Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Calendar topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
BCPS committee recommends pre–Labor Day start for 2026–27 calendar; board asks for data on half-days and impacts
Summary
A BCPS committee presented a draft 2026–27 school calendar that favors a pre–Labor Day start to allow additional days for required assessments and enrollment reporting. Board members asked staff for data on attendance on half days, effects on assessments and possible calendar options used by other counties.
Baltimore County Public Schools presented a proposed school calendar for 2026–27 on Sept. 24 that the superintendent’s calendar committee recommended begin before Labor Day.
Cindy Bielski, presenting the committee’s recommendation, said a pre–Labor Day start gives kindergarten teachers five additional days to administer the statewide Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) before the Maryland deadline of Oct. 11, provides elementary and secondary students five more instructional days before winter assessments, and allows administrative staff extra days to complete state enrollment reporting due Sept. 30. The committee’s recommended calendar includes 191 teacher days, 180 elementary student days, and 181 middle/high school student days, with three built-in inclement-weather makeup days.
Board members raised several follow-up questions. Members asked staff to provide data on student attendance on half days (scheduled professional development days for teachers), and whether the district has evidence that the five additional pre–Labor Day days measurably improve achievement on state assessments. Members also asked whether recent Maryland legislation creating calendar flexibility might allow the district to eliminate half days, and whether shifting to post–Labor Day would affect the end-of-year date (staff said a post–Labor Day calendar could run into late June depending on use of makeup days).
Staff said the committee voted for the pre–Labor Day start primarily to maximize instructional time and to meet assessment and enrollment deadlines. Bielski said she would provide requested data on half-day attendance, research about the instructional impact of the extra days, and follow up with information about implications for fall high-school sports scheduling.
The calendar was presented as a first reader; the board set a public hearing for Oct. 7 and a second reader and consideration for Nov. 4.
