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DENTON – After a hard, snowy winter, CCPS Superintendent Dr. Derek Simmons presented what he hopes will be his last academic calendar change of the 2025-2026 school year at the March 3 Board of Education meeting.
With two additional snow days to account for, Dr. Simmons recommended changing the Wednesday before Easter, April 1, from a half day for students to a full day, and shifting the half day to Thursday, April 2, which was originally a day off. This brings the total amount of student days to 179, one day shy of the required 180 days.
In order to preserve the rest of Spring break and not extend the school year any further past the current last day of June 17, Dr. Simmons said he will be submitting a request for the final snow day to be waived. If the school year were extended by a day to June 18, staff would be off for Friday June 19, and would therefore be required to come in the following week to fulfill their contract hours. That scenario “just creates a lot of challenges and difficulties on the staff side,” Dr. Simmons said.
He is hopeful the Maryland State Board of Education will approve the waiver request, “I feel positive…we have a good opportunity to get the waiver.” He explained that in order to request a waiver like this, school systems must first use all of their built-in inclement weather days as well as make adjustments to the calendar as snow days occur.
