips over Presidents' Day. Attendance would be fine. Certainly far higher than the days late in June, and probably much higher than days adjacent to major holiday breaks.

How on earth could you possibly know this information?

Wow... You really don't know?

I'd love to know your HHI and zip code...

You are making up statistics. My HHI and zipcode are irrelevant. We aren’t traveling that weekend but to boldly say very few people take trips that weekend is really extra. Flight data and AAA road data says otherwise.

The median household income of families with kids at seven MCPS high schools is under $100k. Another eight have median HHIs under $150k.

It's not just the cost of the trip- it is also the cost of
missing work during any trip.

You are remarkably out of touch.

If you think having a HHI under $150k makes you so poor that you can’t travel, you are the one out of touch. That’s more than every teacher in the district!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

We only knew this storm was coming for over a week ahead of time 🙄

And DCUM was pretty insistent that people were fools for preparing. Even the day beforehand, posters insisted everyone would be able to resume their normal routines on Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would love it as I’m stressed about losing all this time for my HS kids with APs but I also realize it’s unlikely to happen.
I wish the state would get rid of the dumb rule about Good Friday and Easter Monday. I’m Catholic and I think it is dumb to mandate schools have these days off. The only religious days off should be because too many teachers will call out absent due to daytime religious obligations. That was historically th case with him kipper and rosy hashanah. I don’t know any Catholics that take off Good Friday or any Asians that take off lunar new year or any Muslims that take off Ramadan. I work with people of all stripes and the only people I know who take off are the Jews for the high holidays as they spend all day in temple.

I’ve taught in this county for 22 years. I’ve always had students who take off for Lunar New Year, sometimes two days. And I’ve always had students who take the Eids off.

We’re closed Good Friday by State law otherwise, I’d imagine we would see absences then as well.

In this political climate whatever affirmation we can make to religious and cultural diversity, I support.

It’s also good for students’ mental health. Many Asian and Muslim students have faced such prejudice in our schools. Let them spend a day surrounded by their community’s love and joy.

Where’s the line though? Which religions count? I think we need to actually separate church and state and let the kids have school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t mcps hold school over zoom this Wed and Thursday?

Lack of forewarning to families so some students don’t have a device at home.

+1 This was not a freak unexpected storm. A message should have gone out from central offices to tell schools to distribute Chromebooks to students who don’t have them at least for MS, HS and upper elementary school students who use them regularly.

My kids have their Chromebooks with them…they could have been learning this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love it as I’m stressed about losing all this time for my HS kids with APs but I also realize it’s unlikely to happen.
I wish the state would get rid of the dumb rule about Good Friday and Easter Monday. I’m Catholic and I think it is dumb to mandate schools have these days off. The only religious days off should be because too many teachers will call out absent due to daytime religious obligations. That was historically th case with him kipper and rosy hashanah. I don’t know any Catholics that take off Good Friday or any Asians that take off lunar new year or any Muslims that take off Ramadan. I work with people of all stripes and the only people I know who take off are the Jews for the high holidays as they spend all day in temple.

I’m not Catholic but I would need to take off Good Friday and Easter Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im traveling that weekend so will have to get a sub if they make it a school day

And then MCPS will say they can't open school because not enough staff...just like these snow days. Or they could act more responsibly and add snow days to the calendar like a normal school district.

Orrrrr… md could just accept hours of instruction and this would all be a moot point.

We don't get through the curriculum as it is. Reducing the number of instructional days would just make that worse.

Sorry, your summer vacation plans are not more important than school.

I’d agree if the tack on days actually had instruction. I’m not cancelling my kid’s sleepaway camp so she can sit in school and watch movies.

I’m an elementary parent so it matters less but I know high schoolers are in the midst of prepping for APs and IBs. This especially impacts them.

How does cutting instructional days help high schools prepping for AP tests? That's even more reason to pressure MCPS into using the earlier make up days already in the calendar.

You and I are saying the same thing. Tacking days on at the end of the year helps nothing. The should use the two days in March and April and President’s Day and the Day after.

+1 if McPS is serious about wanting to give instructional time this makes more sense. And then it needs to come to its senses and add more than 1 snow day to the calendar ASAP.