Look at your calendar for the current year. We had Monday, 9/14/15 OFF this year. So, there won't be any real change next year with this holiday. Simmer down, folks.

Share your opinions, whatever they may be, with the Board of Education. Larry Bower's recommendation is not set in stone, the Board has to vote on it.

boe@mcpsmd.org

I don't understand why they want to start earlier at all - they did not do this for RH and YK this year, also early in September.

They really need to decide soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Why not just adjust start date by one day 8/29 to 8/26 to account for added holiday.

Seriously? Start the school year on a Friday? Ridiculous!

Not sure I understand the logic.

They have moved proposed start date from 8/29 (Monday) to 8/24 (Wednesday). The have also moved the last day of school from 6/16 (Friday) to 6/14 (Wednesday).

Why not just adjust start date by one day 8/29 to 8/26 to account for added holiday.

Here is the proposal.
http://www.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/A4RJNU4D9007/$file/2016-2017%20Sch%20Yr%20Calendar.pdf

I just assumed the teacher work week would be Tuesday through Friday. Hopefully someone will bring this up.

It does seem incompetent. I don't understand why this is the best solution. It's basically taking away a week of summer break.

Anonymous wrote:Why do we need to add three days to accommodate 1 day off?

It's one of many ideas being discussed. The thinking is a day has to be added to accommodate this new holiday. MCPS wants to make it a professional day. If they just add a professional day to the calendar, teachers would have to be paid, costing approximately $7 million.

If they take a professional day out of pre-service week so a professional day is not added, the cost is zero. In their mind, the problem is if they do that, school would start on a Friday. How many parents would send their kid to school for one day? To avoid that, the proposal you're referencing is to open school Wednesday and end the school year two days earlier.

Why they can't simply make pre-service week Tuesday - Friday is beyond me.

No more final exams. Start times shifted by 20 minutes. A debacle masquerading as a Superintendent search. Now this Bullshit (closing for a religious holiday less than one year after announcing that schools don't close for religious holidays; they close because low staff and student attendance is expected to make opening impossible). Anyone else think this Board of Ed is less than competent?

I'm not bothered by it but hope they decide soon so I can pin down summer plans!

Why do we need to add three days to accommodate 1 day off?

It really messes up our summer plans.

Thank you for posting this! We are getting ready to make summer plans, and I was wondering about this.

Now MCPS are proposing to start the 2016 school year in August 24th to accommodate the Muslim holiday in September. I don't have the link but it's attached to the school board agenda for Tuesday's meeting.