MSDE just today approved allowing districts to use Presidents Day as a makeup day. Will MCPS use it? It would be so much better, both for kids' education and for convenience, than just adding useless days at the end of June, and doesn't take away any teacher work days or step on any toes around observing holidays.
https://marylandpublicschools.org/stateboard/documents/2026/0127/calendar-modification--granting-authority-to-the-state-superintendent-a.pdf
"Background
Education Article §7-103 requires schools to be open for student attendance for 180 days and closed on the following public school holidays: Thanksgiving Day and the day after; Christmas Eve and from then through January 1; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; Presidents’ Day; the Friday before Easter and from then through the Monday after Easter; Memorial Day; and primary and general election days. Subsection (b) (iv) provides the State Board the authority to permit schools to open on holidays if normal school attendance is prevented because of natural disaster, civil disaster, or severe weather conditions.
Executive Summary
Weather conditions in January and February can be unpredictable. Granting authority to the State Superintendent of Schools to approve requests received from local school systems to open schools on February 16, 2026, Presidents’ Day, will provide local school systems the flexibility to make calendar modifications and recover instructional time, if needed.
Action
It is being requested that the Maryland State Board of Education grant the State Superintendent of Schools authority to approve, upon request of a local board of education, flexibility for local school systems to open for pupil attendance on February 16, 2026, Presidents’ Day, as an inclement weather make-up day, if needed, for the 2025-2026 school year."