The Maryland Board of Education responded to MCPS’ waiver on March 24, which requested approval not to meet the state’s required minimum instructional days.
On Feb. 19, 2026, MCPS initially updated the calendar by adding five days to make up for the instruction lost from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2 due to winter weather. However, after an additional closure on Feb. 23, MCPS added an extra day accordingly.
The school year was adjusted to comply with state policy to include June 18, June 22, and June 24, as full days, as well as June 25 and June 26 as early release days. The changes effectively move the last day of school for staff and families to over a week later than originally scheduled on June 17. Each extra day would cost the county an additional two million dollars in operational costs.
Under this plan, schools would still remain closed on June 19 and June 23 due to the federal holiday Juneteenth and county elections, respectively.
MCPS then submitted a request to the Maryland Department of Education to waive the 180-day instructional requirement and instead meet a minimum of 1,070 instructional hours. This option is favorable because it allows MCPS to proceed without having to add on days.
Social studies teacher and MCPS parent Mr. Steve Watson shared that he would support the state’s decision to shift from a minimum number of days to a minimum number of hours.
“I think that would be an agreeable solution,” Watson said. “It’s just difficult with the nature of the way the education laws are written.”
The waiver was initially denied because the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) requires school systems to identify makeup days and modify the calendar before they are eligible. Once the school year had been extended, MCPS was able to request a new decision from Maryland legislators.
The county received a lot of feedback from the community regarding the initial calendar changes. While some are grateful for the abundance of caution used for the snow days, others have expressed concern about disruptions to early summer plans.
Watson predicted that PHS would see a drastic decrease in attendance in those last few days of school.
“Our messaging to students has always been that attendance is valuable, that being in school matters,” Watson said. “So, we’re in a tough spot. I don’t know how creatively we’re going to be able to abide by the same rules we’ve been saying all year.”
Additionally, like many high schoolers preparing for college and the workforce, junior Emma Biedron expects to have internship plans beginning on June 22 that would impact her attendance if the extended calendar remained.
“I know the Summer RISE program starts that week,” Biedron said. “So if I get that internship, I’m not going to be able to go to school.”
On March 24, however, the state Board of Education approved the waiver, allowing the county to end the school year on June 18, now an early release day. By also converting the former non-instructional day on April 15 to an early release day, MCPS will still exceed the 1,170 required hours without needing to extend the school year.
MCPS also announced its plan to better handle weather-related closures in the future, preparing a Inclement Weather Virtual Learning Plan to submit to the Board of Education.
