Superintendent's Calendar Recommendation for 2026-27

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I went to Catholic school from K-12 and we went to school on Good Friday. We went to mass during the day but we were in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Also it is a little disingenuous to imply that Christmas only counts as one day. Are there any schools districts! that have off the 25th and no other days? Come on, the entire winter break is designed around Christmas. New Year's Day, while mostly understood as secular, originated from Roman practices and is culturally Christian (fwiw Jan 1 is also a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church). No US school district would so much as contemplate having school on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. And that's fine and not a bad thing but let's not pretend the structure of school calendars isn't mostly intended to cater to the traditions of Christian people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Also it is a little disingenuous to imply that Christmas only counts as one day. Are there any schools districts! that have off the 25th and no other days? Come on, the entire winter break is designed around Christmas. New Year's Day, while mostly understood as secular, originated from Roman practices and is culturally Christian (fwiw Jan 1 is also a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church). No US school district would so much as contemplate having school on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. And that's fine and not a bad thing but let's not pretend the structure of school calendars isn't mostly intended to cater to the traditions of Christian people.

So you think that Christmas/Christmas Eve and New Years Day should be the make-up day options? This is the type of exhausting virtue signaling that led to the calendar we currently have where kids are in school through mid-June and there is only 1 day built into the calendar for snow days even though we routinely have 5+ snow days a year.

[Anonymous]

In the Marine Corps we got 4 days off for Christmas and then 4 days off for New Years and the 3 days in between were considered regular work days. Something similar could work for schools but it wouldn't be popular

[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?

In that case they would have lost 4-6 days of instruction not 10. The day before Thanksgiving and December 21-23 maybe called instructional days but there is nothing getting done. Just a bunch of people out and others looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas (even non Christians who enjoy the holiday season). So school being closed December 21-January 1 would not lose any instruction it's the law to be open 180 days regardless of weather that causes that. School being closed the day before Thanksgiving makes complete sense too and some places even take that entire week off despite it being less than a month before the next break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the Marine Corps we got 4 days off for Christmas and then 4 days off for New Years and the 3 days in between were considered regular work days. Something similar could work for schools but it wouldn't be popular

Many workplaces give the two weeks between Christmas and New Years off. Mine does. And so we're going on a cruise. Sorry, no... winter break is too short as it is.

And yes, its built around Christmas but I don't care (saying this as a Jew).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

In that case they would have lost 4-6 days of instruction not 10. The day before Thanksgiving and December 21-23 maybe called instructional days but there is nothing getting done. Just a bunch of people out and others looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas (even non Christians who enjoy the holiday season). So school being closed December 21-January 1 would not lose any instruction it's the law to be open 180 days regardless of weather that causes that. School being closed the day before Thanksgiving makes complete sense too and some places even take that entire week off despite it being less than a month before the next break.

You're assuming they would continue to schedule 181 days of instruction which is cute

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Also it is a little disingenuous to imply that Christmas only counts as one day. Are there any schools districts! that have off the 25th and no other days? Come on, the entire winter break is designed around Christmas. New Year's Day, while mostly understood as secular, originated from Roman practices and is culturally Christian (fwiw Jan 1 is also a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church). No US school district would so much as contemplate having school on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. And that's fine and not a bad thing but let's not pretend the structure of school calendars isn't mostly intended to cater to the traditions of Christian people.

So you think that Christmas/Christmas Eve and New Years Day should be the make-up day options? This is the type of exhausting virtue signaling that led to the calendar we currently have where kids are in school through mid-June and there is only 1 day built into the calendar for snow days even though we routinely have 5+ snow days a year.

Are you drunk?

I definitely didn't say anything to that effect. If you are asking me no I don't think they should schedule Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or New Year's Day as makeup days.

I'm also not sure what you think I said that was "virtue signalling." It also isn't clear how acknowledging the Christian roots of our school calendar somehow contributed to MCPS scheduling 181 days of school in 2025-26 or 2026-27 or their choice of ending school in mid June. My friend who grew up in Long Island in the 90s told me they had school until the end of June and it was totally normal. Was that because someone like me was "virtue signalling" too much in 1990s Long Island?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

In that case they would have lost 4-6 days of instruction not 10. The day before Thanksgiving and December 21-23 maybe called instructional days but there is nothing getting done. Just a bunch of people out and others looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas (even non Christians who enjoy the holiday season). So school being closed December 21-January 1 would not lose any instruction it's the law to be open 180 days regardless of weather that causes that. School being closed the day before Thanksgiving makes complete sense too and some places even take that entire week off despite it being less than a month before the next break.

You're assuming they would continue to schedule 181 days of instruction which is cute

Well they could swap March 9 and April 22 for November 25 and December 23 and would need to swap 2 grading days (perhaps 1Q and 3Q) for December 21 and 22.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So basically MCPS opted for the status quo and we'll have a similar sh**show with the schedule next year. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Also it is a little disingenuous to imply that Christmas only counts as one day. Are there any schools districts! that have off the 25th and no other days? Come on, the entire winter break is designed around Christmas. New Year's Day, while mostly understood as secular, originated from Roman practices and is culturally Christian (fwiw Jan 1 is also a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church). No US school district would so much as contemplate having school on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. And that's fine and not a bad thing but let's not pretend the structure of school calendars isn't mostly intended to cater to the traditions of Christian people.

So you think that Christmas/Christmas Eve and New Years Day should be the make-up day options? This is the type of exhausting virtue signaling that led to the calendar we currently have where kids are in school through mid-June and there is only 1 day built into the calendar for snow days even though we routinely have 5+ snow days a year.

Are you drunk?

I definitely didn't say anything to that effect. If you are asking me no I don't think they should schedule Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or New Year's Day as makeup days.

I'm also not sure what you think I said that was "virtue signalling." It also isn't clear how acknowledging the Christian roots of our school calendar somehow contributed to MCPS scheduling 181 days of school in 2025-26 or 2026-27 or their choice of ending school in mid June. My friend who grew up in Long Island in the 90s told me they had school until the end of June and it was totally normal. Was that because someone like me was "virtue signalling" too much in 1990s Long Island?

I also grew up in a public school that started the day after labor day and ran until the end of June. It also had 4 snow days built into the calendar, and if all the snow days weren't used, school just ended correspondingly earlier. I now look back and appreciate how well-run that school district was compared to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This isn't about keeping the union happy. It's about keeping minority religious groups happy. If we would abide by our own policy that dictates that school closures only relate to operational concerns, we wouldn't have this problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This isn't about keeping the union happy. It's about keeping minority religious groups happy. If we would abide by our own policy that dictates that school closures only relate to operational concerns, we wouldn't have this problem.

What utter BS. Minority religious groups are not the ones insisting that we only need 181 days of instructional time when we used to have 184. This is all the union.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Also it is a little disingenuous to imply that Christmas only counts as one day. Are there any schools districts! that have off the 25th and no other days? Come on, the entire winter break is designed around Christmas. New Year's Day, while mostly understood as secular, originated from Roman practices and is culturally Christian (fwiw Jan 1 is also a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church). No US school district would so much as contemplate having school on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. And that's fine and not a bad thing but let's not pretend the structure of school calendars isn't mostly intended to cater to the traditions of Christian people.

So you think that Christmas/Christmas Eve and New Years Day should be the make-up day options? This is the type of exhausting virtue signaling that led to the calendar we currently have where kids are in school through mid-June and there is only 1 day built into the calendar for snow days even though we routinely have 5+ snow days a year.

Are you drunk?

I definitely didn't say anything to that effect. If you are asking me no I don't think they should schedule Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or New Year's Day as makeup days.

I'm also not sure what you think I said that was "virtue signalling." It also isn't clear how acknowledging the Christian roots of our school calendar somehow contributed to MCPS scheduling 181 days of school in 2025-26 or 2026-27 or their choice of ending school in mid June. My friend who grew up in Long Island in the 90s told me they had school until the end of June and it was totally normal. Was that because someone like me was "virtue signalling" too much in 1990s Long Island?

I also grew up in a public school that started the day after labor day and ran until the end of June. It also had 4 snow days built into the calendar, and if all the snow days weren't used, school just ended correspondingly earlier. I now look back and appreciate how well-run that school district was compared to MCPS.

Where was this? What is the in year vacation schedule?

[Anonymous]

Back in the 90s mcps had 5 built in extra days.