The Board of Education approved several recommended changes to the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 approved school calendars at their February meeting.
With 2017-2018 being the first year of the mandated post Labor Day start, the school system was faced with new challenges in meeting the requirements of COMAR for the number of days students attend school. Four inclement weather days were built into the calendar, and as of January 17, 2018,the school system had already used all of them. This necessitated amending the 2017-2018 approved calendar to change January 26 (Transition Day) from a day off for students and a work-day for teachers to an early dismissal day for students. The Board also approved a conditional waiver request to be submitted to the Maryland State Board of Education, which would have allowed schools to be open on Presidents’ Day, February 19, 2018 if needed.
“While the excessive number of inclement weather days in January was unusual, we realized that this situation could occur again in future years,” said Dr. Helga Einhorn, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. “In order to be proactive, we have proposed several changes to the approved calendars for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.”
For 2018-2019, Transition Day will be identified as a potential make-up day should TCPS use all of the built-in inclement weather days prior to that date. Presidents’ Day will be a potential make-up day provided a waiver is obtained from the Maryland State Department of Education, and April 18 (the Thursday before Easter) will also be a potential make-up day. In addition, there will be a total of 6 inclement weather days built in to the school year due to the fact that June 14, 2019 falls on a Friday.
For 2019-2020, the same changes will apply for Transition Day and Presidents’ Day, as well as the Thursday before Easter, which falls on April 9. However, there will once again be only 4 inclement weather days built in, as Friday June 12 has been set as the last day of school and June 15 falls on a Monday.
“We hope that by outlining these potential changes in this far in advance, staff and families will be able to plan accordingly,” Dr. Einhorn added.
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