Snowing here and sticking—early dismissals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have closed. Bad calls all around.

I think that they would have closed, if there had been more than 2 snow days in the schedule, which was not possible thanks to the wishes of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce.

Nope, MCPS is entirely to blame on this one. Howard County manages to make the schedule work, including a full week for spring break, under the same rules. Why cant' MCPS pull it off?

Note that in spring last yea, SB729 was passed, allowing schools to extend the calendar up to 5 days past 6/15 without a waiver. HoCo took advantage of this, MCPS did not.

What does HCPS do about the calendar that MCPS doesn't do? What does MCPS do about the calendar that HCPS doesn't do? Please be specific.

MCPS: last day of school 6/14, no provision for extending due to snow days. Half-week for Spring Break (Wednesday-Friday, then Monday as mandated by law). 4/17-4/22

HCPS: last day of school 6/17, extendable to 6/21 due to snow days. Full week for spring break (6 schooldays), 6/13-6/22.

But why can HoCo extend to 6/21 and MoCo has to finish the week before?

MCPS had approved this year's calendar last winter, before the state agreed that there could be snow waivers past 6/15. Apparently they didn't want to change the approved calendar after the waiver announcement (which I think was last May or June).

Also, HoCo doesn't have any built-in snow days at all, so every snow day automatically adds on at the end. MoCo built two days in by shortening spring break. It's worth noting that every year there are parents who complain that adding days at the end of the year is less useful instructionally and that it would be better to add in the spring to allow for more instruction before AP tests, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have closed. Bad calls all around.

I think that they would have closed, if there had been more than 2 snow days in the schedule, which was not possible thanks to the wishes of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce.

Nope, MCPS is entirely to blame on this one. Howard County manages to make the schedule work, including a full week for spring break, under the same rules. Why cant' MCPS pull it off?

Note that in spring last yea, SB729 was passed, allowing schools to extend the calendar up to 5 days past 6/15 without a waiver. HoCo took advantage of this, MCPS did not.

What does HCPS do about the calendar that MCPS doesn't do? What does MCPS do about the calendar that HCPS doesn't do? Please be specific.

MCPS: last day of school 6/14, no provision for extending due to snow days. Half-week for Spring Break (Wednesday-Friday, then Monday as mandated by law). 4/17-4/22

HCPS: last day of school 6/17, extendable to 6/21 due to snow days. Full week for spring break (6 schooldays), 6/13-6/22.

But why can HoCo extend to 6/21 and MoCo has to finish the week before?

MCPS had approved this year's calendar last winter, before the state agreed that there could be snow waivers past 6/15. Apparently they didn't want to change the approved calendar after the waiver announcement (which I think was last May or June).

Also, HoCo doesn't have any built-in snow days at all, so every snow day automatically adds on at the end. MoCo built two days in by shortening spring break. It's worth noting that every year there are parents who complain that adding days at the end of the year is less useful instructionally and that it would be better to add in the spring to allow for more instruction before AP tests, etc.

The waiver announcemennt was SB729. It passed MD Senate on 3/19 and the House on 3/28. Hogan signed it on 4/10. I think MCPS should have seen this bill coming down the way in January/February and be prepared to adjust the approved calendar if/when it passed. It seems like bad management on MCPS's side not to prepare for a change in the works and then adapt to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The waiver announcemennt was SB729. It passed MD Senate on 3/19 and the House on 3/28. Hogan signed it on 4/10. I think MCPS should have seen this bill coming down the way in January/February and be prepared to adjust the approved calendar if/when it passed. It seems like bad management on MCPS's side not to prepare for a change in the works and then adapt to it.

When you start with the premise that, if MCPS did it, it was bad, then this is what you end up with.

You're actually condemning MCPS for not predicting the future well enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The waiver announcemennt was SB729. It passed MD Senate on 3/19 and the House on 3/28. Hogan signed it on 4/10. I think MCPS should have seen this bill coming down the way in January/February and be prepared to adjust the approved calendar if/when it passed. It seems like bad management on MCPS's side not to prepare for a change in the works and then adapt to it.

When you start with the premise that, if MCPS did it, it was bad, then this is what you end up with.

You're actually condemning MCPS for not predicting the future well enough.

In my business, we keep tabs on legislation in the pipeline that seems likely to pass and will affect our business. Why didn't MCPS do this? What was HoCo able to do so, but not MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The waiver announcemennt was SB729. It passed MD Senate on 3/19 and the House on 3/28. Hogan signed it on 4/10. I think MCPS should have seen this bill coming down the way in January/February and be prepared to adjust the approved calendar if/when it passed. It seems like bad management on MCPS's side not to prepare for a change in the works and then adapt to it.

When you start with the premise that, if MCPS did it, it was bad, then this is what you end up with.

You're actually condemning MCPS for not predicting the future well enough.

In my business, we keep tabs on legislation in the pipeline that seems likely to pass and will affect our business. Why didn't MCPS do this? What was HoCo able to do so, but not MCPS?

That's great. How about you run for Board of Education and show them how it should be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The waiver announcemennt was SB729. It passed MD Senate on 3/19 and the House on 3/28. Hogan signed it on 4/10. I think MCPS should have seen this bill coming down the way in January/February and be prepared to adjust the approved calendar if/when it passed. It seems like bad management on MCPS's side not to prepare for a change in the works and then adapt to it.

When you start with the premise that, if MCPS did it, it was bad, then this is what you end up with.

You're actually condemning MCPS for not predicting the future well enough.

In my business, we keep tabs on legislation in the pipeline that seems likely to pass and will affect our business. Why didn't MCPS do this? What was HoCo able to do so, but not MCPS?

That's great. How about you run for Board of Education and show them how it should be done?

I'd say "Hi, Judy Docca!" but she's 79 and doesn't use a computer.