Due to severe weather closures, MCPS has extended its calendar year and may extend it even further in order to meet the number of instructional days required by the state.
Schools were closed Monday, Jan. 6, through Wednesday, Jan. 8 and once more on Wednesday, Feb. 12, due to severe snowstorms that swept through the county. These four days exceed the two days built into the calendar that schools may be closed without needing to alter the calendar, leaving the county with the option to add days to its calendar or request a waiver from the state in order to make up for the two days missed.
As of Feb. 14, MCPS has changed Friday, June 13, from a half-day to a full day and Monday, June 16, has become a half-day in response to one of the lost days. The county is yet to make a decision regarding the snow day on Feb. 12.
Students in AP classes will likely be most affected by the lost day since they are working to meet the day of the AP exam, not the end of the year. This means that when schools are closed, they have no choice but to cut out non-essential review days or practices.
While teachers are expected to work on both snow and newly-added days, they will not receive any extra compensation for their extra work. To some, this may seem unfair, but teachers like social studies teacher Amy Pollin see themselves as yearly workers and are prepared to do whatever it takes to help students learn.
Teachers may be upset that the amount of possible snow days that were built into the calendar has decreased in recent years, as it has changed from five to just two extra days. “The school board needs to add more than two days into the calendar to address things like this,” Pollin said.
Students and teachers may have had planned vacations or had other personal commitments in the week following the last day of school. As a result, they will be forced to cancel their plans or miss school on any added days.
Students say they feel that the addition of days at the end of the year is impractical since students may not even show up to the newly created instructional days. “I think it will be useless and unnecessary as many teachers won’t even have anything for the students to do. It will just be forcing teachers to show up when students won’t even be there because nobody is showing up,” junior Charlie Rollins said.
Other students say they are disappointed by the creation of new school days and believe that it is unfair to make students work more days than previously decided. “I don’t think that they should make the school year longer as we have more snow days, especially when on the snow days, most of my teachers still give me work to do while at home,” junior Lilly Kendall said.
