Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories asking candidates for the Carroll County Board of Education to discuss issues important to county residents. Muri Dueppen, Amanda Jozkowski, Greg Malveaux and Kristen Zihmer are on the ballot for two open seats on Carroll’s nonpartisan school board. Their answers are in their own words and have not been edited.
Although the five members of Carroll County’s Board of Education usually vote unanimously, board member Patricia Dorsey has opposed other board members in voting to ratify the system’s academic calendar and has advocated for starting schools before Labor Day and canceling school on Yom Kippur.
Dorsey last year asked the board to consider starting schools during the last week of August, as is done in neighboring Frederick and Howard counties, to give students more instruction time before standardized tests are administered.
Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day in Judaism. In Carroll County Public Schools, no tests can be scheduled on Yom Kippur and missing school for the holiday is considered an excused absence.
Superintendent Cynthia McCabe is expected to recommend approval of a 2025-2026 calendar during the school board’s meeting on Nov. 13. The proposed first day of school is Sept. 2, 2025, the Tuesday after Labor Day.
The school system in 2019 surveyed nearly 10,000 community members about their school calendar preferences. Nearly 53% preferred always starting after Labor Day, about 23% preferred always starting before, and the rest preferred deciding year-to-year depending on when Labor Day falls. From the survey, 58% of respondents preferred a shorter spring break.
Dueppen: I do not personally believe that the arguments for starting the school year after Labor Day are strong enough to warrant rigid adherence to that practice. There are also strong arguments for having more time not only for religious holidays but also a longer spring break and more professional development days for staff. Every school year, the complexities of setting the calendar should be approached with maximum flexibility. Especially when Labor Day is several days into September, beginning the school year beforehand should be an option. I support trying to build a calendar that includes four to six days off per year for high holy days observed by major religions whenever possible.
Jozkowski: I am personally in support of a pre-Labor Day start. As a full-time working parent, I often have difficulty securing camps and child care in the final week of the summer break when most other counties have returned to school. I also want to make sure we aren’t pushing too late into the summer, when it can be difficult to hold children’s attention and adequately cool school buildings so that effective teaching and learning can occur. I’d also be open to considering a flexible approach — if Labor Day falls early in September (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), a post-Labor Day start makes sense, but if it falls later in the month (4th-7th), we should consider starting earlier to avoid pushing the school year too far into summer. The State Fair no longer serves as a significant reason to delay the start of school, and decisions should be based on what is best for students and families.
As for holidays, I am pleased that our schools are now offering greater flexibility for all religious observances. It’s important to respect diversity, and while closing schools for every holiday might not be practical, offering floating holidays for students and staff to use for religious observances or personal time is a reasonable compromise. Educators who are members of the CCEA bargaining unit are now allowed protected religious leave, but I’d want to ensure that all other school system employees are accommodated in the same manner. Students are also able to take religious leave according to state guidelines, but our county needs to do better at ensuring we are following our own policy and not providing new instruction or testing on high holy days when it would be difficult for students to make up missed content.
Malveaux: The county has done surveys, and parents in our county want school to start after Labor Day. There are positive aspects to this schedule. Parents have more summer vacation and time with family. In addition, the later start improves economic activity for the county and state. Personally, I feel that the start and stop resulting from opening school before Labor Day may prove slightly distracting to the initial flow of the school schedule, and may possibly bring a negative impact to overall student and teacher morale. For those who want to pursue days off due to their faith, we can review policies that grant accepted absences for those who celebrate those holidays.
Zihmer: I believe the preferences of Carroll County residents should determine when our school year begins. In the most recent CCPS survey from July 2019, a significant majority of families indicated a preference for starting after Labor Day. While I am open to conducting a new survey, I believe that the decision on the start date should reflect the will of our community as demonstrated by the survey results.
If the school year continues to start after Labor Day, I fully support the current policy regarding Jewish holidays. This policy allows Jewish students to observe their holidays without being marked absent, ensures that no homework is assigned on those days, and prohibits tests from being scheduled during that time.
The election
All four candidates advanced through the primary election May 14. Though the school board is considered nonpartisan, Jozkowski and Dueppen have received funding from Democrats and left-leaning organizations, while Malveaux and Zihmer have received funding from Republicans and right-leaning ones.
Dueppen, of Mount Airy, and Jozkowski, of Eldersburg, are running together as a slate and established a joint campaign finance committee called the Slate for Student Success, according to a news release.
Both Malveaux, of Hampstead, and Zihmer, of Westminster, have been endorsed by Carroll County Moms for Liberty, the group that asked that dozens of books be removed from Carroll County Public Schools libraries.
Jozkowski placed fifth out of six candidates in the 2022 race for three school board seats. She earned 28,216 votes (15.68%) in that election. Dueppen ran for the Board of Education in 2018, and garnered 4,523 votes in the primary election, the eighth-highest total among 11 candidates. Only the top six candidates in that race advanced to the general election. Neither Malveaux nor Zihmer has run for Carroll County Board of Education in the past.
Early voting in Carroll County begins Thursday and concludes on Oct. 31. Voting takes place from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. at the Westminster Senior Center, South Carroll Senior Center in Sykesville and Coppermine Pantherplex in Hampstead. Information about polling places is also available online, at https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/PollingPlaceSearch. For information about submitting a ballot by mail, visit: https://elections.carrollcountymd.gov/GetMailBallot.aspx. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Baltimore Sun Media reporter Catalina Righter contributed to this story.
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