2026-2027 calendar updates

[Anonymous]

Get rid of summer breaks altogether. No one lives on a farm anymore and needs their kids to help out. 3 week breaks, max. Many, many other countries go to school year round.

Get rid of all the religious holidays too. Only time off is set by the federal govt. Every kid gets 3 floating holidays to celebrate whatever they want but they can't be used back to back.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

What is the point of a calendar then? At what point, in your mind, can people rely on the calendar? 1 week out? 1 month?

Yes, not everyone will be in Europe. God knows I won't. But the whole point of putting out the calendar is to allow people to make plans. Big plans for some, small plans for others, but plans. And, in my opinion, it's reasonable for people to see that official calendar approved by the Board and make plans in reliance on that calendar. And it's not like the calendar was published 3 days ago. It's been set for months. So people have made plans. And that doesn't make them bad people, even though you're going through an economically tough time now (and I'm genuinely sorry about that).

Let's flip the scenario and pretend they're talking about pushing back the start of school by a week. Is that ok with you, since it's still 4 months out? Or are you annoyed because you haven't planned/budgeted for childcare for that week and need to work? I'm betting the latter - that's certainly how I would feel.

The calendar is put out so people can make plans. It is really not ok for MCPS to make such a drastic change to the calendar only 4 months out. It would be indisputably less disruptive to claw back a few one-off days, like Rosh Hashanah. I say this as a Jew. Take RH, we can start celebrating after school.n

Thank you!! This is NOT about trying to jip kids education, it's about basic PLANNING. Go ahead and start in early August NEXT year.... It's about the fact that a document was rubber stamped, passed by the board and published to a community of 150K students. Whether or not you have impacted plans that week, I would think people could see how disruptive this could be for so many.

[Anonymous]

We thankfully have changeable plans— visit with my parents 4 hours away, no flights or hotels to cancel, one of us taking leave and the other teleworking. But it’d be a bummer if my kid’s time with grandparents was cut in half this summer.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

+1 There are differing opinions on practically every schedule change. Many people I know are happy about this change. I suspect survey data will show this as well.

So what if there are "differing opinions"?

You can't act like "some people have a slight preference for starting earlier this year but neither option affects their lives much" on the one hand balances out "massive stress, cost, and/or inconvenience for many staff and families, and makes MCPS a less desirable employer for teachers for years to come" on the other.

Hear, hear.

Why do you disregard some people's preferences, while assuming data not in evidence that this represents a "massive stress, cost and inconvenience for many staff and families." I'm amazed by how you feel your opinions are universal.

DP - no one said their opinions are universal. And check your own assumptions while you're at it - you think because *you* aren't aware of people who stand to lose money, time with family, etc. because of this change that no one will?

PP is right.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

DP - DH and I are both feds so, believe me, I get it.

But this approach isn't effective, PP, either at being a convincing argument or garnering any sympathy for those impacted by the local economy. Multiple things are true in this case: a lot of people are suffering economically AND ALSO it's a terrible idea to change the start of the school year with relatively little notice. This isn't a competition.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

What is the point of a calendar then? At what point, in your mind, can people rely on the calendar? 1 week out? 1 month?

Yes, not everyone will be in Europe. God knows I won't. But the whole point of putting out the calendar is to allow people to make plans. Big plans for some, small plans for others, but plans. And, in my opinion, it's reasonable for people to see that official calendar approved by the Board and make plans in reliance on that calendar. And it's not like the calendar was published 3 days ago. It's been set for months. So people have made plans. And that doesn't make them bad people, even though you're going through an economically tough time now (and I'm genuinely sorry about that).

Let's flip the scenario and pretend they're talking about pushing back the start of school by a week. Is that ok with you, since it's still 4 months out? Or are you annoyed because you haven't planned/budgeted for childcare for that week and need to work? I'm betting the latter - that's certainly how I would feel.

The calendar is put out so people can make plans. It is really not ok for MCPS to make such a drastic change to the calendar only 4 months out. It would be indisputably less disruptive to claw back a few one-off days, like Rosh Hashanah. I say this as a Jew. Take RH, we can start celebrating after school.n

Thank you!! This is NOT about trying to jip kids education, it's about basic PLANNING. Go ahead and start in early August NEXT year.... It's about the fact that a document was rubber stamped, passed by the board and published to a community of 150K students. Whether or not you have impacted plans that week, I would think people could see how disruptive this could be for so many.

Exactly. I’m not against starting earlier in August if it’s planned from the start. Many, many people took the calendar published in December as form and made plans. I don’t care if those plans were camps, a trip to grandmas, or an international trip, they’re plans nonetheless that are now in jeopardy. Plans that would’ve been made for earlier in the summer potentially had we known the schedule. And now things are nonrefundable, not able to be rescheduled, and many many people will be left with an awful choice. The first days of school are hardest to miss — they set the routines of the year, establish initial friendships, etc. Families (and teachers!) will be between a rock and a hard place trying to decide how to navigate this last minute (and yes, this is last minute) change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of summer breaks altogether. No one lives on a farm anymore and needs their kids to help out. 3 week breaks, max. Many, many other countries go to school year round.

Get rid of all the religious holidays too. Only time off is set by the federal govt. Every kid gets 3 floating holidays to celebrate whatever they want but they can't be used back to back.

+💯

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

What is the point of a calendar then? At what point, in your mind, can people rely on the calendar? 1 week out? 1 month?

Yes, not everyone will be in Europe. God knows I won't. But the whole point of putting out the calendar is to allow people to make plans. Big plans for some, small plans for others, but plans. And, in my opinion, it's reasonable for people to see that official calendar approved by the Board and make plans in reliance on that calendar. And it's not like the calendar was published 3 days ago. It's been set for months. So people have made plans. And that doesn't make them bad people, even though you're going through an economically tough time now (and I'm genuinely sorry about that).

Let's flip the scenario and pretend they're talking about pushing back the start of school by a week. Is that ok with you, since it's still 4 months out? Or are you annoyed because you haven't planned/budgeted for childcare for that week and need to work? I'm betting the latter - that's certainly how I would feel.

The calendar is put out so people can make plans. It is really not ok for MCPS to make such a drastic change to the calendar only 4 months out. It would be indisputably less disruptive to claw back a few one-off days, like Rosh Hashanah. I say this as a Jew. Take RH, we can start celebrating after school.n

Thank you!! This is NOT about trying to jip kids education, it's about basic PLANNING. Go ahead and start in early August NEXT year.... It's about the fact that a document was rubber stamped, passed by the board and published to a community of 150K students. Whether or not you have impacted plans that week, I would think people could see how disruptive this could be for so many.

There's some hypocrisy here. When parents are point out the lack of basic planning by MCPS such that they created this whole mess by putting in just 1 snow day into the calendar in 2025-2026, putting in makeup days they refused to use, and failing to submit the virtual learning plan for weather emergencies that they promised to do in 2024, parents are told that we're inflexible and overly fixated on a meaningless schedule of 180 calendar days and that we need to focus on the big picture because the loss of a few days of instructional time due to weather doesn't matter, and that the only parents who are complaining about this have kids who are dumb.

Yet, when MCPS tries to improve its planning by moving the calendar year earlier in August so that more instructional time can take place earlier in the academic year, we're told that the MCPS calendar is this constant thing that "everyone" knows will never change, and that it would be a betrayal of the teaching profession to try to start a few days earlier in the school year, with 4 months notice. So there's no way to fix the abject failure of the 2025-2026 academic calendar and the waiver sought to shortchange our kids by 3 days of teaching.

Let's keep in mind that just a few years ago MCPS was scheduling 184 days of schoool, and is now scheduling 181. The standards are getting lower each year, and our kids are paying the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of summer breaks altogether. No one lives on a farm anymore and needs their kids to help out. 3 week breaks, max. Many, many other countries go to school year round.

Get rid of all the religious holidays too. Only time off is set by the federal govt. Every kid gets 3 floating holidays to celebrate whatever they want but they can't be used back to back.

Teens work, do summer internships, etc.

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

+1 There are differing opinions on practically every schedule change. Many people I know are happy about this change. I suspect survey data will show this as well.

So what if there are "differing opinions"?

You can't act like "some people have a slight preference for starting earlier this year but neither option affects their lives much" on the one hand balances out "massive stress, cost, and/or inconvenience for many staff and families, and makes MCPS a less desirable employer for teachers for years to come" on the other.

Hear, hear.

Why do you disregard some people's preferences, while assuming data not in evidence that this represents a "massive stress, cost and inconvenience for many staff and families." I'm amazed by how you feel your opinions are universal.

How much will it cost you if we keep the start date as is? How much will it cost you if we change it to Aug 20 as proposed?

Now let’s do that across the district. The actual cost of moving the date is significant between nonrefundable fees, lost revenue for camps and other care providers, and the Ag Fair. What’s your purported cost for keeping it the same?

What's the loss to educational outcomes for 150K students by shortchanging our students by several days of education each year because MCPS can't get the days of instructional time in with the calendar it has? If you're focused on "lost revenue for camps and the ag fair" your priorities are not on our kids, only 1/3 of whom meet basic proficiency levels for math and 1/2 of whom are reading at grade level.

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

+1 There are differing opinions on practically every schedule change. Many people I know are happy about this change. I suspect survey data will show this as well.

So what if there are "differing opinions"?

You can't act like "some people have a slight preference for starting earlier this year but neither option affects their lives much" on the one hand balances out "massive stress, cost, and/or inconvenience for many staff and families, and makes MCPS a less desirable employer for teachers for years to come" on the other.

Hear, hear.

Why do you disregard some people's preferences, while assuming data not in evidence that this represents a "massive stress, cost and inconvenience for many staff and families." I'm amazed by how you feel your opinions are universal.

... because I literally know dozens of people for whom this Is true? I never said they were universal, but they are clearly true for many people (especially for teachers, who I particularly care about.) Whereas no one who supports the earlier start date has pointed to any major problems any of the many other ways MCPS could handle this would cause them, they just like the idea.

Why bother to survey the MCPS population then? We can just take the word of an internet rando who knows "literally dozens of people" and who are obviously representative of the MoCo population that her opinion is the only one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We thankfully have changeable plans— visit with my parents 4 hours away, no flights or hotels to cancel, one of us taking leave and the other teleworking. But it’d be a bummer if my kid’s time with grandparents was cut in half this summer.

PP again, and I know with just 4 hrs we can make up for it somewhere with a long weekend. But I know others who drive 10 hrs to places like Wisconsin or upstate NY to visit family, and that trip being cut from 8 days to 4 would really suck.

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

What is the point of a calendar then? At what point, in your mind, can people rely on the calendar? 1 week out? 1 month?

Yes, not everyone will be in Europe. God knows I won't. But the whole point of putting out the calendar is to allow people to make plans. Big plans for some, small plans for others, but plans. And, in my opinion, it's reasonable for people to see that official calendar approved by the Board and make plans in reliance on that calendar. And it's not like the calendar was published 3 days ago. It's been set for months. So people have made plans. And that doesn't make them bad people, even though you're going through an economically tough time now (and I'm genuinely sorry about that).

Let's flip the scenario and pretend they're talking about pushing back the start of school by a week. Is that ok with you, since it's still 4 months out? Or are you annoyed because you haven't planned/budgeted for childcare for that week and need to work? I'm betting the latter - that's certainly how I would feel.

The calendar is put out so people can make plans. It is really not ok for MCPS to make such a drastic change to the calendar only 4 months out. It would be indisputably less disruptive to claw back a few one-off days, like Rosh Hashanah. I say this as a Jew. Take RH, we can start celebrating after school.n

Why don't you call your Councilman and suggest that the non-instructional day for Rosh Hashanah be removed from the MCPS calendar and report back on how it goes? Because MCPS couldn't even remove Eid this year, and the Muslim population is smaller than the Jewish population. You're pretending that these changes are true alternatives to starting earlier in August, and they'll never happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of summer breaks altogether. No one lives on a farm anymore and needs their kids to help out. 3 week breaks, max. Many, many other countries go to school year round.

Get rid of all the religious holidays too. Only time off is set by the federal govt. Every kid gets 3 floating holidays to celebrate whatever they want but they can't be used back to back.

Teens work, do summer internships, etc.

Boo hoo. How does the rest of the world do it?

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Anonymous wrote:Ugh. I know so many people (including us) that have travel plans the 3rd week of August. What is the point of putting out a calendar if we can't rely on it?!? Fortunately we don't have flights booked yet, but I know 7 families who are supposed to be out of the country! And since I have to get my work time off approved in advance that's the week I got, and it's unlikely I'll be able to switch, so I guess we're just not going on vacation this summer if they do this.

It would clearly be less disruptive at this point to take back some holidays (including Easter Monday), and even though every person I've spoken too is in favor of that approach versus moving the start date this year, I doubt the Board will have the guts to do it.

Any calendar change is disruptive. People just disagree on what is more disruptive.

I can't imagine anyone could argue with a straight face that starting the year several days earlier with less than 4 months notice is less disruptive than saying "for spring break, 11 months in the future, we will switch a couple of those days to possible makeup days if there's a lot of snow days.".

People would also complain if you shortened spring break. As others have pointed out, the makeup days are disproportionately allocated in the fall and early winter before we have any snow. MCPS isn't suddenly adding makeup days in the spring that you can use.

To me, starting earlier in August is the least disruptive. Obviously, people have a diversity of opinions on this topic.

How is it the least disruptive? It is only a few months away, when most people have already made plans of some type for that week, and it is also a huge deal for kids to miss the first few days of school (both for them themselves, and for the class as a whole.) It is also extremely hard on teachers who get no break after summer school and may already have committed to jobs during that week that will now be preservice week, and school staff who have barely any time to get the building ready after summer school.

Other options are much longer in the future, when many fewer people have plans. And if they do have plans, missing those days is much less consequential and disruptive than missing the first week of school for kids, or missing preservice for teachers.

This isn't even close. It's a slam dunk. The only way anyone could think starting early is less disruptive is if it's easier for you personally and you're unable to see past the end of your nose.

You seem to have mistaken your opinion on what is disruptive for yourself as representative of the entire MCPS community. Some people are happy to have their kids go back to school earlier in August. Not every MCPS family is flying back from Europe or Asia that week.

Sorry that your vacation plans may be messed up, but you're pretty narrow-minded if you can't see that others have different situations than you.

Some people prefer starting earlier. Others do not.

That does not change the fact that the early start is incredibly disruptive for a significant number of staff, students, and families in a way that none of the other changes would be.

It's not about who prefers what. It's about what is a doable change and what is an incredibly problematic change.

An "incredibly problematic change" is your opinion-not a fact. You have 4 months to adjust to the new calendar. That's a lot more notice than parents get when MCPS decides to keep schools closed 1 week after a snowstorm ends.

Typically parents aren't going to have nonrefundable travel, PTO, camps, etc. due to a weather emergency. This is an unnecessary expense and burden for MoCo at large.

Typical MCPS parents aren't going to have expensive travel plans and camps late in August. You're talking about a niche of well-off families. Many are going to be happy to have their kids back in school earlier so they can go to work (I know I am.)

Actually MOST MCPS parents have expensive travel plans, camp plans, etc. It doesn't make someone rich by going to the shore. It also doesn't magically make non-refundable, refundable. Good for you for not properly planning your summer- the rest of us actually did. No, I don't need to worry about my kid starting earlier because I based my summer on the calendar approved in December. You sound like you're always just planning to wing it.

You have no idea what plans MCPS parents have. You're just making things up because you're angry about the schedule changes. Some of us have a more flexible attitude to MCPS schedules--we have to, because MCPS schedules change all the time.

MCPS sometimes has unplanned closures, and sometimes the clearly labeled makeup days on the calendar are used as makeup days. I can't remember there ever being any other time when days off not labeled as days off have been turned into school days. It turns MCPS from a generally predictable district into a place with schedules that no one can trust anymore. I don't blame teachers one bit for quitting after this, it's ridiculous.

If teachers quit over starting work a few days earlier, having gotten unexpected extra vacation days the year before, they had issues with being at MCPS that go well beyond bad scheduling practices.

Serious thought exercise for you...

You really only get 1-2 weeks off a year because you work two different jobs. You've been planning to spend that week off with your family all year, saving what little money you make (because you aren't in a high paying profession but love it anyway) to go on a trip that you've put non-refundable deposits down on. Then, not 4 months before the trip is supposed to happen your employer goes "oh nevermind, we need you to come back to work a week earlier than planned, you can't take that trip anymore." How would you feel? Do you feel respected by your workplace in that case?

The DC area has the highest unemployment rate in the country thanks to Trump/DOGE/a crap economy. Excuse me while I don't use up all my sympathy on MCPS staff who are getting 4 months notice about a schedule change who may have to lose a deposit on an expensive vacation.

I see, so you need to take out the fact that your life isn't going well on the teachers and make everyone miserable around you. Got it. That's so nice of you...

And you missed that day in kindergarten where they should have taught you that you're not the sun and that the world doesn't revolve around you and your needs.

LOL I'm not even a teacher. I just have empathy for the people who teach my kids every day and the fact that this situation doesn't need to exist at all.

Too bad you don't have empathy for others in the DMV area who are suffering economic challenges far worse than a schedule change and who might actually benefit from having their kids back to school a few days earlier in August and from getting the 180 days of instructional time they need since MCPS student achievement levels are in the toilet.

But my non-refundable vacation deposit...waaaah waaaah waaaah!!

Again... the schedule change in no way guarantees we'll get 180 days of instruction. In fact, its just the opposite -- it helps MCPS get its waiver next year.

And apparently the world revolves around you and your need for childcare. Okay, got it.

God forbid people need childcare for their kids. Clearly that need pales in the face of your non-refundable vacation deposit.

How does starting the school year earlier help people who need childcare? People who need childcare that week have generally already booked camp for that last week (probably non-refundable since most of them that week are), so they will have to pay for the week despite only using 2-3 days of it. Even if they didn't, it's still the same number of days of school so they still have to pay for the same amount of camp, they just have to pay for an extra week next summer instead of this summer.

Clearly the PP is one of the people who has been affected by federal/DOGE layoffs and for that you have my full empathy. I was also laid off but have managed to find a new position. She’s probably stressed about the cost of camp and hadn’t signed her kid up because she doesn’t yet have a job and the news of an early start brought some news of financial relief. I feel you PP I do. But your situation is one of many. You are getting a windfall out of the pain of so many others who are cancelling trips and camps, losing money, and all around scrambling by the MCPS-made chaos. PP, I truly hope your situation improves soon.

But, that doesn’t change the fact that changing the calendar this close to the start of the year is not a good idea.

Changing the calendar four months from the start of the school year may adversely affect your vacation plans, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good idea for many others.

+1 There are differing opinions on practically every schedule change. Many people I know are happy about this change. I suspect survey data will show this as well.

So what if there are "differing opinions"?

You can't act like "some people have a slight preference for starting earlier this year but neither option affects their lives much" on the one hand balances out "massive stress, cost, and/or inconvenience for many staff and families, and makes MCPS a less desirable employer for teachers for years to come" on the other.

Hear, hear.

Why do you disregard some people's preferences, while assuming data not in evidence that this represents a "massive stress, cost and inconvenience for many staff and families." I'm amazed by how you feel your opinions are universal.

How much will it cost you if we keep the start date as is? How much will it cost you if we change it to Aug 20 as proposed?

Now let’s do that across the district. The actual cost of moving the date is significant between nonrefundable fees, lost revenue for camps and other care providers, and the Ag Fair. What’s your purported cost for keeping it the same?

What's the loss to educational outcomes for 150K students by shortchanging our students by several days of education each year because MCPS can't get the days of instructional time in with the calendar it has? If you're focused on "lost revenue for camps and the ag fair" your priorities are not on our kids, only 1/3 of whom meet basic proficiency levels for math and 1/2 of whom are reading at grade level.

The irony of your statement is that the reason MCPS is doing this is so they can position themselves to get a waiver from providing 180 days should there be more than 3 snow days next year. And we all know that the days tacked on the end — I don’t care if it’s a week earlier — are meaningless when it comes to actual instruction. Kids and teachers are checked out at that point.