Reply to Please hold spring break in April annually starting in 2027 no matter when Easter occurs

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Please hold spring break in April annually starting in 2027 no matter when Easter occurs"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
A. Most people on here want a consistent spring break that is at a good point in the year like after the 3rd marking period. 
[color=blue]How have you determined that? Who are “most of the people on here”? Most DCUM posters, regardless of where they live? Most posters on this (MCPS) board?[/color] [color=darkblue][b]Almost everyone on most of the DCUM site wants spring break at a consistent time. Some always want it in March, while others prefer April. Very few people (though there are some) want it based on when Easter occurs.[/b][/color]
B. Those responses are INFLATED (a bunch of teachers go on over and over again and respond multiple times each). 
[color=blue]How do you know that?[/color] [color=darkblue][b]This is mostly covered by the above response and the other reason is simple math, there are far more people who are either students or families of students then teachers. The teachers response outnumbering everyone is impossible unless they all did the survey over and over again to multiply their response.[/b][/color]
C. Most of the DC people on this site probably didn't vote on the survey.
[color=blue]Only people who filled out and submitted the survey got to have any say in the matter. None of the MD residents on this board participated in the survey.[/color] [color=darkblue][b]I never said MoCo residents participated however some are teaching in DC. The teachers teaching in DC pulled a big one, however gotta give them props while hardly anyone else must have taken the survey.[/b][/color]
D. Maryland school districts either schedule spring break over Easter or lack a real break (which is insane). Since Easter has a five week range when it can occur spring break should not be decided that way.
[color=blue]That’s your opinion, not a fact, and since you don’t live in MD, so your opinion has no relevance.[/color] [color=darkblue][b]Easter occurring in a five week range isn't my opinion it's a fact and lets face it nobody is going to say spring break shouldn't be in late March some years and late April other years. While my opinion is exactly that most want spring break at the same time every year! If the 2027-29 DC calendar didn't put spring break the week before Easter there would be no point in coming on here.[/b][/color]
Ex. Other places always schedule their break at the same time of year (3rd week of March in many southern states, where school ends in May) In New England the schools schedule spring break based on Patriots' Day (third Monday of April) so it is always the 3rd full week of April there. Patriots Day has a one week range for when it can fall, not a five week range!
[color=blue]Other places have different priorities than we do when setting their calendars. They have earlier or later start dates than we do. They have an earlier end date than we do. They have less diverse demographics than we do and don’t need to close for Jewish holidays due to staffing issues, like we do. They have negotiated employment contracts that are different from ours. Their schools operate under different state mandates for holidays and minimum requirements for number of days and hours of instruction. School districts tailor their calendars to local needs, customs, mandates and budgets. That’s why they’re not the same everywhere.[/color] [color=darkblue][b]Some of the southern schools give off for RH and YK, same goes for NE so that isn't deciding when spring break is. MD apparently has the double mandates of 1,080 hours (ES/MS)/1,170 hours (HS) AND 180 days while also requiring Good Friday and Easter Monday to be off. The breaking point is the makeup day requirements if closures put schools under either requirement. MD schools only save one day not both by anchoring spring break to Easter. If it is too hard to detach spring break from Easter at least make it after Easter in 2027 (and 2029).[/b][/color] [/quote] [/quote] [/quote]
You have presented no compelling evidence that A) the majority of DCPS stakeholders are opposed to this calendar change (anonymous posts you’ve read on DCUM have no more credibility than DCPS’s survey results) or B) the results of the survey are so flawed as to be worthless or C) making this change to DCPS’s calendar will do nothing to help them attract and retain staff/have adequate staff levels around Easter. You’ve brought no facts to the discussion except that the dates on which Easter falls can vary by weeks — which was not among the assertions of yours that were in dispute.

You don’t like a calendar change that DCPS made based on responses they received from their own stakeholders. The people of MD had nothing to do with that, except for DCPS teachers who live in MD — but they are legitimate DCPS stakeholders who had a right to submit surveys.

You’re appealing to DCUM posters on the MCPS forum to change MCPS’s spring break calendar (which we don’t have the power to do), simply because you think the majority of us agree with you. You see this as an end run around DCPS to force them change their calendar back to the way it used to be in order to remain aligned to MCPS’s calendar. It is a fool’s errand.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics