Delegate Chau Wu’s school-holiday bill held for a week after members raise staff-pay and Juneteenth concerns

Vice Chair Aaron M. Kaufman presided over a short virtual meeting of the Montgomery County delegation and moved to discuss a single bill authored by Delegate Chau Wu (District 9A) that would codify certain school closures.

Delegate Chau Wu told colleagues the package includes two technical amendments: one intended to avoid imposing additional "physical" closures on school facilities and a second to clarify that the statute would close schools to students rather than closing all district buildings. He said one amendment "has come from our HOKA delegate, delegate, Jessica Feldman," and that both amendments aim to "clean up the language."

A representative introduced during the meeting as "Miss Ersprung" and referred to by others as Patty, who spoke for the Montgomery County Board of Education, said the board "has not taken a position on this proposed bill" and described her earlier testimony as informational. She told the delegation that changing the start to the 2026–27 school year and narrowing the closure to students "helps" and "reduces" the chance of a fiscal impact but does not eliminate the possibility that the district could face costs.

Delegate Collison pressed the sponsor on consultation with unions and on whether supporting-services employees—paraeducators, custodial and building service workers, cafeteria staff, bus drivers and attendants—would lose pay on days students are closed. Delegate Collison said such employees "typically don't get paid" when they do not come to work, and suggested that lost days would be made up by lengthening the school year in affected years. Delegate Wu said he had "talked with them, like, offline" and described the bill as intended to codify current practice, but he acknowledged that collective-bargaining outcomes could change future pay arrangements.

Delegates also asked how the district selects recognized holidays. Delegate Crutchfield noted that Juneteenth is both a federal and state holiday and that it did not appear in the current list under consideration; Wu said the school system selects holidays based on "demographics and their kind of community advocacy," and that he would "definitely" advocate adding Juneteenth. Delegate Lorig urged making Juneteenth explicit in the bill to ensure its recognition even if federal designation were to change.

Vice Chair Kaufman said members were not ready to vote and directed Delegate Wu to check with SEIU on the bill's ramifications for support-staff pay and to work with staff (Miss Hunt) to draft the Juneteenth amendment. The delegation agreed to hold the bill for one week and return with proposed language; Kaufman set a follow-up meeting for 12:00 next Thursday to consider the revised bill.

No formal vote was taken during the session. The meeting concluded after the delegation confirmed the hold and the next meeting date.