WASHINGTON 鈥� Montgomery County鈥檚 school board has voted to ask Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to allow the school system to extend the 2018-2019 school calendar.
The vote came during Tuesday鈥檚 discussion of how to meet the state-mandated calendar requirements. Under a 2016 executive order, schools in Maryland must start after Labor Day and end by June 15.
The members of the school board say trying to squeeze 180 days into those dates is a challenge given the school system鈥檚 past practice of closing on the Jewish religious holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana and a weeklong spring break, as well as providing for professional days for teachers.
School board member Rebecca Smondrowski said, 鈥淚 think the bottom line here is that the constraints that are placed on us are going to make things very challenging.鈥�
Board member Patricia O鈥橬eill agreed and added, 鈥淣o matter what we come up with, there is going to be somebody who is unhappy with the calendar, I mean that鈥檚 for sure.鈥� She suggested that the board draft a letter to Hogan requesting that the school system be given the flexibility to end on June 22 instead of June 15.
That suggestion was questioned by board member Jeanette Dixon, who doubted the request would make a difference. She noted the school board had appealed to the governor before and that 鈥淭hese letters have not been effective.鈥� She added, 鈥淚n fact, what we have done is piss him off.鈥�
That comment prompted School Board President Michael Durso to ask his colleagues to choose their words more carefully: 鈥淐an I politely suggest that we are role models to our students and viewers and that maybe our colorful language on occasion be tempered?鈥�
Dixon said instead of asking the state for an extension, the board should just 鈥渄eal with it鈥� and work within the current constraints.
The board voted 5 to 2 to draft the request for a June 22 closing date.
O鈥橬eill says the board鈥檚 policy is to come up with its academic calendars by December of each year. The issue will come up at the board鈥檚 next all-day meeting on Nov. 14.
Amelia Chasse, Hogan鈥檚 deputy communications director, said the governor will look at any letter he receives from the school board, but added that 鈥渋t is disingenuous for Montgomery County officials to threaten Jewish holidays and spring break when they can find time to close schools for one full and numerous partial teacher union service days.鈥�
School board member Patricia O鈥橬eill called that argument 鈥渂ogus,鈥� explaining that eight professional service days for teachers have been shifted so that they don鈥檛 fall during the academic year: They are scheduled before school opens for the year.
O鈥橬eill said that half-days count as instructional days, so that even if, for example, Montgomery County converted all nine half-days in this year’s calendar to full days, they would not lead to an increase in instructional days. County school systems across the state also have to close for state-mandated holidays, such as President鈥檚 Day and Martin Luther King鈥檚 birthday.
鈥淭here are a limited number of options,鈥� said O鈥橬eill, who added that next year, schools will have to close for Election Day, since many are used as polling places, and that June 15, 2019, falls on a Saturday, requiring schools to close by June 14.
In an emailed statement to 草莓传媒, Chasse wrote, 鈥淢ost jurisdictions have managed to adopt a common-sense calendar that prioritizes what students and families want, and Montgomery County could easily do the same.鈥�
