Write a letter to oppose the waiver

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1
Except that I am from the US, and I find it pretty disgusting. School should be a priority. And, the time spent in school should be important enough that it needs to be made up if it is missed.

What message does it send to the kids? Hey, you missed 10 days of school, but you weren't learning sh*t anyway, so NBD.

The message it sends to the kids is, "Unfortunately, this year you missed a lot of school because of the weather, and the missed time can't realistically be made up." Or, at least, that's the message it sends to me.

PLEASE- How much importance you put on school everyday will have a lot more of an impact on your child than 5 additional days in June.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have an idea on when we will know? I could careless either way, but just need to plan for our vacation. It looks like PG County added on days and that DC tweaked some off days and half days, to let the kids come in and make up those days. Hurry up Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Well they probably need to rewrite the letter after yesterday.

[Anonymous]

My son definitely doesn't want an extra week of curriculum 2.0 to replace a week of sports camp.

Anonymous wrote:MoCo just asked for a waiver for extending the school year until June 19. The vast majority of parents I've spoken to oppose this waiver for a number of reasons. If you, too, oppose the waiver, please write to: Lillian Lowery, State Superintendent of Schools at [e-mail]

I'm enclosing below a sample letter that you can cut and paste if you choose to:

Dear Superintendent Lowery,

As a parent of a Montgomery County student, I’m writing to respectfully ask you not to grant a waiver for the additional five days that Montgomery County Public Schools is obliged to add to the year. The law holds that school children must go to school 180 days a year and I believe it is important to uphold the law for two important reasons. First, since the children have missed ten full days of school and have had four two-hour delays, their learning environment has been severely compromised. They should go the extra week so that they can fully cover the curriculum. Second, you should uphold the law to send the children the message that school matters. I feel like our state should be an advocate for education and I think it sends the wrong message to our children when our school leadership asks to waive a law and allow for so many missed days.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Please do NOT grant the waiver.

Respectfully,

[Anonymous]

They aren't learning crap in 2.0 why not just give them a 4 day week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They aren't learning crap in 2.0 why not just give them a 4 day week.

My children are learning a lot. I'm sorry that yours aren't.

[Anonymous]

I read there is an Arctic blast heading for the DC area between next Tuesday and Thursday. Could be the coldest late March in 50 years and depending how the storm tracks, DC could get "walloped" with snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does kids going a few extra days every once in awhile (there is rarely a year with no snow days) balance out 10 missed days and 5 possibly 6 delays. That is 70+ hours of missed school in the last 2.5 months. Close to 12 days. It doesn't even count the already planned holidays/professional days/early dismissal days. There hasn't been a full 5 day week since winter break. Has there? There needs to be more school and a strict plan without all this waiver BS. You leave it up in the air and someone is gonna be pissed and complaining. Just stick to your guns MCPS.

And if they can't do the contingency plan because of fiscal issues why have it? Seriously how stupid do they look? MCPS and Marland seems to just get worse and worse.

There are four "extra" days built into each year. Again, while it's not ideal, the students missed an additional 6 days this year. My point earlier was that we often only use 1-3 of those "extra" days each year. So...yes....it DOES balance out. Similarly, as for the missed hours, there are additional hours built into the MCPS schedule.

If MCPS goes an extra week, that's fine. However, unless they bump everything back a week, it's really not all the effective. This uproar over this extra week is just over the top.

With that being said, I am the parent of a young elementary school student so I can certainly see that my take on things may be different than that of a parent of an older student. On our days off, we actually do read and spend time doing "fun" activities that address objectives they are currently working on in school so I don't feel like it's a total loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

PLEASE- How much importance you put on school everyday will have a lot more of an impact on your child than 5 additional days in June.

Absolutely!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is that I blame the fact that my school did not make up three snow days for the reason I did not get into Harvard.

Has nothing to do with going to Harvard. It has to do with poor planning and how that impacts students, schedules (yes, some parents do have to plan for camps and time off from work), resources and tax dollars. I think it sets a poor example when the state to has a plan in place to make-up excessive missed school days and not follow it. I hope they re-adjust their policy so that extra days are made up during the school year and not at the end.
Follow your guidelines, STATE and stop having the counties change it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does kids going a few extra days every once in awhile (there is rarely a year with no snow days) balance out 10 missed days and 5 possibly 6 delays. That is 70+ hours of missed school in the last 2.5 months. Close to 12 days. It doesn't even count the already planned holidays/professional days/early dismissal days. There hasn't been a full 5 day week since winter break. Has there? There needs to be more school and a strict plan without all this waiver BS. You leave it up in the air and someone is gonna be pissed and complaining. Just stick to your guns MCPS.

And if they can't do the contingency plan because of fiscal issues why have it? Seriously how stupid do they look? MCPS and Marland seems to just get worse and worse.

There are four "extra" days built into each year. Again, while it's not ideal, the students missed an additional 6 days this year. My point earlier was that we often only use 1-3 of those "extra" days each year. So...yes....it DOES balance out. Similarly, as for the missed hours, there are additional hours built into the MCPS schedule.

If MCPS goes an extra week, that's fine. However, unless they bump everything back a week, it's really not all the effective. This uproar over this extra week is just over the top.

With that being said, I am the parent of a young elementary school student so I can certainly see that my take on things may be different than that of a parent of an older student. On our days off, we actually do read and spend time doing "fun" activities that address objectives they are currently working on in school so I don't feel like it's a total loss.

It isn't just the missed week. It is the teachers having to keep bringing students up to speed each time they missed several unplanned days in a row. My son's teacher told me that the broken routine is having a bigger impact on the kids than lots of people think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son definitely doesn't want an extra week of curriculum 2.0 to replace a week of sports camp.

Anonymous wrote:MoCo just asked for a waiver for extending the school year until June 19. The vast majority of parents I've spoken to oppose this waiver for a number of reasons. If you, too, oppose the waiver, please write to: Lillian Lowery, State Superintendent of Schools at [e-mail]

I'm enclosing below a sample letter that you can cut and paste if you choose to:

Dear Superintendent Lowery,

As a parent of a Montgomery County student, I’m writing to respectfully ask you not to grant a waiver for the additional five days that Montgomery County Public Schools is obliged to add to the year. The law holds that school children must go to school 180 days a year and I believe it is important to uphold the law for two important reasons. First, since the children have missed ten full days of school and have had four two-hour delays, their learning environment has been severely compromised. They should go the extra week so that they can fully cover the curriculum. Second, you should uphold the law to send the children the message that school matters. I feel like our state should be an advocate for education and I think it sends the wrong message to our children when our school leadership asks to waive a law and allow for so many missed days.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Please do NOT grant the waiver.

Respectfully,

Ha ha - glad you trained him to be the man and decision makere of the family. Good work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have an idea on when we will know? I could careless either way, but just need to plan for our vacation. It looks like PG County added on days and that DC tweaked some off days and half days, to let the kids come in and make up those days. Hurry up Montgomery County.

Montgomery County - used to be one of the most respected school districts in the country. Now they are a joke.

[Anonymous]

In VA both Arlington and Loudon are using the hours of instruction rather than the number of days to calculate the need for make up days. MoCo is not alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It isn't just the missed week. It is the teachers having to keep bringing students up to speed each time they missed several unplanned days in a row. My son's teacher told me that the broken routine is having a bigger impact on the kids than lots of people think.

How will adding on a week in June, at the end of the school year, fix this problem?