Superintendent's Calendar Recommendation for 2026-27

[Anonymous]

There’s no making everyone perfectly happy here but this is a pretty good solution. At least we can all (well except the AP mom and the mom who was excited for the free childcare) agree that this is better than starting a week early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

Many will have a problem when they have to extend the school year for the third year in a row next year

Back to where we would’ve ended the year though. Just consider that the year ends on Juneteenth and if we end earlier, it’s a pleasant surprise.

Of course we can each try to do that. I have a 7 year old and we have always booked refundable camps for that first week of summer. But telling me to do that doesn't change the fact that many families and staff will book things they can't or don't want to change for that week which means attendance will be low and MCPS will cry and scream for a waiver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

This is sarcasm, right?

Nope. I like this schedule as a MCPS teacher and a parent of a MCPS student. Zero complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

Ik fine with it for this year, but for the next calendar I want to see fewer half days and no makeup dats after the end of the year. Those are useless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

This is sarcasm, right?

Nope. I like this schedule as a MCPS teacher and a parent of a MCPS student. Zero complaints.

You realize it creates a mess every year because we don't have proper make up days, don't you?

[Anonymous]

Is it worth a letter writing campaign to tell board to amend the proposal to ditch transition day and add back in Thanksgiving Wednesday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

This is sarcasm, right?

Nope. I like this schedule as a MCPS teacher and a parent of a MCPS student. Zero complaints.

You realize it creates a mess every year because we don't have proper make up days, don't you?

DP, they would need to add more random days off to do that. People don't like random days off. I personally am fine with it now because my kid can just go to childcare, but it would be a burden for many.

They really should go back to scheduling 184 days of school from the start. Then if there are more than 3 days when school is closed because of weather, they can get a waiver, nbd. But the union would push back against that. It's crazy that they just reduced instructional days over the last several years, now it will be hard to get them back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was it all a fake-out? If this had been the original recommendation there probably would have been a lot of grumbling about day before Thanksgiving or maybe something else.

Was the 1st recommendation just to make us see this as vastly superior, or am I giving him too much credit?

I think he was trying to get the union to negotiate on the grading and planning days, and it didn't work.

Seems that way. It’s a stupid calendar because McPS has no intention of using the Passover and Eid teacher non instructional days as makeup days and if there is more than one snow day (which there probably will be) we’ll soon be back at the situation where McPS has to ask for a waiver again to approve them not providing 180 days of school to our kids.

They made Passover a day off as too many teacher appropriately took off. Why not remove a Christian holiday?

Passover isn’t going to be a day off. It will be just like this year where if it snows a lot, McPS will say who could have predicted that we could have more than one snow day, McPS will refuse to use the designated “makeup days” because they will say it’s insulting to the Jewish and Muslim communities, and students will lose days of instruction again because McPS will get a waiver from the state and say it’s impossible to provide 180 days of education for students.

But McPS staffers will be happy because they get extra days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have zero complaints with this schedule. It works well and should be the plan for future years as well

This is sarcasm, right?

Nope. I like this schedule as a MCPS teacher and a parent of a MCPS student. Zero complaints.

You realize it creates a mess every year because we don't have proper make up days, don't you?

DP, they would need to add more random days off to do that. People don't like random days off. I personally am fine with it now because my kid can just go to childcare, but it would be a burden for many.

They really should go back to scheduling 184 days of school from the start. Then if there are more than 3 days when school is closed because of weather, they can get a waiver, nbd. But the union would push back against that. It's crazy that they just reduced instructional days over the last several years, now it will be hard to get them back.

This. Somehow McPS has gone from scheduling 184 days of instruction to 181 in the last few years. it’s not surprising that since they don’t actually plan for snow days that this year our kids only got 177 days.

It shows that McPS priorities are on keeping the union happy and not on teaching kids. Massachusetts requires that schools schedule 185 days so they can make sure that kids get at least 180 given the snow days there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dec 23 isn't christmas eve.

It is not. I care more about the day before Thanksgiving. I know everyone has their own preferences, but bringing back the half day before Thanksgiving is just adding in hours for the sake of school hours. Teachers who don't take leave are exhausted from parent conferences. Meaningful instruction does not happen. 50-60% of students do not attend, depending on the grade - a lot are already traveling or do not bother. It is more beneficial to have the day. The holiday is one of the most celebrated because there is no religious significance. It makes more sense to allow families, students and staff to have that time than to have some of the other proposals.

The same is true for the 23rd.

This calendar is not about meaningful instruction. It's about putting in the minimum needed to be able to apply for a waiver.

I don't feel that Dec. 23rd is as important as the day before Thanksgiving, but by making Dec. 23rd a half day, it is definitely not about instruction. A full day on Dec. 23rd would be more meaningful.

December 23rd is pointless too but a half pointless day is better than a full pointless day. Many schools around the country (practically all states south or west of Maryland) have TWO FULL weeks off! The issue is that Maryland requires 180 separate calendar days even if some are lost to weather. If they only required 176 they could have the day before Thanksgiving, two week winter break and the same rest of schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dec 23 isn't christmas eve.

It is not. I care more about the day before Thanksgiving. I know everyone has their own preferences, but bringing back the half day before Thanksgiving is just adding in hours for the sake of school hours. Teachers who don't take leave are exhausted from parent conferences. Meaningful instruction does not happen. 50-60% of students do not attend, depending on the grade - a lot are already traveling or do not bother. It is more beneficial to have the day. The holiday is one of the most celebrated because there is no religious significance. It makes more sense to allow families, students and staff to have that time than to have some of the other proposals.

The same is true for the 23rd.

This calendar is not about meaningful instruction. It's about putting in the minimum needed to be able to apply for a waiver.

I don't feel that Dec. 23rd is as important as the day before Thanksgiving, but by making Dec. 23rd a half day, it is definitely not about instruction. A full day on Dec. 23rd would be more meaningful.

December 23rd is pointless too but a half pointless day is better than a full pointless day. Many schools around the country (practically all states south or west of Maryland) have TWO FULL weeks off! The issue is that Maryland requires 180 separate calendar days even if some are lost to weather. If they only required 176 they could have the day before Thanksgiving, two week winter break and the same rest of schedule.

If they only required 176 MCPS would happily provide 170 and get a waiver for the other 6 days. Then we are down two weeks of instruction. At that point I have to ask the question, at what point does losing instructional days not matter? I assume you think 3 days is fine. What about 5 or 10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dec 23 isn't christmas eve.

It is not. I care more about the day before Thanksgiving. I know everyone has their own preferences, but bringing back the half day before Thanksgiving is just adding in hours for the sake of school hours. Teachers who don't take leave are exhausted from parent conferences. Meaningful instruction does not happen. 50-60% of students do not attend, depending on the grade - a lot are already traveling or do not bother. It is more beneficial to have the day. The holiday is one of the most celebrated because there is no religious significance. It makes more sense to allow families, students and staff to have that time than to have some of the other proposals.

The same is true for the 23rd.

This calendar is not about meaningful instruction. It's about putting in the minimum needed to be able to apply for a waiver.

I don't feel that Dec. 23rd is as important as the day before Thanksgiving, but by making Dec. 23rd a half day, it is definitely not about instruction. A full day on Dec. 23rd would be more meaningful.

December 23rd is pointless too but a half pointless day is better than a full pointless day. Many schools around the country (practically all states south or west of Maryland) have TWO FULL weeks off! The issue is that Maryland requires 180 separate calendar days even if some are lost to weather. If they only required 176 they could have the day before Thanksgiving, two week winter break and the same rest of schedule.

If they only required 176 MCPS would happily provide 170 and get a waiver for the other 6 days. Then we are down two weeks of instruction. At that point I have to ask the question, at what point does losing instructional days not matter? I assume you think 3 days is fine. What about 5 or 10?

Given that only 1/3 of McPS students can do math at grade level, I don’t know why people are advocating that McPS students get less schooling than what’s required. McPS used to schedule 184 days of school just a few years ago, now it only schedules 181. Its priorities are not on student instruction the way it used to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was it all a fake-out? If this had been the original recommendation there probably would have been a lot of grumbling about day before Thanksgiving or maybe something else.

Was the 1st recommendation just to make us see this as vastly superior, or am I giving him too much credit?

I think he was trying to get the union to negotiate on the grading and planning days, and it didn't work.

Seems that way. It’s a stupid calendar because McPS has no intention of using the Passover and Eid teacher non instructional days as makeup days and if there is more than one snow day (which there probably will be) we’ll soon be back at the situation where McPS has to ask for a waiver again to approve them not providing 180 days of school to our kids.

They made Passover a day off as too many teacher appropriately took off. Why not remove a Christian holiday?

The only actual Christian holiday on the calendar is Christmas. There is a 0.0% chance any school district anywhere in this country will plan for schools to be open on Christmas Eve or Christmas. Neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are a Christian holiday, but those are days off because Maryland state law requires it. As a Christian I would have no issue with them changing that law, but MCPS can’t unilaterally do anything with those days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was it all a fake-out? If this had been the original recommendation there probably would have been a lot of grumbling about day before Thanksgiving or maybe something else.

Was the 1st recommendation just to make us see this as vastly superior, or am I giving him too much credit?

I think he was trying to get the union to negotiate on the grading and planning days, and it didn't work.

Seems that way. It’s a stupid calendar because McPS has no intention of using the Passover and Eid teacher non instructional days as makeup days and if there is more than one snow day (which there probably will be) we’ll soon be back at the situation where McPS has to ask for a waiver again to approve them not providing 180 days of school to our kids.

They made Passover a day off as too many teacher appropriately took off. Why not remove a Christian holiday?

Passover isn’t going to be a day off. It will be just like this year where if it snows a lot, McPS will say who could have predicted that we could have more than one snow day, McPS will refuse to use the designated “makeup days” because they will say it’s insulting to the Jewish and Muslim communities, and students will lose days of instruction again because McPS will get a waiver from the state and say it’s impossible to provide 180 days of education for students.

But McPS staffers will be happy because they get extra days off.

+1. MCPS gets rewarded with extra vacation days for planning badly. When you view it through that lens, suddenly their incompetence and these constant schedule dramas make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was it all a fake-out? If this had been the original recommendation there probably would have been a lot of grumbling about day before Thanksgiving or maybe something else.

Was the 1st recommendation just to make us see this as vastly superior, or am I giving him too much credit?

I think he was trying to get the union to negotiate on the grading and planning days, and it didn't work.

Seems that way. It’s a stupid calendar because McPS has no intention of using the Passover and Eid teacher non instructional days as makeup days and if there is more than one snow day (which there probably will be) we’ll soon be back at the situation where McPS has to ask for a waiver again to approve them not providing 180 days of school to our kids.

They made Passover a day off as too many teacher appropriately took off. Why not remove a Christian holiday?

The only actual Christian holiday on the calendar is Christmas. There is a 0.0% chance any school district anywhere in this country will plan for schools to be open on Christmas Eve or Christmas. Neither Good Friday nor Easter Monday are a Christian holiday, but those are days off because Maryland state law requires it. As a Christian I would have no issue with them changing that law, but MCPS can’t unilaterally do anything with those days.

I wouldn't care if they made it a school day, but it's completely bizarre to claim that Good Friday is not a Christian holiday.