Designated snow days are a part of the Montgomery County Public Schools yearly calendar. The number of designated snow days per year is decided by the MCPS administration when creating the school year’s calendar. The calendar must be approved by the Board of Education before it can be adopted. The calendar changes each school year, meaning the number of designated snow days is constantly changing.
This year MCPS only has two designated snow days for the calendar year. This means that the county can only close for two days before having to add more instructional days. It is worth noting that the country can have unlimited delayed openings or early releases because they both still count as full instructional days.
When MCPS has to add days to the end of the year because they surpass the designated number of snow days allotted, it costs money and is an inconvenience to staff and students alike. These factors can play a large role in the county’s decision to remain open when they shouldn’t. Only safety should be a factor in keeping schools open or closing them.
People may argue that the adults in MCPS who make these decisions are smart enough to ensure the students’ safety, however, intelligence doesn’t necessarily ensure safety. In fact, intelligence more often prioritizes money, which in this situation is the opposite of safety. If the Board of Education is based only on smarts, then there most likely will be a bunch of businessmen and women. These types of people care more about profit than anything else. While that may be beneficial in some situations, the school system should not be run as a business but as a student and staff-first system.
Other people may argue that the counties around MCPS have the same number of designated snow days, however, this is false. While MCPS only has two designated snow days, other counties have more. According to CBS News, Howard County has five designated snow days, Harford has four, and Carrol County, Baltimore County, and Anne Arundel all have three. All of these counties, knowing it or not, have prioritized their student’s safety over money more than MCPS. MCPS has the least amount of designated snow days in the state alongside Baltimore County.
What’s the solution for this? Erroring on the side of caution and having more designated snow days than likely needed. Sure, it may extend the school year, but a couple extra days of school in good weather is significantly better than a couple of days of school with dangerous conditions for staff and students. If this change is made then staff will only have to prioritize one thing when deciding if school is open or not, the safety of everyone involved. This is what it should be; money should not have any priority in the decision of safety.
If MCPS continues to run the school system as a business, safety for all will continue to be compromised.
