Snow Days Delay Summer for Area Schoolkids

Howard County students are among those who will be in school the latest in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., region this year due to four snow days this winter.

Howard County students will be in school until Wednesday, June 22.

Originally, students were scheduled to be finished June 16.

Both Montgomery and Carroll county schools will finish up June 16 this year, with four and six snow days respectively. Baltimore County, with six snow days this academic year, and Prince George’s county, with four snow days, will both send students home for summer June 17.

“I really think the [Howard County] school [district] needs to put some snow days into the calendar,” said Andrea Romberger, an Elkridge resident whose son attends Elkridge Elementary School.

Romberger said plans for family trips and summer camps have been foiled by the late Howard County schools end date.

“We’re in Maryland, not North Carolina,” she said. “We have at least several snow days a year. At least integrate a few into the school year instead of pushing it back. It just screws up plans big time.”

Howard County school district spokeswoman Patti Caplan acknowledged that residents are not thrilled about the late closing.

“They are not pleased about it, in general,” she said. “They certainly would want the school year to end earlier. [But], if you look through the calendar, there’s not a whole lot of places to give.”

Caplan said school officials decided not make up snow days this year during teacher instruction time because there is “precious little time now for that system-level development,” only two days per year. Last year, the district used one teacher development day to make up a snow day.

During teacher development days, teachers study a variety of areas, such as how to use data to improve teaching, how to make students excited about learning and how to address different learning styles, Caplan said.

Maryland public school students are required by state law to be in school for 180 days.

Carroll County is one of the few districts in the state that sought permission from the state board of education to waive one of those days.

The state board this year has approved waivers for Carroll and Garrett counties, and has received a request from Caroline County on the Eastern Shore, said Bill Reinhard, a spokesman with the Maryland Department of Education.

There are a total of 24 school systems in the state, he said.

Carroll County Superintendent Steve Guthrie said school is ending on June 16, a Thursday, rather than the Friday that week because that would have caused a high absentee rate.

Also, the last day for teachers is Friday, June 17, and district officials wanted to preserve that day so teachers did not have to come back on Monday, which is when summer graduate school starts for many educators, Guthrie said.