Students in Harford County Public Schools will be out of school and enjoying their summer vacations in a matter of a few days, but it will be a short summer vacation, as they will be back in class less than 10 weeks later because students have had to make up all 10 days they missed this year because of inclement weather.
Friday is the last day of school for students in kindergarten through 11th grade, and the late-June closing is necessary because of harsh winter weather, which forced HCPS officials to cancel 10 school days in January, February and March. The school system built the inclement weather days into the 2014-2015 school calendar, making Friday the last possible day that school could be open for students in grades K-11.
The high school seniors graduated during the first week of June.
Teachers have been taking the extra days in stride, however, and one fifth-grade teacher at Forest Hill Elementary said it gives some students an advantage.
"You just make adjustments, and the extra days at the end actually help," fifth-grade teacher Dori Wittelsberger said. "If anything had to be rushed through, you can go back and make sure that they understand [the material]."
Harford County is not the only school district in Maryland that will let out two weeks before the July 4 weekend. Friday is also the last day of school for Baltimore and Howard counties, and schools in Prince George's County will not let out until Tuesday, according to data from the Maryland State Department of Education.
"The snow happened to everybody, and there are lot of school systems that are going later," MSDE spokesperson William Reinhard said Monday.
Schools in Baltimore City, plus Anne Arundel, Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Montgomery, Queen Anne's, St. Mary's, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties all let out earlier this week.
The remaining school districts have already had their last days of school, including Cecil County, Harford's neighbor across the Susquehanna River.
The last day of classes for Cecil County Public Schools was Friday, according to Kelly Keeton, spokesperson for that school system.
The schools in Cecil were closed eight times during the winter, and Keeton said in an email Tuesday that state schools Superintendent Lillian Lowery granted a waiver request for two days.
The waivers mean those two days do not have to be made up. Maryland law requires schools to be open for 180 days each year.
Maryland school officials reviewed each district's waiver request on a case-by-case basis, and Harford's request of up to five waivers was denied.
The first day of school for the 2015-2016 school year will be Aug. 27, and 11 inclement weather days have been built into the calendar, meaning June 22 is the last possible day of classes. If no snow days are used, the last day would be June 10.