By Connor Loughran ‘15

MCPS has confirmed that a waiver to close four of the six make-up days has been accepted by the state, but the original proposed waiver to forgo five days was denied. Additionally, MCPS will have school on Easter Monday, April 21, and one extra day on June 13.

The original waiver request was denied because the state did not feel it demonstrated a commitment to make up any meaningful instructional time after MCPS closed 10 times this winter. The state also believed waiving five make-up days would give  less than adequate time before students began final exams.

Because of the changed schedule, many have wondered if the Senior Class will be impacted. “Graduation cannot be [affected], because those dates are already set,” said Principal Bill Gregory. “Graduation is solid.” Seniors will still take their exams as scheduled.

The newest announcement came in an email to all staff from Superintendent Joshua Starr and stated, “Under a plan approved by the Maryland State Department of Education this morning, MCPS will hold school on Monday,  April 21 (Easter Monday) and Friday, June 13, which will now be the last day of school for students.” This announcement came to the relief of many who thought that the school year would be extended by at least six days, due to the expectation that the original waiver would be denied. The announcement also stated that after the two make-up days, “none of the remaining snow days will have to be [made] up under the [new] state-approved plan.”

The original announcement, posted on March 6, stated there would be five school days added to the year unless MCPS were to receive a waiver. There would have been six school days added without a waiver, due to the most recent snow day on St. Patrick’s Day. Because of this announcement, speculation arose that there might be some way of bypassing the make-up days in June by getting rid of some scheduled holidays. Though Gregory had said most of these rumors were based on what had happened in other school systems – referring to Fairfax County specifically, which had school on President’s Day (February 17) – it turned out that the rumors were true, with school being opened on Easter Monday in MCPS.

The most recent winter in which the county had applied for a waiver was in 2010, the year dubbed “Snowmageddon,” when there were 11 snow days and multiple state of emergency days, which led to all missed days being waived.

Although the addition of the two extra days to the school year may be undesirable to most, it does have its benefits rooted in that of safety. “I would rather see the school system close and keep people safe when it snows than to risk safety,” said Gregory.