RCMS teachers react to new calendar

With a new calendar officially approved, RCMS teachers are going to have to now adjust to it and be able to adapt to the new changes.

A new calendar was approved by the FCPS board for the 2021-2022 school year. The calendar is designed to show certain people that their holidays are going to be acknowledged and recognized. Fifteen holidays are going to be in this case.

On these days, tests, quizzes, field trips, graduation, homecoming, or FCPS athletic events can’t be scheduled. This way, students won’t have to study or prepare for anything major on those days. For RCMS, the biggest things are that tests and quizzes can’t be held on these days. This could lead to both positive and negative effects.

Mr. William Darr, seventh grade History teacher at RCMS, feels that the new calendar is better than the previous one because it’s more reflective of the population in FCPS, and he doesn’t have any problems with it.

“I think it more accurately portrays the holidays in commemoration that the student body actually acknowledges,” he said.

Ms. Lina Hashem, Journalism teacher at RCMS, thinks differently however. She sees practically no difference or change compared to the old calendar. She preferred other proposals that gave all students days off for a few more major holidays.

“We can already request days off,” she said. “The only changes are that there are more holidays on the calendar where we can’t schedule anything major.”

Ms. Hashem also thinks that new calendar can cause misinterpretations of different holidays by treating them all the same, such as two holidays that she observes. 

“One of them is downplayed in importance and one is raised too high, higher than it really deserves.”

Along with the holidays being recognized, FCPS also made some other changes with the calendar. Student holidays are more evenly distributed throughout the year, with at least one in each month, and quarters and semesters are now more balanced in length.

Public pressure was one of the reasons that FCPS was pushed into considering this decision. There were many parents that requested for the calendar to change. Mr. Darr thinks that the public pressure was a bigger part in the decision, but definitely wasn’t the only reason.

“There just seems to be a big snowball effect of people wanting to be seen and heard and acknowledged,” he said. “I can say with confidence that if I were in Dr. Brabrand’s role, then I would think it would be a challenge to accommodate every single group asking for certain days.”