No. Maybe if they were in elementary and just wanted to play with friends, but my youngest is in high school, AP exams will long be over, and I fully support her not attending. She will have SAT prep and she hopes to have a full-summer internship.

Teachers will not be teaching anyway. They will allow kids to have their phones, and maybe some will offer games and such. We've lived through 15 years of MCPS adding days to the calendar and this is what they do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

SOME people book camps in January. I don't have data on this, but I would guess that the fraction of MCPS parents who book summer camps in January is low. Some people don't seem to realize that not all MCPS kids can afford sleepaway camp, or even half-day camp.

Do you have elementary aged kids? The sign up dates for these things keep getting earlier and earlier-- not just for fancy camps, for pretty much all of them. Especially if you want to get your kids into a cheaper camp with limited spots, you need to book in December or January. That said, lots of the cheaper camps are also refundable, so the more price-sensitive families may cancel them for that week and send their kids so they don't have to pay.

I think PP is pointing out that not all people are privileged enough to be able to afford camp. And I think that’s true — yes two working middle class parents can feel like this is a necessity and it’s a grind and hard and expensive. But lower income families (of which MCPS has many) are not doing this in the same numbers. Factor in SAHPs, flexible work schedules and planned time off, older kids, grandparent and relative care…. I kind of agree it’s probably a minority booking the January camps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

SOME people book camps in January. I don't have data on this, but I would guess that the fraction of MCPS parents who book summer camps in January is low. Some people don't seem to realize that not all MCPS kids can afford sleepaway camp, or even half-day camp.

Do you have elementary aged kids? The sign up dates for these things keep getting earlier and earlier-- not just for fancy camps, for pretty much all of them. Especially if you want to get your kids into a cheaper camp with limited spots, you need to book in December or January. That said, lots of the cheaper camps are also refundable, so the more price-sensitive families may cancel them for that week and send their kids so they don't have to pay.

Are you in the DMV area? There are so many options. If you MUST send your kid to the sleepaway camp of your forefathers, I get it-- you do it early, but that's not most of MCPS. And some of the $$$$ camps like Calleva and Valley Mill book up fast, and again, that's not most students at MCPS.

I've signed my kids up for some camps in January and some camps in May for weeks, like the end of June where plans are uncertain and I've never had an issue finding them something good, there's always sports camps, camps at the private schools or some of the less popular county camps available.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

SOME people book camps in January. I don't have data on this, but I would guess that the fraction of MCPS parents who book summer camps in January is low. Some people don't seem to realize that not all MCPS kids can afford sleepaway camp, or even half-day camp.

Do you have elementary aged kids? The sign up dates for these things keep getting earlier and earlier-- not just for fancy camps, for pretty much all of them. Especially if you want to get your kids into a cheaper camp with limited spots, you need to book in December or January. That said, lots of the cheaper camps are also refundable, so the more price-sensitive families may cancel them for that week and send their kids so they don't have to pay.

Yes. After last year, we decided to book the first week of summer at the on-site school based child care, knowing that they'd cancel for any makeup days and prorate us back the cost. So the kids will be there all week.

We haven’t booked a vacation or camp, so yes they will attend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the BOE needs to read this thread. Opening schools that week seems like a huge waste of money...

Based upon a bunch of privileged parents who booked sleepaway camps in January for the second school let out? Um, no. You need to go back to school and learn about biased samples, and corrupt data (it could be one angry teacher posting here over and over again).

My kids will attend. I knew from last year that there was a good possibility that school would be extended and didn't make summer camp plans yet for end June. They went last year, and said it was fun, and I'm happy for them to learn (and not pay for camp).

+1 Go write on the blackboard "DCUM is not data" over and over again.

I would guess the answers will vary a lot by school and age. Some schools will have virtually empty buildings.

My kids are in Hs and take mostly AP classes so by June there is very little going on, especially because they have a lot of seniors in their classes that will be totally done. One has a job to work as a summer camp counselor — unless the camp delays opening, he will go to work rather than school because he doesn’t want to lose the whole summer job and there will be very very little benefit to half days on May.

My other kid …, a little unclear. Probably will not go the whole week. We might leave for vacation on the Thursday. I’m not going to force her to go when I’m pretty positive there will be no educational value. They will sign yearbooks and maybe watch TV, most likely. I think the best we can hope for is something like a trivia game or language bingo or something that would be of some educational value.

I think it’s going to be a problem because th ES schools in their low income areas will have most students there but a lot of teachers gone. Meanwhile in th upper income areas they will have very few students. I think the Hs will have very low attendance regardless of income level. The teachers aren’t going to want to have major assignments or tests that week and no 16 year old is gojng to get up at 6 am so they can just sit there for 3 hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

SOME people book camps in January. I don't have data on this, but I would guess that the fraction of MCPS parents who book summer camps in January is low. Some people don't seem to realize that not all MCPS kids can afford sleepaway camp, or even half-day camp.

+1 And a lot of parents stop sending their kid to camp once they're old enough to stay home alone, because it's expensive. MCPS has 100K+ kids aged 5-18+. I would guess that a small fraction go to sleepaway camp.

No. Vacation already booked.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

SOME people book camps in January. I don't have data on this, but I would guess that the fraction of MCPS parents who book summer camps in January is low. Some people don't seem to realize that not all MCPS kids can afford sleepaway camp, or even half-day camp.

A lot of camps have already opened by that point and people book camps in January.

This was such a boneheaded move by MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the BOE needs to read this thread. Opening schools that week seems like a huge waste of money...

Based upon a bunch of privileged parents who booked sleepaway camps in January for the second school let out? Um, no. You need to go back to school and learn about biased samples, and corrupt data (it could be one angry teacher posting here over and over again).

My kids will attend. I knew from last year that there was a good possibility that school would be extended and didn't make summer camp plans yet for end June. They went last year, and said it was fun, and I'm happy for them to learn (and not pay for camp).

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the BOE needs to read this thread. Opening schools that week seems like a huge waste of money...

Because 14 out of like 100k kids are going to be out?

Unlikely. Will work with DCs to have all assignments turned in before the 22nd.