Of course, there are pros and cons to the decision made by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, to have Maryland public schools start after Labor Day and end by June 15. However, a close inspection of this plan reveals some major flaws.

For those who feel this is a good idea, one key element is the longer summer break. Instead of starting school in August and having a day off from school on Labor Day, school would now start after Labor Day, which means that summer would be close to three months long.
We should keep the school schedule how it is now because, no matter when we start or end, we still have to be in school for 180 days. Lengthening the summer and specifying when we must finish the school year leaves a cramped school schedule.

This could mean that delaying the start by a week or two from late-August to after Labor Day would mean that we have to squeeze those 180 days into a shorter period of time. This means we will go to school on days that used to be days off, and could mean shorter or no breaks at all. The truth is, this decision benefits only students and their parents until school starts.

The cost of this plan could also have a negative effect on families. The fact is, not everyone has money to pay for a babysitter or have their child in a camp for that long during the summer. Adding another two weeks to that could result in kids being left alone at home or creating a financial hardship for families.
Another issue for some students is being out of school and out of food because they cannot take advantage of the Free and Reduced Meals Program (FARMS in schools. According to a Baltimore Sun article from Erin Cox and Liz Bowie, “Eighty-four percent of public school students in Baltimore qualify for subsidized meals, and many of them rely on the school system for at least two meals a day.” Parents finding a food source for their kids during the summer is already a struggle, and this change will simply add to their problem.

Our summer break now is already long enough for kids to suffer a little “brain drain,” which is when students lose information they learned the previous year or before. Making the break longer will only worsen the issue for students who tend to suffer from not having the school routine of getting up in the morning, doing work and retaining information they learned during the last school year.
People may think this decision is good without thinking of the consequences of where the days will be made up and how it may negatively affect the students who need school the most. While a long summer sounds good on the surface, it means something very different for struggling and poor students.

Also, for those who see it as a condensed school year, if you would rather have more of a summer and less of a winter break and possibly no spring break, then this choice fits you perfectly. When you really think about all the consequences, it’s not worth having a longer summer.