Anonymous wrote:No because school is not optional. I genuinely do not understand these parents who pull their kids out of school for vacation unless it is like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What kind of mindset is that instilling? And I’m not even a particularly neurotic parent. I just find it so disrespectful and snowflakey. The rules don’t apply to you right?

Education is not optional. Education does not have to occur in school. There is a lot to be learned and experienced in the world. It’s great if it coincides with the school vacation days but sometimes this is not possible.

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Anonymous wrote:No because school is not optional. I genuinely do not understand these parents who pull their kids out of school for vacation unless it is like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What kind of mindset is that instilling? And I’m not even a particularly neurotic parent. I just find it so disrespectful and snowflakey. The rules don’t apply to you right?

That is the line I have taken many times and sent my kids to find it was a wasteful day.
I do believe it is important but I also believe family time is important. It is the only time we can visit with distant relatives. If they could guarantee me it would be a regular instructional day, I would insist they go. But this calendar is so dumb, I think very few kids will be there and I don’t want to give up that time for nothing. That is my dilemma.

This is similar to why my kids won't be there. Family time is important and all of our close relatives live at least a plane ride away, in different areas of the country. I also feel that it's important to expose my kids to other parts of the world. I can't do all of that over the summer. The state deliberately added another rule (to an already difficult calendar) that was solely about tourism dollars, and gave zero consideration to what was best for schools, educators, students, or families. If they're going to adopt education policies based on tourism revenues, I'm quite confident my reasons for having my kids miss two days of schools are on better ground.

Anonymous wrote:My kids will be there but I would consider taking them out..I don't think much will go on.

Teacher have curriculum that expect students to be in school and need to deliver instruction on those days. Because too many parents think attendance is only necessary when personally convenient, teachers will also be expected to accommodate all the students that miss instruction. Many teachers will end up designing some type of lesson or task that is important, needs to be done, but could also be done as make-up work at home. Come to school? You get direct instruction and help with the task. Don't come? Task still has to be completed on your own.

We’ll probably miss—we have a major family event the proof weekend (planned around the fact that everyone else in. I family has that whole week off school) so I doubt we’ll rush back Sunday night just for two days. I think it’s important for the kids to have the ability to build time with family.

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Anonymous wrote:My kids will be there but they are in high school and middle school so more of an issue to miss.

I wish they would revise the calendar now that they are allowed to make up snow days after June 15. I think that they should give them Monday and Tuesday off and have no built in snow days.

They could move June 14th but wouldn’t they still be short a day? Is a revision possible at this point with the new ruling?

I'm the geek who has mentioned watching BOE meetings online.

Prior to the law that the state legislature just enacted this spring, the complication was that the state board interpreted Hogan's XO as the contingency days had to be prior to June 15. In 2019, June 15 is on a Saturday, so essentially June 14 was the drop dead date. There is some law/rule in COMAR that says school districts have to have days they can add to the end of the calendar, which means June 14 must be a contingency day.

I don't think the new provision that allows school systems to extend beyond June 15 will impact COMAR where it says systems have to have a day to add on at the end of the school year. I might be wrong. I've watched so much of this discussion to know there are a LOT of things at play.

Anonymous wrote:My kids will be there but they are in high school and middle school so more of an issue to miss.

I wish they would revise the calendar now that they are allowed to make up snow days after June 15. I think that they should give them Monday and Tuesday off and have no built in snow days.

They could move June 14th but wouldn’t they still be short a day? Is a revision possible at this point with the new ruling?

Anonymous wrote:No because school is not optional. I genuinely do not understand these parents who pull their kids out of school for vacation unless it is like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What kind of mindset is that instilling? And I’m not even a particularly neurotic parent. I just find it so disrespectful and snowflakey. The rules don’t apply to you right?

That is the line I have taken many times and sent my kids to find it was a wasteful day.
I do believe it is important but I also believe family time is important. It is the only time we can visit with distant relatives. If they could guarantee me it would be a regular instructional day, I would insist they go. But this calendar is so dumb, I think very few kids will be there and I don’t want to give up that time for nothing. That is my dilemma.

I don't know why people have to be so rude to each other about this. Its going to be very different if you have a k-3rd grader or if you have a MS and HS student.

My kids will all be in MS this Fall so there is no way I'd consider letting them miss those two teaching days. If they were in early elementary I might.

My kids will be there but they are in high school and middle school so more of an issue to miss.

I wish they would revise the calendar now that they are allowed to make up snow days after June 15. I think that they should give them Monday and Tuesday off and have no built in snow days.

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Anonymous wrote:My kids will be there but I would consider taking them out..I don't think much will go on.

Arrgh. I hate this stupid Hogan calendar. Nearly every other district in the country gets a full week off in the spring.

Every county affected by Hogan's executive order has/will have a shortened or no Spring Break.

Do all the other counties also take the Jewish holidays? I think that’s what makes Montgomery county struggle to adhere to Hogan’s requirements.
Now that we can extend snow days to June 20th, there is no chance the wed and thurs would be used, correct?

You either do major religious holidays or not. Why should we take off Christian and not Jewish? The issue with our county is MCPS has far more jewish students and teachers and they could not get enough subs for the teachers.

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Anonymous wrote:We go other weeks because its cheaper as kids are in elementary school.

Yeah no big deal with the teachers to catch your kid up..they have plenty of time,

They aren't learning much in school. If the teacher sent the work home, we'd do it but they refuse to send any work home - vacation or not. Homework is a joke. Kid does fine with missing school. Maybe is school stepped up and did actual teaching I'd care. We supplement at home regardless.

Right..just daycare...no big deal. Only send them when convenient.

There were more academics at our day care than elementary school, sadly.

No because school is not optional. I genuinely do not understand these parents who pull their kids out of school for vacation unless it is like, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What kind of mindset is that instilling? And I’m not even a particularly neurotic parent. I just find it so disrespectful and snowflakey. The rules don’t apply to you right?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) I'm so mad that public schools aren't teaching my kids anything!
2) I'm so mad that sending my kid to public school makes vacationing so hard!
3) ????
4) Profit!!!

?

I went to private school, but (sadly) my kids are in mcps.

At the risk of stating the obvious, it actually is possible for schools to provide rigorous academic instruction AND provide winter and spring breaks. After all, that's how private schools function.

The mcps calendar is ridiculous.

My two cents: people will miss M-T for spring break trips. Any family who typically flies somewhere for a week or more over spring break will stick with their plan. Some families who typically drive or take short flights might scale back. Regardless, if you have kids in elementary or middle school, it's not a big deal to miss those two days. It's obviously more challenging in HS...where so many disgruntled teachers tend to take out their unhappiness on students.

Are you for real?

Have another glass, busy housewife.

Any teacher who schedules a test or quiz on the Monday or Tuesday leading into spring break is a jerk. It's completely unnecessary. But those who are miserable will do it.

If you haven't encountered this, then you are lucky.

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Anonymous wrote:We go other weeks because its cheaper as kids are in elementary school.

Yeah no big deal with the teachers to catch your kid up..they have plenty of time,

They aren't learning much in school. If the teacher sent the work home, we'd do it but they refuse to send any work home - vacation or not. Homework is a joke. Kid does fine with missing school. Maybe is school stepped up and did actual teaching I'd care. We supplement at home regardless.

Right..just daycare...no big deal. Only send them when convenient.

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Anonymous wrote:My kids always miss the Monday after Spring Break. We spend Easter with family in CA so we fly home on Monday.

Easter Monday is a holiday anyway, right? So there is no school. What school are they missing that day?

Yes, and it's the most infuriating thing about the schedule (and there are many). There are so many other mandatory holidays (both legitimate and not) in the schedule, and including a day off for no other reason that that some people who are religions may not want to travel on the previous day is absolutely ridiculous.