MCPS updated calendar is insane

[Anonymous]

I already pay for the camps starting on 6/22, and they are not hosted at mcps facilities. Unless the camp refund me, or else they go to the camp. For real, I think my kids would have a better time at camp than going to school when it comes to these makeup days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's 2018-2019: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/0285_18_2018-19_SchoolCalendar&ved=2ahUKEwjQ7LaSmeiSAxVXFlkFHR48GuQQFnoECBAQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2Bv9-dJpYrnJ4juwux-MaD

Looks like they used to have half days for end of quarter grading/planning instead of full.

They need to go back to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:March 20 and April 15 are not planned as religious holidays, are workdays for teachers, and are literally listed as "Designated Make-up Day" in their own calendar:
https://publisher.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/pdf/2025-2026%20Traditional%20and%20Innovative%20School%20Year%20Calendars.pdf

Why didn't MCPS use April 15? They preferred the optics of taking away the Muslim's community single holiday to dealing with the teacher's union?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I already pay for the camps starting on 6/22, and they are not hosted at mcps facilities. Unless the camp refund me, or else they go to the camp. For real, I think my kids would have a better time at camp than going to school when it comes to these makeup days.

That was my fist thought but actually I don’t think it’ll work - a significant portion of camp staff are high school kids and MCPS employees regardless of what camp you signed up for (as who else is free for seasonal summer work).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone who will show up. It's not like there's going to be any teaching going on.

- 15 years as an MCPS parent.

Lots of kids show up because it may be the only two guaranteed meals they get those days.

A lot of our high FARMS schools see high attendance on those make up days for those reasons.

Schools need to stop being seen as the providers of everything. If some kids need meals, then they should get those, that doesn't mean that that needs to be a school day. Otherwise schools would need to be open every day of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:By using religious holidays as contingency days, they are setting themselves up for problems. They either need to use non-religious days or plan to go til end of June.

If we only use non-religious days as the contingency plan, it would require using spring break as the contingency days. I am ok with that, but lots of people are not. The bottom line is that there is no way to fit in all the days that everyone wants to have off without going earlier at the start of the year or later at the end of the year. It is time to make some hard decisions for future years.

They could start earlier in the year and add more days into the calendar. And they could use the PD days like the end-of-quarter planning days, although some of these are already contingency days and MCPS refuses to use them too.

I guarantee the county would be upset if schools opened up while the Agricultural Fair is in session. They invest a TON of money into the fair and the fairgrounds and if everyone is in school they will lose a ton

So what? MCPS is not the county gov't.

They do not work independently of each other for the most part.

Sure they do. I was required to go to jury duty on the Thursday after the Sunday storm. County offices were open. Just not MCPS. If MCPS wants to be special, it shouldn’t care about the ag fair…

The issue is many of us couldn't get there safely but they could have done virtual.

No they couldn’t have. Because MCPS did not submit the virtual learning for weather emergency plan to the state of Maryland that it promised to do in 2024, like Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties did. MCPS is the slacker school district.

+1

We can thank the parents and staff who had a fit about virtual saying it is bad.

Parents aren't a uniform group, nor are staff. I think there were a whole lot of parents asking why MCPS didn't have a virtual learning plan in place for an extended weather emergency, like Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, and NYC have. Certainly it would be better learning outcomes than these poorly attended days in end June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By using religious holidays as contingency days, they are setting themselves up for problems. They either need to use non-religious days or plan to go til end of June.

If we only use non-religious days as the contingency plan, it would require using spring break as the contingency days. I am ok with that, but lots of people are not. The bottom line is that there is no way to fit in all the days that everyone wants to have off without going earlier at the start of the year or later at the end of the year. It is time to make some hard decisions for future years.

They could start earlier in the year and add more days into the calendar. And they could use the PD days like the end-of-quarter planning days, although some of these are already contingency days and MCPS refuses to use them too.

I guarantee the county would be upset if schools opened up while the Agricultural Fair is in session. They invest a TON of money into the fair and the fairgrounds and if everyone is in school they will lose a ton

So what? MCPS is not the county gov't.

They do not work independently of each other for the most part.

Sure they do. I was required to go to jury duty on the Thursday after the Sunday storm. County offices were open. Just not MCPS. If MCPS wants to be special, it shouldn’t care about the ag fair…

The county uses like 40 school busses for fair operation from like 10 am -10 pm. Thats going to go over well with school in session

The fair ends by like the 15th. MCPS can start earlier and not interfere with the fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By using religious holidays as contingency days, they are setting themselves up for problems. They either need to use non-religious days or plan to go til end of June.

If we only use non-religious days as the contingency plan, it would require using spring break as the contingency days. I am ok with that, but lots of people are not. The bottom line is that there is no way to fit in all the days that everyone wants to have off without going earlier at the start of the year or later at the end of the year. It is time to make some hard decisions for future years.

They could start earlier in the year and add more days into the calendar. And they could use the PD days like the end-of-quarter planning days, although some of these are already contingency days and MCPS refuses to use them too.

I guarantee the county would be upset if schools opened up while the Agricultural Fair is in session. They invest a TON of money into the fair and the fairgrounds and if everyone is in school they will lose a ton

So what? MCPS is not the county gov't.

They do not work independently of each other for the most part.

Sure they do. I was required to go to jury duty on the Thursday after the Sunday storm. County offices were open. Just not MCPS. If MCPS wants to be special, it shouldn’t care about the ag fair…

The county uses like 40 school busses for fair operation from like 10 am -10 pm. Thats going to go over well with school in session

The fair ends by like the 15th. MCPS can start earlier and not interfere with the fair.

I agree one week earlier could work. Any earlier than that and there are just too many issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone who will show up. It's not like there's going to be any teaching going on.

- 15 years as an MCPS parent.

Lots of kids show up because it may be the only two guaranteed meals they get those days.

A lot of our high FARMS schools see high attendance on those make up days for those reasons.

Sounds like someone who is very fortunate and privileged.

Providing for children in need should be something seen as a universal benefit and need.

Schools need to stop being seen as the providers of everything. If some kids need meals, then they should get those, that doesn't mean that that needs to be a school day. Otherwise schools would need to be open every day of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By using religious holidays as contingency days, they are setting themselves up for problems. They either need to use non-religious days or plan to go til end of June.

If we only use non-religious days as the contingency plan, it would require using spring break as the contingency days. I am ok with that, but lots of people are not. The bottom line is that there is no way to fit in all the days that everyone wants to have off without going earlier at the start of the year or later at the end of the year. It is time to make some hard decisions for future years.

They could start earlier in the year and add more days into the calendar. And they could use the PD days like the end-of-quarter planning days, although some of these are already contingency days and MCPS refuses to use them too.

I guarantee the county would be upset if schools opened up while the Agricultural Fair is in session. They invest a TON of money into the fair and the fairgrounds and if everyone is in school they will lose a ton

So what? MCPS is not the county gov't.

They do not work independently of each other for the most part.

Sure they do. I was required to go to jury duty on the Thursday after the Sunday storm. County offices were open. Just not MCPS. If MCPS wants to be special, it shouldn’t care about the ag fair…

The county uses like 40 school busses for fair operation from like 10 am -10 pm. Thats going to go over well with school in session

The fair ends by like the 15th. MCPS can start earlier and not interfere with the fair.

I agree one week earlier could work. Any earlier than that and there are just too many issues

With this new extension, we are already down to an 8 week summer. It used to be 10. A 7 week summer is not ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By using religious holidays as contingency days, they are setting themselves up for problems. They either need to use non-religious days or plan to go til end of June.

If we only use non-religious days as the contingency plan, it would require using spring break as the contingency days. I am ok with that, but lots of people are not. The bottom line is that there is no way to fit in all the days that everyone wants to have off without going earlier at the start of the year or later at the end of the year. It is time to make some hard decisions for future years.

They could start earlier in the year and add more days into the calendar. And they could use the PD days like the end-of-quarter planning days, although some of these are already contingency days and MCPS refuses to use them too.

I guarantee the county would be upset if schools opened up while the Agricultural Fair is in session. They invest a TON of money into the fair and the fairgrounds and if everyone is in school they will lose a ton

So what? MCPS is not the county gov't.

They do not work independently of each other for the most part.

Sure they do. I was required to go to jury duty on the Thursday after the Sunday storm. County offices were open. Just not MCPS. If MCPS wants to be special, it shouldn’t care about the ag fair…

The county uses like 40 school busses for fair operation from like 10 am -10 pm. Thats going to go over well with school in session

The fair ends by like the 15th. MCPS can start earlier and not interfere with the fair.

I agree one week earlier could work. Any earlier than that and there are just too many issues

With this new extension, we are already down to an 8 week summer. It used to be 10. A 7 week summer is not ok.

Unless the county plans to pay teachers/staff for an extra week...... good luck with that!

[Anonymous]

Maybe we'd be better off with year-round school and frequent long breaks throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

I love it, the people who complained about having their kids home are now complaining that they have to go to school.

[Anonymous]

They’re getting rid of the innovative (year-long) calendar. I’m assuming it didn’t work well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it, the people who complained about having their kids home are now complaining that they have to go to school.

This is a smooth-brain interpretation.