Anonymous wrote:There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

They call them "professional" days but are they not really fulow days, when they are not paid (due to lack of funds) and therefore the day is off for everyone?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please write in if you are concerned. I don't think that adequate notice has been given to receive public comment.

+1

+1 - MCPS and the Board of Education don't want public comment because many parents are disappointed with their decisions.

There was a time all Maryland Public schools started AFTER Labor Day. Why do they need so many professional days after the start of the school year? Couldn't all the training take place before the kids start school to eliminate the need to keep inching the start date further into August? Seriously, why do they need a professional day on September 12th?

Anonymous wrote:10:33 You make the issue sound frivolous, but the family time in late August is important to many families. It is the traditional international time for family vacations, and as such, it is much more acceptable to many employers to have time off of work at that time of year.

+1. If you do a job related to politics in dc, August is really the only free time to schedule vacations.

10:33 You make the issue sound frivolous, but the family time in late August is important to many families. It is the traditional international time for family vacations, and as such, it is much more acceptable to many employers to have time off of work at that time of year.

We are going to have to leave Martha's Vineyard early now, and my DH will be quite upset.

Here is the Board of Ed Individual Contact Information:

Patricia_O'Neill@mcpsmd.org
Michael_A_Durso@mcpsmd.org
Phil_Kauffman@mcpsmd.org
Jill_Ortman-Fouse@mcpsmd.org
Judy_Docca@mcpsmd.org
rebecca_k_smondrowski@mcpsmd.org
Christopher_Barclay@mcpsmd.org
Eric_L_Guerci@mcpsmd.org

Anonymous wrote:The second change had to do with the change in primary election day..and makes sense. Not sure about the first.

I thought that change was made for 2016. The dates listed above would be Mar-Apr 2017. I don't think it makes sense.

Anonymous wrote:Please write in if you are concerned. I don't think that adequate notice has been given to receive public comment.

+1

Please write in if you are concerned. I don't think that adequate notice has been given to receive public comment.

The second change had to do with the change in primary election day..and makes sense. Not sure about the first.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have also moved around a couple of the profressional days in this revision.

They moved one from 11/7 to 11/2 (eliminating a long weekend).

They moved another from 4/7 to 3/31 eliminating an extra couple days for spring break.

What are the reasons for that? It doesn't make any sense to have that random Wednesday off

Is this Larry Bowers saying, "Board, if you are going to make random decisions that monkey with the calendar, I am going to make a bad calendar" ? None of these changes is for the good of the parent community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really messes up our summer plans.

You already have summer plans for the end of next August?

Yes because my child is signed up for sleep away camp that goes until mid August. That is the only time we can take a vacation. Camps and sports leagues made their scheduled months ago.

And MCPS had a draft calendar for next year out a year ago. Plus they have always starter one week before Labor Day. Not unreasonable to think that more notice would have been given.

Anonymous wrote:They have also moved around a couple of the profressional days in this revision.

They moved one from 11/7 to 11/2 (eliminating a long weekend).

They moved another from 4/7 to 3/31 eliminating an extra couple days for spring break.

What are the reasons for that? It doesn't make any sense to have that random Wednesday off

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The cry babies wanted more sleep, a group of coddling Mommies complained and the BOA spent 12 million to change the times by a whopping 20 minutes. So now my K student comes home as the sun is setting.

I'm still waiting for a source of this "it cost $12 million" statement.

The sun will set today at 4:46 pm. Why is your kindergartner coming home at 4:46 pm?

Not the op you were talking to but some schools don't get out until 3:50. Some kids aren't getting on a bus until 4:10/4:15, throw a little traffic in there and you aren't getting home until 4:45.

Are there many elementary schools where the kids wait 25 minutes after the end of school for the bus, and then the kids have a 30-minute bus ride? If so, that's a problem with bus transportation, and it would be a problem even if the kids were getting home at 4:25 instead of 4:45.

Yes. Because in many cases the same buses are being used for Tier 1 schools and then Tier 2 schools. Traffic starts early around here so Tier 1 buses are facing more traffic, therefore delaying their arrival to Tier 2 schools. 20 minutes has made a very big impact on elementary schools and their students.

I'm not denying that it's possible. I'm asking how many there are.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/belltimesworkgroup/2015-16BellTimesList.pdf

Looks to be a few more tier 1 schools, but for our bcc cluster schools the later dismissal starts clashing with the lovely rush hour. I feel really bad for the neighborhood kids who go to immersion programs & what not and aren't getting home until almost 5.