Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

Anonymous wrote:Starting a new threat from the thread on HB1084 with a few updates that are going to get missed otherwise:

The bill passed out of the MD House today and on to the Senate but was amended in some important ways --

The bill only allows MCPS the ability to reduce the number of days in school below 180 in the event of inclement weather (or other specific issues detailed in the legislation) and still requires them to plan a calendar with 180 minimum days. It also sets a floor at 175 days -- MCPS cannot go under 175 days.

I still think we need to push MCPS to better plan for snow days, but this is far better than the original text that would have given MCPS carte blanche to reduce the number of days in the year.

It needs to pass the Senate still but this would be retroactive meaning schools would end on June 18...

https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2026RS/amds/bil_0004/HB1084_51312501.pdf

Anonymous wrote:I have no skin in this game. I just logged in to say that there is no such thing as Easter Monday. Carry on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds awful. So basically the Maryland legislature ok'ed MCPS kids getting only 175 days of instruction per year? Such a difference from Massachusetts which requires its school districts to schedule 185 days of school, to ensure that they get 180 with snow days.

But MCPS staff get more paid holidays, so I guess they're happy.

Exactly what do you think those children are learning in those last five hours of the last day before summer?

Zilch.

They aren't learning much because those days were not originally in the calendar and lots of teachers and students won't show up.

MCPS should have planned better. This proposed bill, even with the sunset.provision, sets a terrible precedent. It says to MCPS that they do not need to program the appropriate number of days into the school calendar because the General Assembly can sweep in and exempt them from the rules that every other district in the state is subject to. Sends a horrible message as literacy and math proficiency rates are in freefall.

They’re not learning anything in the last five hours of an original calendar day either.

I agree, there needs to be much better planning, but I don’t think we should kid ourselves that there’s any learning happening in the last week of an original school calendar even less so during make up days. My kids won’t be going their last day is the 18th.

By that standard we should just cancel the whole school year as every.time. we remove a week the week before it is "useless"

Right. Because that’s the exact same thing. 🙄

Do you not get the difference between a week that is planned in the original calendar and a make up week tacked on in the middle of the year? MCPS should include enough days in its calendar, and it didn't for two years in a row.

If the delegation wants to help, they should make MCPS go back to a 184 day calendar. But no - they are about letting MCPS abrogate its responsibility to educate.

In order to do that summer would be even shorter or breaks would be shortened or various holidays eliminated.

I mean yes. There are more days off during the year so they have to make the school year longer. Why they haven't done so already is beyond me.

It's already too long, this would make it a week longer even in mild winter years.
-------------------------------------
California has a 180 day law, however when emergencies happen days are forgiven there. While things are definately not perfect there it keeps all vacation weeks intact since they know people won't come.

That’s not entirely accurate. There are no snow days in California. But there are forest fires and earthquakes obviously. Both LAUSD (5x the size of MCPS) and SF schools have virtual learning plans in place for emergencies.

So even for the closure days due to the recent CA fires which was far more catastrophic than any Maryland snowstorm, LA schools offered virtual learning resource options so Students had options to learn unlike our current snow closures in MCPS.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds awful. So basically the Maryland legislature ok'ed MCPS kids getting only 175 days of instruction per year? Such a difference from Massachusetts which requires its school districts to schedule 185 days of school, to ensure that they get 180 with snow days.

But MCPS staff get more paid holidays, so I guess they're happy.

Exactly what do you think those children are learning in those last five hours of the last day before summer?

Zilch.

They aren't learning much because those days were not originally in the calendar and lots of teachers and students won't show up.

MCPS should have planned better. This proposed bill, even with the sunset.provision, sets a terrible precedent. It says to MCPS that they do not need to program the appropriate number of days into the school calendar because the General Assembly can sweep in and exempt them from the rules that every other district in the state is subject to. Sends a horrible message as literacy and math proficiency rates are in freefall.

They’re not learning anything in the last five hours of an original calendar day either.

I agree, there needs to be much better planning, but I don’t think we should kid ourselves that there’s any learning happening in the last week of an original school calendar even less so during make up days. My kids won’t be going their last day is the 18th.

By that standard we should just cancel the whole school year as every.time. we remove a week the week before it is "useless"

Right. Because that’s the exact same thing. 🙄

Do you not get the difference between a week that is planned in the original calendar and a make up week tacked on in the middle of the year? MCPS should include enough days in its calendar, and it didn't for two years in a row.

If the delegation wants to help, they should make MCPS go back to a 184 day calendar. But no - they are about letting MCPS abrogate its responsibility to educate.

In order to do that summer would be even shorter or breaks would be shortened or various holidays eliminated.

I mean yes. There are more days off during the year so they have to make the school year longer. Why they haven't done so already is beyond me.

It's already too long, this would make it a week longer even in mild winter years.
-------------------------------------
California has a 180 day law, however when emergencies happen days are forgiven there. While things are definately not perfect there it keeps all vacation weeks intact since they know people won't come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds awful. So basically the Maryland legislature ok'ed MCPS kids getting only 175 days of instruction per year? Such a difference from Massachusetts which requires its school districts to schedule 185 days of school, to ensure that they get 180 with snow days.

But MCPS staff get more paid holidays, so I guess they're happy.

Exactly what do you think those children are learning in those last five hours of the last day before summer?

Zilch.

They aren't learning much because those days were not originally in the calendar and lots of teachers and students won't show up.

MCPS should have planned better. This proposed bill, even with the sunset.provision, sets a terrible precedent. It says to MCPS that they do not need to program the appropriate number of days into the school calendar because the General Assembly can sweep in and exempt them from the rules that every other district in the state is subject to. Sends a horrible message as literacy and math proficiency rates are in freefall.

They’re not learning anything in the last five hours of an original calendar day either.

I agree, there needs to be much better planning, but I don’t think we should kid ourselves that there’s any learning happening in the last week of an original school calendar even less so during make up days. My kids won’t be going their last day is the 18th.

By that standard we should just cancel the whole school year as every.time. we remove a week the week before it is "useless"

Right. Because that’s the exact same thing. 🙄

Do you not get the difference between a week that is planned in the original calendar and a make up week tacked on in the middle of the year? MCPS should include enough days in its calendar, and it didn't for two years in a row.

If the delegation wants to help, they should make MCPS go back to a 184 day calendar. But no - they are about letting MCPS abrogate its responsibility to educate.

In order to do that summer would be even shorter or breaks would be shortened or various holidays eliminated.

I mean yes. There are more days off during the year so they have to make the school year longer. Why they haven't done so already is beyond me.

It's already too long, this would make it a week longer even in mild winter years.
-------------------------------------
California has a 180 day law, however when emergencies happen days are forgiven there. While things are definately not perfect there it keeps all vacation weeks intact since they know people won't come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds awful. So basically the Maryland legislature ok'ed MCPS kids getting only 175 days of instruction per year? Such a difference from Massachusetts which requires its school districts to schedule 185 days of school, to ensure that they get 180 with snow days.

But MCPS staff get more paid holidays, so I guess they're happy.

Exactly what do you think those children are learning in those last five hours of the last day before summer?

Zilch.

They aren't learning much because those days were not originally in the calendar and lots of teachers and students won't show up.

MCPS should have planned better. This proposed bill, even with the sunset.provision, sets a terrible precedent. It says to MCPS that they do not need to program the appropriate number of days into the school calendar because the General Assembly can sweep in and exempt them from the rules that every other district in the state is subject to. Sends a horrible message as literacy and math proficiency rates are in freefall.

They’re not learning anything in the last five hours of an original calendar day either.

I agree, there needs to be much better planning, but I don’t think we should kid ourselves that there’s any learning happening in the last week of an original school calendar even less so during make up days. My kids won’t be going their last day is the 18th.

By that standard we should just cancel the whole school year as every.time. we remove a week the week before it is "useless"

Right. Because that’s the exact same thing. 🙄

Do you not get the difference between a week that is planned in the original calendar and a make up week tacked on in the middle of the year? MCPS should include enough days in its calendar, and it didn't for two years in a row.

If the delegation wants to help, they should make MCPS go back to a 184 day calendar. But no - they are about letting MCPS abrogate its responsibility to educate.

In order to do that summer would be even shorter or breaks would be shortened or various holidays eliminated.

I mean yes. There are more days off during the year so they have to make the school year longer. Why they haven't done so already is beyond me.