The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Point-Counterpoint: MCPS Pays the Price for New Holiday

If January 20, 2005 had not fallen on a Saturday, would MCPS have considered shutting down all facilities so that students could witness President Elect George Bush’s inauguration into office?  The 1997 inauguration of President Bill Clinton happened on a Monday and school was not canceled.

Whether or not we live in a dominant liberal state, the residents of Maryland cannot be so stubborn as to disregard those citizens who do indeed hold conservative views. If John McCain had been elected into Presidential office, the idea of proclaiming Inauguration Day a holiday would not arise.


On Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Board of Education ruled that Inauguration Day would be declared an official holiday every four years starting Jan. 20, 2009. The proposal that every Inauguration Day be an official holiday makes the plan more reasonable. However, in a time of economic recession, can MCPS afford to declare such an event?

MCPS possesses four contingency days for the school year. In order to have Inauguration Day off, MCPS replaced one of the snow days, leaving us with only three days for weather-related closings. If, for some reason, MCPS requires more than three days to close school based on weather conditions, it would cost MCPS up to $600,000 to add a day onto the MCPS school year. If all employees are required to come to work on that day, the total cost to open would be approximately $970,000.

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If three inclement weather days are indeed used and one more is needed, children of parents who work on an hourly pay basis will need a form of supervision on the extra day added to the year. There are 47 school-based daycare facilities that would have to be opened that day, costing MCPS $23,000.  Would Obama approve of the county-placed burden on these families?

The continuous spending of MCPS would have to endure does not end there. Schools are prohibited to cancel transportation rights for special education students to non public placements. MCPS will be burdened to spend an additional cost of $46,000 on the extra day added to the school year if more than three snow days are needed. Transportation operators will have to receive time and one-half pay in addition to the holiday pay. Furthermore, MCPS would have to spend $3,900 in order to have security patrol buildings that day.

Aside from the economic expenses, is it really expected that an immense group of students will be attending the inauguration? Between two and four million people are predicted to turn out for Obama’s inauguration. That is already three times the amount physically able to fit in the National Mall.

Nonetheless, wouldn’t witnessing the inauguration from school be the best way to view the event with an educational perspective?  Principal Christopher Garran states that educational lessons were in place for students to be in school that day.

“We would’ve opened up the auditorium for staff and students to watch [the inauguration] from there,” said Garran.

Garran also mentioned that MCPS is trying to save 20 million dollars due to a current operating budget.

“If we go beyond [three contingency days] and close the building for another day, we have to come up with that money somewhere,” said Garran.

If MCPS does require more than three snow days, our county will be burdened with an incredible amount of expenses, not to mention an extra day in the school year.

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