State senate votes to overturn Hogan's order...

[Waggle Pass]

To start schools after Labor Day. Does this mean schools can start earlier in the future and have a 10 game schedule?

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019...uG5ZBfCouPmkbikXqYPwR1gLuXHnW-HJ4Kuosnb8QOl8w

 

[beall02]

To start schools after Labor Day. Does this mean schools can start earlier in the future and have a 10 game schedule?

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019...uG5ZBfCouPmkbikXqYPwR1gLuXHnW-HJ4Kuosnb8QOl8w

The short answer is yes. The long answer is I dont believe this is going to be the end of that fight. And, I also believe that no one that matters, is interested in having a 10-game regular season when the new playoff format takes hold.

 

[money316]

Isn't Allegany and Garret counties excluded from starting prior to labor day because of all the potential numerous snow days.

 

[beall02]

Isn't Allegany and Garret counties excluded from starting prior to labor day because of all the potential numerous snow days.

I dont believe so. I know that they were seeking such an adjustment for those specific reasons. But I dont believe it ever happened.

 

[tim21502]

I dont believe so. I know that they were seeking such an adjustment for those specific reasons. But I dont believe it ever happened.

After this was first instituted, there was an exemption added. It was, any school district could apply for an exemption if, they had to cancel school for ten days in two of the previous five years because of weather related issues.

 

[cumbfanatic]

I thought Allegany County got the exemption. Didn’t they start before Labor Day this year?

 

[BoyznBlue]

I thought Allegany County got the exemption. Didn’t they start before Labor Day this year?

Allegany and Garrett got an exemption because they usually have more snow days. It was also political because they vote republican in large numbers.

The order was stupid in the first place. It was never about the students, it was so the Ocean City merchants could cash in on two more weeks of tourism.

The Senate is basically just restoring the authority to the individual counties, the way it was before.

 

[bigdawgrefwmd]

Starting after Labor day was a good thing, allowing exemptions is the dumb part. They wouldn't need this is there wasn't a dumb mandated amount of days they must go to School each year. They send the kids sometimes for 2 weeks of School after they turned in everything and they go to School and play games and watch Movies (Now that's a waste of time) Also having a rule that Sports can't start before the School year starts is pretty dumb, South Carolina is on week 3 or 4 every year when Maryland starts it's football season and West Virginia usually starts before they go to School as well.
My kids always miss the first week of School because we always take Family Vacation to Myrtle Beach for the last 2 weeks of August.

 

[beall02]

I can understand both sides of the argument when it comes to when school should start. I had friends that were on vacation for the first week of school back in the day. My parents were of the belief that since they knew when school started they just planned vacations accordingly each year. We always had our family reunion on the last Saturday of a full week in August and sometimes that conflicted with school starting and from a kids perspective it wasn't fun to have to go to a reunion on a Saturday and then have school on Monday morning. To me you are trading off useless days to start with. Whether you are talking about the first couple days or week of school in late August or the last couple days or week of school in early to mid June. I think we should just start the Wednesday after labor day. Have half days that Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and then have the first full day the following Monday. I never liked the rule that you had to be in school to start certain sports. BigDawg brings up a good point. In this area it is hard for MD schools. I know Mountain Ridge went away from scheduling WV schools in the first two weeks of their season due to the fact that WV has a week on them.

 

[BoyznBlue]

I actually don't have a problem with school starting after Labor Day, I just don't like that Hogan made it political. Let each county choose the starting date that will work best for them. If you open schools early some students will miss the first couple of weeks for family activities. If you open schools later (as BigDawg correctly noted) the last two weeks of school in June are basically a joke. There doesn't seem to be a clear cut right and wrong solution.

 

[NG Huskies Fan]

For Garrett County a post Labor Day start would never work. This should be a county based decision. What works for the Eastern Shore doesn't work for mountain Maryland. There are people on the news site forums who say even practices for fall sports shouldn't start until after Labor Day, which would never work either since then you couldn't start fall sports until the end of September.

 

[TDHelmick]

It was my understanding that the reason MPSSAA teams didn't start until a week later (compared to neighboring states PA, WV, VA and DC) was due to a PG County issue with paying coaches. I don't know if it was strictly a PG County thing but was told they did not have it in their athletic budget to pay coaches the extra time by starting practices a week earlier. There was some written COMAR by-law that said coaches had to be paid a specific amount beyond so many days and hours.

This starting later than the neighboring states is very cumbersome for schools that live near the border (obviously Western Maryland).

These political issues are difficult. What is good for the inner city can be drastic for rural areas of the state. The $15 minimum wage argument is going to be extremely critical. That is a fair wage increase for Baltimore, PG and Montgomery Counties were rent can run $2K per month. It will destroy Allegany and Garrett County where the same rent can run $675 per month. The cost of living is so far removed. This too should be based on a county by county basis.

 

[eaglesinsider]

Also having a rule that Sports can't start before the School year starts is pretty dumb, South Carolina is on week 3 or 4 every year when Maryland starts it's football season and West Virginia usually starts before they go to School as well.
My kids always miss the first week of School because we always take Family Vacation to Myrtle Beach for the last 2 weeks of August.

A lot of the Southern states actually start school way earlier than they do in the rest of the country. The year I coached in Florida we started preseason practice July 31st and started school a week and a half later on August 9th. So significantly less practice time without school compared to up here as we played our kickoff classic on August 18th and started regular season play on the 25th.

 

[beall02]

For Garrett County a post Labor Day start would never work. This should be a county based decision. What works for the Eastern Shore doesn't work for mountain Maryland. There are people on the news site forums who say even practices for fall sports shouldn't start until after Labor Day, which would never work either since then you couldn't start fall sports until the end of September.

I'm just curious as to why this is? Why it would never work for Garrett Co? I dont live in the area, never have actually, when I went to Beall we lived in Cresaptown.

 

[BoyznBlue]

I'm just curious as to why this is? Why it would never work for Garrett Co? I dont live in the area, never have actually, when I went to Beall we lived in Cresaptown.

I think he's referring to the amount of average snow they get in Garrett County. There is a minimum amount of days each school is required to be open. If they started school after Labor Day, and the winter months happen to be unusually harsh (meaning a lot of cancelled snow days), they might have to extend the school year until July, lol.

 

[beall02]

I think he's referring to the amount of average snow they get in Garrett County. There is a minimum amount of days each school is required to be open. If they started school after Labor Day, and the winter months happen to be unusually harsh (meaning a lot of cancelled snow days), they might have to extend the school year until July, lol.

I was hoping that is what he was talking about. As with everything in life, I don't believe the answer to this issue is cut and dry, I never heard complaining growing up about when school started. Don't try and fix a problem that isn't broke. I respect Governor Hogan and agree with him on so many topics. On this one, I believe he is overthinking it a bit, there are more important issues in this state to tackle.

 

[NG Huskies Fan]

Yes, it boils down to winter weather. The mandates just don't allow for much, if any wiggle room. If you could guarantee a mild winter with only a handful of snow days then it could work, but most winters are not like that. They have to plan for having the 2009-10 & 2013-14 type winters because they are more likely than a mild winter in Garrett Co.