With his 2016 executive order to start the school year after Labor Day, Governor Larry Hogan sent Maryland school districts scrambling to work out new calendars. MCPS is no exception, having made significant changes to the number of days off allotted to breaks and various holidays in the past two years. This year, a study launched by Hanover Research on May 1 gave students, parents, staff, and community members the opportunity to voice their preferences on school closures for the 2019-2020 calendar.
According to Bethesda Magazine, the study analyzed more than 37,000 responses, 73 percent of which were parents. More parents indicated that their child would be absent on Jewish holidays than any other holiday. While 15 percent of parents supported a closure on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, national holidays such as Veterans Day and Columbus day followed at closely at 14 percent and 10 percent respectively.
MCPS staff made up 22 percent of the responses, and their preferences followed a similar pattern. A larger percentage of staff would not work on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 10 percent or more said the same for Veterans Day, Passover, Orthodox Christmas, and Orthodox Easter.
One notable holiday closure option was Lunar New Year. According to Bethesda Magazine, more than 14 percent of Montgomery County students are Asian-American, and more than 40 percent of Asian Americans in Maryland live in Montgomery County.
For many Asian Americans, Lunar New Year is deeply entrenched in tradition and family values. In countries like China, Korea, Vietnam, and Singapore, it is a public holiday akin to New Years’. China especially comes to life with vibrant parades and TV shows that can be viewed around the world.
While celebrating the holiday in America is usually different from the festivities in many Asian countries, many students still do something for Lunar New Year. Junior Kayden Fu said, “If it falls on a weekend, we usually do family reunions, but if it falls on a weekday, probably just a family dinner.”
Likewise, freshman Kami Akla said, “I don’t celebrate it, but I know my friends probably do.”
Over the past year, the Asian American community has actively petitioned for MCPS to close school on Lunar New Year. In June 2018, several Asian American students spoke before school board members to advocate for the change. According to Bethesda Magazine, the students felt that having school on such an important holiday forced them to prioritize academics over their culture.
Fu echoed their sentiments and said, “I think definitely Asian holidays should be more valued. We see a lot of closing for Jewish holidays, and Muslim holidays are gaining awareness, but Asian holidays are not up there yet, so we need to work on that.”
If the school board were to make the change for the 2019-2020 calendar, MCPS would follow in Howard County’s footsteps, which gave students Lunar New Year off in 2016.
However, closing school on Lunar New Year still remains less popular within the general Montgomery County community. The study by Hanover Research found that 9 percent of parents indicated an absence on Lunar New Year, as did 3 percent of staff.
As stated by Bethesda Magazine, school closure decisions are based on predicted student and staff attendance rates, and MCPS does not officially observe any of the holidays. Besides district-based closures, MCPS must also adhere to state-mandated closings such as Memorial Day, Election Day, Presidents’ Day, and Easter Monday, among others.
The combination of the late start to the school year and a plethora of holidays has made planning a calendar with at least 180 school days, the state minimum, difficult. In an interview with the Washington Post, Board of Education member Patricia O’Neill said, “We have way more days that people would like us to be closed than we have available days in the calendar.”
Although many students would appreciate having another day off, holidays like Lunar New Year could shorten other breaks. For the 2018-2019 calendar, MCPS has already cut down spring break by two days. The break now starts on Wednesday, April 17 and lasts four days.
“I would rather for summer to be shorter because I don’t see the point of pushing school back two weeks just to take away spring break and other holidays,” Fu said. “I think spring break is really valuable and necessary because we need time to prep for APs.”
Despite student opinion, Hogan’s executive order to start school later shows no sign of changing. Since a majority of Montgomery County residents do not celebrate Lunar New Year, many may feel that it is not worth it to sacrifice a school day when the calendar is already so tight.
The Board of Education has yet to decide on the official calendar for next school year and will take action by this December, according to the Bethesda Magazine. Amidst student petitions and frustration, the board’s decisions will undoubtedly have an impact.
Article by Helen Qian of Richard Montgomery High School