Montgomery County Public Schools staff presented early results from a community survey and four working calendar drafts for the 2026–27 school year at the Policy Management Committee Sept. 16. The survey, released Sept. 3, had gathered nearly 7,000 responses by the time of the meeting and included both multiple-choice items and open-ended comments; staff said they would return to the board Oct. 16 with full data and a recommendation memo.
Kat Melchodi, executive director for District Operations, described the calendar development process as aligned with board policy IDA and Maryland State Department of Education guidance. She told the committee she asked three focused questions in the initial survey: where the first day should fall relative to Labor Day, whether Dec. 23 should be a day off during winter break, and when spring break should fall. Melchodi said about 60% of respondents preferred starting one week before Labor Day (week of Aug. 31 in the drafts shown), while roughly 32% preferred starting two weeks before. On the winter break question, roughly 75% of respondents expressed support for including Dec. 23 as a day off. For spring break, about 60% favored the later week; roughly 17% favored splitting spring break into two mini-breaks. Melchodi said the survey included roughly 1,100 open-ended comments so far and staff are reviewing themes and will include them in the memo to the board.
The committee saw four preliminary drafts. Drafts A and B start the week of Aug. 31 (Melchodi said those drafts place spring break in the later two-week span), while drafts C and D start the week of Aug. 24 and show an earlier end to the school year (Melchodi noted one example draft ends around June 15). She also noted a state law requirement around days adjacent to Easter that constrains spring-break scheduling. The drafts accounted for the Nov. 3, 2026 gubernatorial election (a no-school date) and staff said they had built in one inclement-weather make-up day in these working drafts; staff emphasized contingency planning and that final adoption is expected in December.
Committee members asked about benchmarks with neighboring districts, agricultural fair dates and multilingual outreach. Melchodi said she had reviewed neighboring calendars and that the county agricultural fair dates (Aug. 14–22, as pulled by staff during the meeting) were compatible with the presented drafts. She said the survey and materials are available in multiple languages through the district's communications supports and that the survey is integrated into school-specific web buttons for easy access. Members also asked about state requirements for instructional days versus instructional hours; Melchodi explained MCPS must meet 180 instructional days and specified minimum credit hours (1,170 for high school; 1,080 for elementary and middle) and described an instance in which relying on hours rather than days would have avoided make-up days after severe weather.
Staff will continue public engagement (surveys, focus groups, outreach to student groups and partners) and return to the committee and the full board with detailed survey data, draft calendars and recommended options for adoption on the board's December schedule.