Montgomery County Public Schools will end this school year on June 18. This follows Tuesday morning’s unanimous vote by the Maryland State Board of Education.
Because MCPS was closed multiple days due to snow and storms, administrators requested the school district receive a state waiver from the mandatory 180 days or 1,080 hours of school during a 10-month school year.
State board members approved MCPS’ request, noting the district had made an effort to rework its calendar to avoid school extending much later into June.
“We gave seen good faith effort to make up days,” said Board President Joshua Michael.
Three-Day Waiver Granted
The three-day waiver, combined with a change to April 15 – making it an early-release instructional day – now allows MCPS to meet state requirements and end the school year on June 18.
Therefore, June 15, 16 and 17 will be full days of school. Thursday, June 17 will be an early-release day.
Eight school districts requested a one-to-three-day waiver but not all requests were granted.
New Calendar for 26 -27 School Year
The state board of education also approved a resolution concerning school calendars, beginning with the next school year.
Under that resolution, schools won’t go to the last week in June and will close by the Juneteenth holiday.
When determining future calendars, schools will be expected to adopt an inclement weather and natural disaster contingency plan that includes three days off followed by a plan for virtual instruction if more makeup days are needed.
“At least we’ll be prepared” should the winter of 2026 turn out to be very snowy, Michael said.
Snow Day Decisions
MCPS Superintendent Dr. Thomas Taylor spoke Monday night to The Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board and the Silver Spring Urban District Advisory Committee about snow days.
“It is no fun having to make that decision,” Taylor said.
One county resident may look outside and see a plowed road and little snow while another resident from a different part of the county may look out and see a blanket of white everywhere, he pointed out.
“Your teacher maybe on the road in another part of the county or in a different county” and not be able to drive to work even if that school’s parking lot is totally plowed, he said. “If we can’t get the staff to school, there is no school,” he said.
It also is important to take into consideration that 20% of the student body walks to school. If sidewalks are not shoveled, the student tends to walk in the street, which is dangerous, he said.
This winter’s snowcrete with thick slabs of ice was difficult for plows to break up, often resulting in narrowly plowed roads that school buses could not maneuver, Taylor said.
When creating future calendars, Taylor said the word he has received from families is that they would rather have their children start school earlier in the summer than have days off for holidays taken away.
MCPS has created a proposed Virtual Learning Plan that may be implemented during a school year with multiple days off.
