Earlier start date proposed for MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

They don't need one on September 12. The Board has agreed to acknowledge the Muslim holiday that will occur on September 12 of this year and they decided to make it a Professional Day for staff instead of closing schools completely.

However, it takes a lot of time to set up classrooms (esp at the elementary level) plus sit through all of the meetings and trainings that mcps seems as mandatory for that week, so the 5 days are necessary in August. Other professional days are scheduled at the end of each quarter for grading and reporting.

[Anonymous]

And I wonder what MCPS will do if the State mandates aan after Labor Day start

[Anonymous]

I agree about the meetings. We are contractually due two full days for classroom set up and planning before school opens. This past August, my MS interpreted those two days as 16 hours and begrudgingly doled them out in 2 hour chunks as breaks between staff, team, and dept meetings. Ever sat through a 2.5 hour training on child abuse and then tried to design a fun ice-breaker for 6th graders?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher in MCPS. I truly don't understand this. For all the years I've attended and worked in MCPS, I have heard that MCPS only closes for religious holidays if they present an operational issue. In this situation, they are clearly closing due to religious reasons, not operational reasons.

Now the Board is changing its tune and saying that they will close school for students due to a religious holiday, but still make it a working day for staff. I don't celebrate the holiday in question, so I have no problem going to work on that day. But now we're potentially changing the start date to acknowledge a religious holiday?

The holiday in question does not fall on the same day during each calendar year. So how is the Board going to handle this in the following years?

There was a survey sent out by MCEA asking teachers to rank their choices for the 2016-2017 calendar year. The overwhelming reaction from teachers in MCPS was that it won't matter what teachers think. The Board didn't seem to care about what teachers thought about bell times or final exams, so why waste our time filling out yet another survey? But for those interested, here were the options from which to choose...

Option A - add an additional professional day on 9/12 at a cost of $7 million, and bump the last instructional day to Friday 6/16, and the last professional day to Monday 6/19
Option B - add an additional professional day on 9/12 at a cost of $7 million, and add back in an instructional day on Monday 4/10
Option C - swap a professional day to 9/12 by removing one of the end-of-marking period grading days
Option D - swap a professional day to 9/12 by decreasing the number of pre-service days, with the first instruction day being moved up to Friday 8/26
Option E - swap a professional day to 9/12 by decreasing the number of pre-service days, but avoid starting school on a Friday by moving up pre-service to Thurs 8/18, the first instruction day Wed. 8/24, and the final professional day to Tues. 6/13

In my opinion, they all suck. We need 5 professional days at the beginning of the year (at least in elementary to set up rooms), and we need the professional days at the end of the marking periods for grading and reporting. If the Board wants to add a professional day, that's fine by me. But do not remove existing professional days for religious reasons.

Please contact the Board this weekend if you disagree with their decision. They don't listen to teachers, but they will (?) listen to parents.

Thank you, MCPS teacher, for sharing this helpful information. Sounds like "None of the above" was a needed option!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher in MCPS. I truly don't understand this. For all the years I've attended and worked in MCPS, I have heard that MCPS only closes for religious holidays if they present an operational issue. In this situation, they are clearly closing due to religious reasons, not operational reasons.

Now the Board is changing its tune and saying that they will close school for students due to a religious holiday, but still make it a working day for staff. I don't celebrate the holiday in question, so I have no problem going to work on that day. But now we're potentially changing the start date to acknowledge a religious holiday?

The holiday in question does not fall on the same day during each calendar year. So how is the Board going to handle this in the following years?

There was a survey sent out by MCEA asking teachers to rank their choices for the 2016-2017 calendar year. The overwhelming reaction from teachers in MCPS was that it won't matter what teachers think. The Board didn't seem to care about what teachers thought about bell times or final exams, so why waste our time filling out yet another survey? But for those interested, here were the options from which to choose...

Option A - add an additional professional day on 9/12 at a cost of $7 million, and bump the last instructional day to Friday 6/16, and the last professional day to Monday 6/19
Option B - add an additional professional day on 9/12 at a cost of $7 million, and add back in an instructional day on Monday 4/10
Option C - swap a professional day to 9/12 by removing one of the end-of-marking period grading days
Option D - swap a professional day to 9/12 by decreasing the number of pre-service days, with the first instruction day being moved up to Friday 8/26
Option E - swap a professional day to 9/12 by decreasing the number of pre-service days, but avoid starting school on a Friday by moving up pre-service to Thurs 8/18, the first instruction day Wed. 8/24, and the final professional day to Tues. 6/13

In my opinion, they all suck. We need 5 professional days at the beginning of the year (at least in elementary to set up rooms), and we need the professional days at the end of the marking periods for grading and reporting. If the Board wants to add a professional day, that's fine by me. But do not remove existing professional days for religious reasons.

Please contact the Board this weekend if you disagree with their decision. They don't listen to teachers, but they will (?) listen to parents.

Thank you, MCPS teacher, for sharing this helpful information. Sounds like "None of the above" was a needed option!

I also don't think the Board will listen to teachers, but I responded to the survey. Our school's EFR and union rep both ran around trying to get everyone who hadn't responded yet to give their preferences. Judging from informal discussion at the photocopiers, no one wants to lose a pre-service or grading day for obvious reasons. We're all stressed already and the thought of last year being even a little more crunched for time is very discouraging.

I'd like to see an option F: Allow teachers to select one day between July 1 and the start of pre-service to work on our rooms or cohort plan. Pay us at our contract rate for that day. Many teachers will not use it so it would be less expensive than $7 mil.

[Anonymous]

13:44, sounds like a good idea to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:13:44, sounds like a good idea to me.

They'll never go for that. Why would they when so many teachers already do that for free?

[Anonymous]

15:36. So the Board should just cut a day of the preservice week, and count on the fact that many teachers decide to work extra, anyway?

[Anonymous]

I'm all for giving feedback to the BOE, but my problem is with how the new PD was added at the last minute. In the Nov. BOE meeting, Barclay was clear that "I don't know how you need to change the calendar to make up for this day. That's for MCPS staff to figure out. But we MUST have this holiday." I hold him 100% accountable for result of a last minute decision.

The two BOE members who voted against said their decision was due to the uncertainty of when the holiday will actually occur (sounds like it will more likely be on Sunday 9/11; the State's calendar has it as 9/11) and also the fact that Barclay/BOE didn't have any clue on how to work in the extra day off since the last day of school was scheduled to be a Friday.

I'd like my feedback to be constructive, but I'm just mainly mad at Barclay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

When?

Of course, there was also a time when all Maryland public schools were segregated. So I don't think that "people used to do it this way", by itself, is much of an argument for doing it that way now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I wonder what MCPS will do if the State mandates aan after Labor Day start

No need to worry about that unless/until it happens. Which I don't think it will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:33 You make the issue sound frivolous, but the family time in late August is important to many families. It is the traditional international time for family vacations, and as such, it is much more acceptable to many employers to have time off of work at that time of year.

I didn't know that there was a traditional international time for family vacations. Who established this tradition?

Also, it's more acceptable to many employers to have time off work in mid-late August than in early/mid-August? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

When?

Of course, there was also a time when all Maryland public schools were segregated. So I don't think that "people used to do it this way", by itself, is much of an argument for doing it that way now.

A long. LONG time ago. Like 2000. The MCPS web page lists calendars only going back to 2006-2007 school year, which began prior to Labor Day. I was new to MoCo in 2000 and think that was about when they changed.

[Anonymous]

Will someone please, please consider the "traditional international time for family vacations!" Its the TRADITIONAL TIME. I'm so tired of MCPS interfering with the traditional time for us to travel to Europe or Mexico for vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

When?

Of course, there was also a time when all Maryland public schools were segregated. So I don't think that "people used to do it this way", by itself, is much of an argument for doing it that way now.

A long. LONG time ago. Like 2000. The MCPS web page lists calendars only going back to 2006-2007 school year, which began prior to Labor Day. I was new to MoCo in 2000 and think that was about when they changed.

In 1998-1999, school started on August 31, and Labor Day was on September 7.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/qa/monschl.htm#calendar