Caroline Tucker

WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE (WMAL) – The Montgomery County School Board received at least 2,000 comments about proposals for next year’s school calendar. There were four proposals for board members to choose from. In the end, Proposal B was chosen along with a few amendments.

Overall it will include the following: 182 instructional days with two extra days at the end of the year in case the school system needs to make up for snow days.

It also will allow for schools to be closed on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. And there will be two non-instructional days, one of which coincides with Eid al-Fitr.

School board members say they had to balance professional development with community interests.

“I do think that the calendar we are discussing now is a good compromise of those interests,” said Matthew Post, a student board member.

This school year, students will get to enjoy a 10-day Spring Break. That won’t be possible next year. The new calendar reduces the break to just six days.

“I would love to be able to have a full Spring Break but it is just not possible to do everything,” said Patricia O’Neill, a board member.

Classes are set to begin on September 4, 2018, and end on June 13, 2019. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan now requires all schools to begin after Labor Day and end by June 15th.

Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Montgomery County Public Schools)