The Anne Arundel County Public Schools Calendar Committee is scheduled to begin meeting later this month to finalize recommendations for Superintendent George Arlotto to consider with regard to the 2016-2017 school year calendar. A tentative calendar has been approved by the Board, with final approval set for later this year.
As it gets set to begin its work, the committee is seeking public input on the tentative calendar. In particular, the committee is interested in opinions on the following:
- starting the school year earlier than the currently planned August 29, 2016, in order to end the year before the currently planned June 22, 2017.
- reducing the Thanksgiving break from five days to a lesser number.
- reducing the Easter/Spring break from four days (the Monday through Thursday before Easter) to a lesser number.
- Accommodating three days of parent-teacher conferences, one in each of the first three marking periods.
Should the Board of Education adopt a policy replacing final examinations at high schools with quarterly assessments, a shifting of the four two-hour early dismissal days at the end of each semester may be necessary.
The committee is made of up AACPS employees, students, and representatives of employee bargaining units and parent groups. It provides a recommendation to Dr. Arlotto, who, in turn, provides a recommendation to the Board.
The complete calendar as currently constructed and tentatively approved by the Board last year can be found here. A link to provide comments through Monday, October 12, 2015, can be found here.