Speak Out: Should MCPS End the School Year Early?

While a mild winter and lack of snow left young students in Maryland without days off from school to sled and relax, they may be getting the last laugh.

Students in Baltimore, Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Howard and Carroll counties are likely to start their summer breaks a week early due to a mild winter that produced no snow days, according to a report by Savage-Guilford Patch. 

Frederick County Public Schools are also likely to close early, without having used any of their built-in snow days, an FCPS spokesperson told Patch.

But Montgomery County Public Schools — with the last day scheduled for Tuesday, June 12 — has no current plans to wrap up early, MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig told Patch in an email.

“I am not aware that this is being discussed at all,” Tofig wrote. “We build 184 instruction days into our calendar, with the hope that we can use each day for teaching and learning.

“However, four extra days are built into that calendar to account for the possibility of weather related cancellations (e.g. snow days). If we have to use those snow days, we still can meet the minimum number of days and hours of required instruction.”

Speak Out: Do you think MCPS should consider ending the school year earlier because they did not use the built-in snow days or are they making the right call to continue with their planned schedule? Let us know in the comments section.