Board approves calendar for 2024-25 school year

The Board of Education approved the calendar for the 2024-25 school year at its business meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The calendar retains most aspects of the 2023-24 calendar.

Highlights include a start date on Monday, Aug. 24, 2024, and a last day on Friday, June 13, 2025. The first semester includes a four-day weekend at the start of November with Monday, Nov. 4 off to mark the end of the first quarter and Tuesday, Nov. 5 off for election day. A longer-than-usual 12-day winter break also features in the first semester. The longest stretch of school days with no break comes in April and May with 24 straight school days starting on Tuesday, Apr. 22.

Among other days off, professional days were also set on Oct. 18 to align with the Maryland State Teachers Conference and Mar. 31 and June 6 to align with the Muslim holidays Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

Planning for the calendar began in early August and included multiple surveys released to students, staff and the community. The second round of surveys received almost 10,000 responses and also included preliminary data for 2025-26 as MCPS staff have started considering creating calendars in two-year blocks.

Multiple MCPS teachers placed on leave for antisemitic comments

At least three different MCPS teachers have been placed on leave since November for making varying antisemitic comments.

In mid-November, Tilden Middle School Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and world studies teacher Sabrina Khan-Williams was placed on leave for social media posts alleging organ harvesting of Palestinians and denying the Hamas attack on an Israeli music festival.

At the start of December, Takoma Park Middle School teacher and English department chair Angela Wolf was placed on leave for similar social media conduct. On Nov. 20, Argyle Middle School math teacher Hajur El-Haggan was placed on leave for using the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in an email signature. Most recently, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, Westland Middle School art and english teacher Anike Robinson was placed on leave for social media posts that were deemed anti-semitic.

Of the four, El-Haggan, a Muslim and Arab-American, has been the most vocal in her opposition, leading a press conference on Friday, Dec. 8, and filing a complaint against MCPS with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that she was discriminated against based on race, religion, color, retaliation and national origin.

All four are currently under investigation by MCPS.

Moore unveils plan for billions in cuts to transit funding

Facing budget shortfalls and inflationary pressures, Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Maryland Secretary of Transportation Paul Weidefeld announced in a press release on Tuesday, Dec. 5 $3.3 billion in cuts to various transit funds in their proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The plan calls for various belt-tightening measures, including delaying highway construction, cutting maintenance funds by 30% (which includes pothole repair, litter pickup, etc), reducing hours and closing smaller branches of the MVA and increasing parking fees at BWI airport.

County leaders across the state expressed frustration and disappointment at the plan, while some, such as Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, have publicly expressed interest in raising taxes in order to make up for the budget shortfall.