MCPS recently released two drafts of the new 2025-2026 school year calendar and has been asking for community input through a survey. Students, families, staff and community members in general are all encouraged to complete the survey choosing between the two calendar drafts. The difference between the two drafts mainly involves the length of winter break and the last day of school.
In Draft A, MCPS proposes an 8-day winter break from Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025, to Jan. 2, 2026, which is the same length as winter break for this school year. In Draft B, winter break would be 10 school days long, starting earlier than in Draft A, on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, and ending on the same day. Draft A’s winter break would last a total of 12 consecutive days, while Draft B’s winter break would last a total of 16. Because of the varying lengths, the school year would end on different days. In Draft A, the last day would be June 17, 2026, five days ahead of Draft B’s last day of June 22, 2026.
Everything else is the same between the two drafts: both drafts set the first day of school at Aug. 26, 2025, and both would have spring break from March 30, 2026, to April 6, 2026.
This year’s winter break is on the shorter side and lasts 8 school days, the same as next school year’s Draft A. Meanwhile, the proposed Draft B would have a longer winter break than this year, which some students feel is the better choice.
“A longer break is better because there are extra days to relax,” Winston Churchill High School sophomore Amber Weng said. “I’m not going to notice a few days at the end of the year”.
Richard Montgomery High School sophomore Zuri Davis shares a similar opinion to Weng. She also prefers the 10-day winter break option. “I’ll still have all summer, and in the grand scheme of things those five days won’t change much of my summer vacation,” Davis said.
On the other hand, some students have a different perspective. Richard Montgomery High School sophomore Aviva Mitrani-Reiser likes Draft A. “I’d like a longer summer because I prefer big chunks of no school and it doesn’t feel like a big difference from eight to ten days,” Mitrani-Reiser stated. She goes on to say, “five more days of summer is like a whole week more.”
Some students are ambivalent about either option and believe that the two options are too similar to make a big difference. “I don’t really care because both options seem around the same,” said Winston Churchill High School sophomore Katherine Zhang.
Although there are strengths and weaknesses for each draft, students are overall glad that they were able to have their voices heard and to contribute to the overall decision. “I think it’s good that our opinions are taken into consideration,” Weng said.
MCPS has finished surveying for community input but has not released the finalized 2025-2026 calendar yet.
Article Written by Callie Deng
Graphic by Sona Saravana