The Worcester County Board of Education has approved the 2024-25 school year calendar, which removes the controversial Wednesday half-days and includes a longer spring break.
Pocomoke Elementary School Students are pictured in a classroom on the first day of the 2023-24 academic year.
Photo courtesy Worcester County Public Schools
Includes seven-day spring break
By Tara Fischer, Staff Writer
The Worcester County Board of Education recently publicized the 2024-25 school year calendar, which removes the controversial Wednesday half-days previously included for teachers’ professional development.
Carrie Sterrs, the public relations and special programs coordinator for Worcester County Public Schools, presented the finalized calendar to the board of education an open meeting on Feb. 20.
The school system gathered feedback for the proposed schedules from Dec. 21, 2023, to Jan. 12, 2024. The survey garnered 2,092 responses. The participants were 49.6% parents, 32.8% employees, 11.9% students, and 4.9% from other community members. According to the data, the moderately balanced calendar was preferred instead of the early release and longer/ frequent break options. The study also welcomed open-ended replies.
“Over 50% of the open-ended responses left comments asking for half-days for professional development to revert to the end of the week,” Sterrs said. “Over 25% asked for elongated breaks during the school year, particularly spring break.”
Superintendent Lou Taylor’s modified schedule reflects the changes. The county must observe Good Friday and Easter Monday, but they opted to shift the closure from April 17 to April 23 to provide a longer stretch of days off.
The upcoming school year calendar also does away with half-days for professional development.
“We decided to remove the Wednesday half-days because parents were having issues with babysitting scheduling,” Taylor said. “When we had Friday half-days, we watched our staff and student attendance decline across the county. For now, we will encourage our teachers to sign up for after-school and summer professional development.”
Chief Operations and Academic Officer Annette Wallace said that the professional half-days yielded increased participation among teachers and improved student attendance, unlike when they were on Fridays. However, she maintains the board of education values community feedback.
“We listen to our parents, so Superintendent Taylor decided to remove those days from the calendar completely,” she said. “It was not best for the kids to have professional development on Fridays because our teachers and students weren’t here. As a transparent organization, we listen to our families and do what is best for the kids.”