To MCPS: Get rid of the November 9 and April 22, 2027 off days.
To MSDE: Replace the 180 school day requirement with a case by community vote. REQUIRE each community to set their calendars and required days based on community preference with the majority vote being honored. The hours law would remain the same on all levels unless elementary school kids feel their days are too long.
Require that schools begin no earlier than the last Monday in August and end no later than the Friday before the 3rd Monday in June OR begin no earlier than the 2nd to last Monday in August and end no later than the Friday before the 2nd Monday in June. No schools should begin before the 2nd to last Monday in August and no schools should end after Juneteenth.
Makeup time. If schools go under the required hours they would have to makeup that difference. The day requirements would be # scheduled days MINUS three with state of emergency day closures being forgiven from the day requirements (not the hours). If schools are closed five days with a maximum of one state of emergency day or at least six days regardless of state or emergency days, schools can choose to be open on one of Good Friday or Easter Monday.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I have never cared about Easter Monday but in many cultures it is important. Kind of of like New Year's Day. People usually celebrate New Years Eve but need New Year's Day to recover. And maybe we don't care about that but it could have attendance impacts as large or larger than other holidays the DCUM crowd doesn't care about.

I don’t care how important any holiday is. What should matter is whether there is an operational impact. That is what MCPS is required to assess in deciding whether to close schools; it explicitly cannot use religion, per BOE policy.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I have never cared about Easter Monday but in many cultures it is important. Kind of of like New Year's Day. People usually celebrate New Years Eve but need New Year's Day to recover. And maybe we don't care about that but it could have attendance impacts as large or larger than other holidays the DCUM crowd doesn't care about.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I have never cared about Easter Monday but in many cultures it is important. Kind of of like New Year's Day. People usually celebrate New Years Eve but need New Year's Day to recover. And maybe we don't care about that but it could have attendance impacts as large or larger than other holidays the DCUM crowd doesn't care about.

I don’t care how important any holiday is. What should matter is whether there is an operational impact. That is what MCPS is required to assess in deciding whether to close schools; it explicitly cannot use religion, per BOE policy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Technically it’s the school board not MSDE and the issue is that MCPS’ current calendar has makeup days after Juneteenth next year which they’re saying is a no go. The makeup days have to be before that which is why they’re proposing starting earlier so they don’t have to touch the holidays they’ve added over the years

Right, but since MSDE is only asking for 3 makeup days, they could just delete the additional ones after Juneteenth, right, and still be eligible for an MSDE waiver if needed?

Or they could just keep the calendar as is and the only issue would be that they wouldn't get a waiver next year if there are lots of snow days?

No, with the makeup days would need to end by Juneteenth.

Also you have to actually use the virtual learning plan to count and the VLP only kicks in after you have three snow days AND if circumstances allow for some preparation for a VLP, eg a big Snowcrete type storm where they know ahead of time they might be closed all week and they can send kids home with Chromebooks, printed materials, etc. It’s not a great option even then and the union won’t let MCPS teach new content, only review. So I don’t think it will be used often. Frankly they don’t need to change much in 26-27 if they could just use grading and reporting and religious holidays as spring makeups, plus June 17. But that requires people to be reasonable and recognizing when we have unusual emergency situations, not everything is going to be perfect, but we have to decide based on what works for the most people and what is actually going to restore instructional time. (pushing kids to the week after school ends is NOT).

Anonymous wrote:The state resolution actually says that they shouldn't have any of their makeup days after the scheduled last day of school. So MCPS proposing moving the first day of school earlier so they can move the scheduled last day of school to June 11th and have space for makeup days afterwards is actually not in compliance with what MSDE is asking for.

"BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Maryland State Board of Education hereby charges the State Superintendent of Schools to develop and issue guidance for LEAs for the 2026–2027 school year addressing best practices in calendar design, including the placement and communication of inclement weather and natural/civil disaster make-up days and an emphasis that inclement weather and natural/civil disaster make-up days not be identified after the last day of school established in the adopted calendar"

Dr Taylor didn’t say it was a requirement just that it basically is if we want a waiver. But cmon, people are not going to understand all the weeds. Basically the State Board of Ed and MSDE told all the LEAs - but especially MCPS - that they had to do better for next year’s calendar or they wouldn’t grant waivers for this year. The State Board didn’t even just give MCPS a waiver - they had to waive their own waiver regulation! Read between the lines. State Dept of Education can make hell for school districts so not smart to ignore their “guidance.” MCPs already pissed off MSDE enough this year by trying to pass that bill to get around the waiver process. I don’t think the Superintendent’s recommended calendar is it - I think he needs some room to change the calendar and leverage to negotiate with the union. The other alternatives are using religious holidays or shortening spring breaks. The worst option is the current calendar.

Anonymous wrote:This is what MSDE passed: https://marylandpublicschools.org/stateboard/documents/2026/0324/resolution-26-01-on-school-calendar-planning-and-inclement-weather-make-up-days-a.pdf

Doesn't it just say that it encourages districts to make changes, and if they don't then MSDE won't give them a waiver if there's lots of snow days?

Also, doesn't it say that (in order to qualify for the waiver next year) MSDE is only asking for 6 makeup days if the school district has no virtual instruction plan, but if they do have one they only need 3?

Am I reading this wrong, or is MCPS misrepresenting this to the Board and the public?

To respond to the question. You are correct. Suggestions and guidance for next year, no mandate. Taylor is still fighting with the State BOE over the EV bus contract award. They say it is illegal, he continues to pay for it. The fake calendar crisis is his way of trying to make the State BOE look bad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be 100% fine with no religious holidays being non school days if it meant not dealing with this nonsense and having a real summer break. I’d keep my kids home for Christmas and would understand that they would make up the work. If folks want to keep the kids home for Eid, they could do the same.

You say this knowing full well that MCPS can't safely operate school on Christmas so only other people's holidays will be affected, not yours

Not true at all. I'm not the PP but I would be perfectly fine with school happening on Good Friday or Easter Monday, and those are Christian holidays.

What do you mean it's not true at all? That PP proposed having school on Christmas. Gmafb

Huh? I was responding to the snarky comment after that which said that "you say this knowing full well that MCPS can't safely operate school on Christmas so only other people's holidays will be affected." The PP proposed having no religious holidays at all, so it's not just non-Christians that would be impacted.

Most Christians don't care about Easter Monday and kids can go to Good Friday services after school. The only one Christians really care about is Christmas (Easter is always on Sunday so it isn't impacted). And PP specifically mentioned Christmas knowing MCPS would never so much as consider contemplating having school on Christmas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be 100% fine with no religious holidays being non school days if it meant not dealing with this nonsense and having a real summer break. I’d keep my kids home for Christmas and would understand that they would make up the work. If folks want to keep the kids home for Eid, they could do the same.

You say this knowing full well that MCPS can't safely operate school on Christmas so only other people's holidays will be affected, not yours

Not true at all. I'm not the PP but I would be perfectly fine with school happening on Good Friday or Easter Monday, and those are Christian holidays.

What do you mean it's not true at all? That PP proposed having school on Christmas. Gmafb

Huh? I was responding to the snarky comment after that which said that "you say this knowing full well that MCPS can't safely operate school on Christmas so only other people's holidays will be affected." The PP proposed having no religious holidays at all, so it's not just non-Christians that would be impacted.