Following the snowstorm in January, which cancelled school for six days, the Montgomery County (MCPS) Board of Education extended the school year to June 25, however, on March 24, the Maryland State Board of Education approved a resolution for MCPS to waive three days of instruction, making June 18 the last instructional day for students again.
Under the Code of Maryland Regulations, all school system calendars must include make-up days for any weather-related closures to meet the requirement of 180 instructional school days each year. If a school system needs to request a waiver, in which they ask the Maryland Department of Education for permission to bypass any state regulations, the school system must modify the school year calendar and extend the school year by three days before it is eligible for the waiver.
On Feb. 9, the Board of Ed. requested a waiver with changes, including March 20 (Eid al-Fitr) as a school day and an extension of the school year by one day. On Feb. 10, the waiver was denied. On Feb.19, the BOE was left with no other option but to extend the school year until June 25. However, due to another weather-related closure on Feb. 23, the school year was previously extended by one more day to June 26. June 18, 22 and 24 were added as full days and June 25 and 26 were added as half days. “It was definitely a bit frustrating that they were extending the school year because I had already applied for my summer work, but now I am able to go back to my original starting dates without issue,” junior Blake Williams said.
Friday, June 19, was supposed to remain a system-wide closure day due to Juneteenth, and Tuesday, June 23, would have been a non-instructional day for countywide elections.
MCPS worked with the Maryland Department of Education to restore additional hours rather than full instructional days and came to a consensus. Despite the weather related closures, the adjusted calendar still meets and exceeds the state’s instructional requirements of 1,080 hours for elementary and middle school students and 1,170 for high school students. April 15, which was previously scheduled as a non-instructional day for students and a grading day for teachers, is being added back as an early release day for students. The quarter still ends on April 14, but teachers now have until April 20 to report grades.
All graduating seniors were exempt from the school-year extension, so their last day of instruction was and still remains May 22. The graduation dates for all MCPS schools also remain the same. “It’s nice to know that the schedule for the end of the year remains the same for us, especially with everything going on around that time, like grad parties, graduation itself and beach week,” senior Zach King said.
Other students had been facing troubles with pre-planned vacations. “Since my two older sisters will have already been home from college for about a month, my parents planned a vacation as soon as my younger sister and I got out of school. We are planning on going out west to California, meaning I would’ve been missing the last week or so of school due to the extension; however, now everything is back on track and will work out as it was originally supposed to. ” junior Caleb Cook said.
