Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Everyone can feel free to skip the last week of school- nobody cares. But if they are the same people who were begging for virtual school and critical of the snow days then they are ridiculous people.

There’s a huge difference between adding a school day back when instruction is actually happening and not closing school while teachers actually have lesson plans and tacking on extra meaningless days at the end of the year. With the number of kids who will be out and the number of teachers who are checked out, my kid will get no value out of those days. They’ll get far more value from the educational camp they’re signed up for. The thing I care most about is education, and tacking days at the end doesn’t do it.

And that’s fine. It’s just silly to give MCPS a bunch of grief saying we need virtual school just so we can check the box that we had an instructional day. Obviously everyone is moving on with their summer plans regardless

I'm happy to have my kids attend so they can have instructional time. Not everyone has the same opinion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Everyone can feel free to skip the last week of school- nobody cares. But if they are the same people who were begging for virtual school and critical of the snow days then they are ridiculous people.

There’s a huge difference between adding a school day back when instruction is actually happening and not closing school while teachers actually have lesson plans and tacking on extra meaningless days at the end of the year. With the number of kids who will be out and the number of teachers who are checked out, my kid will get no value out of those days. They’ll get far more value from the educational camp they’re signed up for. The thing I care most about is education, and tacking days at the end doesn’t do it.

And that’s fine. It’s just silly to give MCPS a bunch of grief saying we need virtual school just so we can check the box that we had an instructional day. Obviously everyone is moving on with their summer plans regardless

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From age 8+, parents are sending kids to camps because they want to do so is untrue. I am not letting my 8+ kid staying at home watching screentime all day or doing something that is dangerous at home. They have to go to camps, and I need childcare as dual working parents. My kids will not attend school that week because they will attend day camps.

Legally, no, your 8+ kid does not "have to" go to camp. You want them to go to camp because you do not want to leave them home alone. And you have the privilege to send your kids to camp, which is superior generally to leaving them at home to fend for themselves. Not every MCPS kid has parents who can afford this.

So enjoy your privilege and send your kids to the day camp you already paid for. I sent my kids to the June half days last year, and most of their classmates were there.

No, 8 years old is the first time your kid can legally be left alone for a few minutes-- before that it is a crime to leave a child alone for even 5 minutes. But it's not like on your 8th birthday it switches from not being allowed to leave them alone to a moment, to it being totally fine to leave them alone for a whole day... you have to make reasonable decisions based on the maturity of the child, and good luck convincing CPS or a judge that leaving an 8 or 9 year old home alone for a whole day is reasonable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From age 8+, parents are sending kids to camps because they want to do so is untrue. I am not letting my 8+ kid staying at home watching screentime all day or doing something that is dangerous at home. They have to go to camps, and I need childcare as dual working parents. My kids will not attend school that week because they will attend day camps.

Legally, no, your 8+ kid does not "have to" go to camp. You want them to go to camp because you do not want to leave them home alone. And you have the privilege to send your kids to camp, which is superior generally to leaving them at home to fend for themselves. Not every MCPS kid has parents who can afford this.

So enjoy your privilege and send your kids to the day camp you already paid for. I sent my kids to the June half days last year, and most of their classmates were there.

DP. Legally, it's not a violation of MD Code, Family Law, § 5-801 to leave an eight year old home alone. That doesn't mean that it's necessarily legal, because it might qualify as neglect, especially if you have to be gone for long periods of time or if the child has a disability.

Anonymous wrote:I did not yet have camp booked for that week so my elementary schooler and high schooler will be in school.

Maybe they can watch all 8 of the "main" Harry Potter movies and possibly others!

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why they would go to June 25? They only need to go to June 22 if they use April 15 (June 23 or 24 if they must be closed June 23) if not. I'm guessing they are expecting school to be closed this coming Monday, possibly Tuesday so they've added an extra day or two under that expectation?

They’re not planning to use April 15. Which is just stupid.

I'm not sure why they would go to June 25? They only need to go to June 22 if they use April 15 (June 23 or 24 if they must be closed June 23) if not. I'm guessing they are expecting school to be closed this coming Monday, possibly Tuesday so they've added an extra day or two under that expectation?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Being able to afford to have a SAHP and/or a flexible schedule is the privileged position. Everyone else has all parents working, non-flexible schedules, and need summer child care (i.e. camps) in order to work. Camp is not some summer sleepaway thing, it's everyday childcare for working families, and if you want the cheap ones you need to book them quick.

t's legal in Maryland to stay home alone at age 8, or they can stay with a sibling or another person aged 13+ at any age. It's not that everyone in MoCo is sending kids to camp. Poorer parents, and even richer ones, can and do leave their kids home alone all the time.

MCPS covers kids 5-18ish. It's not that a huge % of MCPS kids that have to go to camp because the parents require childcare. From age 8+, parents are sending kids because they want to do so.

Just because it's legal to leave an 8 year old home by themselves all day every day doesn't mean it's safe. And there aren't that many elementary school families where all kids are 3rd-5th grade (even if you have one kid over 8, you can't just leave your 9 or 10 year old home with a 6 or 7 year old.)

Yes, I know some families are desperate and do it anyway. But there are plenty of poorer families who do need and use camps. And there are certainly a massive number of middle class families who use summer camps... it's not a privileged upper-class thing. (The privileged families hire nannies to drive the kids to their private pools, and send them off to pricey sleepaway camps.)

I did not yet have camp booked for that week so my elementary schooler and high schooler will be in school.

Anonymous wrote:From age 8+, parents are sending kids to camps because they want to do so is untrue. I am not letting my 8+ kid staying at home watching screentime all day or doing something that is dangerous at home. They have to go to camps, and I need childcare as dual working parents. My kids will not attend school that week because they will attend day camps.

Legally, no, your 8+ kid does not "have to" go to camp. You want them to go to camp because you do not want to leave them home alone. And you have the privilege to send your kids to camp, which is superior generally to leaving them at home to fend for themselves. Not every MCPS kid has parents who can afford this.

So enjoy your privilege and send your kids to the day camp you already paid for. I sent my kids to the June half days last year, and most of their classmates were there.

Anonymous wrote:

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

Everyone can feel free to skip the last week of school- nobody cares. But if they are the same people who were begging for virtual school and critical of the snow days then they are ridiculous people.

There’s a huge difference between adding a school day back when instruction is actually happening and not closing school while teachers actually have lesson plans and tacking on extra meaningless days at the end of the year. With the number of kids who will be out and the number of teachers who are checked out, my kid will get no value out of those days. They’ll get far more value from the educational camp they’re signed up for. The thing I care most about is education, and tacking days at the end doesn’t do it.

From age 8+, parents are sending kids to camps because they want to do so is untrue. I am not letting my 8+ kid staying at home watching screentime all day or doing something that is dangerous at home. They have to go to camps, and I need childcare as dual working parents. My kids will not attend school that week because they will attend day camps.

Graduation for our senior is a full month before the last day. Our 10th grader has AP's that end in May, our 8th grader has a promotion ceremony 2 weeks before the new end date. So the short answer is no!

My older one is signed up for Drivers Ed so he'll do that instead. I feel like the advantage of knowing how to drive will serve him far better than surfing his phone or watching movies all week long.

My younger one--it'll depend on what his friends are doing. We don't have anything scheduled that week so it's up to him. I see no reason for him to go.

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

Everyone can feel free to skip the last week of school- nobody cares. But if they are the same people who were begging for virtual school and critical of the snow days then they are ridiculous people.