Time may not be on your side, but it’s not wholly against you, either.
A two-hour delay March 3 botched the Howard County Public Schools System’s run to meet the 180 days and 1,170 hours required by Maryland for high school students.
Then there was a three-hour early dismissal on March 16, which added to the deficit.
But the school system has a plan to account for that — and it may surprise you.
Prepare, students, to get to school two minutes early starting May 4.
HCPSS outlines it like this:
- Monday, June 8: Previously scheduled as a three-hour early dismissal and now will be a full day for all students.
- Beginning Monday, May 4, the high school student day will begin at 7:48 a.m., two minutes earlier than the current 7:50 start time. This will add a total of 1 hour and 4 minutes to the school year for high schools. The bus pickup schedule will remain unimpacted, and middle and elementary schools will not have an extended student day.
“This solution results in the least amount of disruption and preserves the cultural and religious observances remaining in the 2025-2026 school year calendar,” the system said in a release.
“Additionally, following the earlier decision to open schools and offices on Monday, April 6, this solution makes no further change to Spring Break.”
The updated calendars are available online.
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