DCPS asks parents to "create your own calendar proposal" for SY 26-29

[Anonymous]

I just finished mine. I've solved it, you guys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really hate the Emancipation Day holiday. It really messes with the calendar.

It became a holiday in DC in 2005. So not that long ago. It was part of DC going through a flurry of state like activities - naming an official state holiday (so I feel it was more a symbolic thing than a content or mission driven reason to celebrate). I do think it's a great idea for a day to celebrate. But for DC, it messes with tax day and DCPS in unforeseen ways that are really disruptive.

DCPS needs to be less rigid about tying spring break to Emancipation Day.

The rule should be:
1. If Emancipation Day is a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday (ie, observed on Friday), then spring break is the same week as Emancipation Day
2. If ED is a Sunday (ie, observed Monday), Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, then spring break is the full week before Emancipation Day

This way spring break does not go so late.

[Anonymous]

The only thing I find truly idiotic next year is the two day week after New Year’s instead of just giving a two week winter break. I know that’s not what they’re asking for but these really short weeks are dumb.

[Anonymous]

They’ve definitely made me feel more OK with planning an actual two week break and not bringing my kids in for two days of “Frozen”’and “Frozen 2.”

[Anonymous]

For everyone going on about the "traditional February holiday week," it's not really traditional. Antwan Wilson brought it with him from Oakland when he started as Chancellor in 2017, mostly to build good will with teachers, and it wasn't first implemented until 2018. Because calendars are set several years at a time, the break lasted longer than Wilson did.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just finished mine. I've solved it, you guys.

Here’s mine, I’ve uploaded it to an anonymous file sharing site.

xxxxx

I tried to do it via Google Drive on my phone, but it kept showing all my identifying info to the public via the shared link.

Your document has identifying information in the metadata.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For everyone going on about the "traditional February holiday week," it's not really traditional. Antwan Wilson brought it with him from Oakland when he started as Chancellor in 2017, mostly to build good will with teachers, and it wasn't first implemented until 2018. Because calendars are set several years at a time, the break lasted longer than Wilson did.

"Traditional February holiday week" is always a tell that you've had a kid in DCPS for only like three years.

[Anonymous]

My youngest kid graduates in 2026, so this exercise isn’t for me. But if I had younger kids, here’s what I’d do, based on my 15 years as a DCPS parent:

Keep the April spring break: love that it’s fixed, love that it generally doesn’t coincide with other school systems, love that it’s in actual spring, when weather tends to be nicer. This is a keeper.

Bring back February break: better a week consolidated in February that already has a holiday than a couple of four-day weekends. If they need to work in PD days, make it a PD week for teachers.

Start school two weeks before Labor Day: Those mid/late August weeks were always the hardest to find camps. Get ‘em back in school. I’d much rather they be in school in August than in June.

End school by June 15 (preferably earlier): I can’t imagine this is controversial…but who knows?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My youngest kid graduates in 2026, so this exercise isn’t for me. But if I had younger kids, here’s what I’d do, based on my 15 years as a DCPS parent:

Keep the April spring break: love that it’s fixed, love that it generally doesn’t coincide with other school systems, love that it’s in actual spring, when weather tends to be nicer. This is a keeper.

Bring back February break: better a week consolidated in February that already has a holiday than a couple of four-day weekends. If they need to work in PD days, make it a PD week for teachers.

Start school two weeks before Labor Day: Those mid/late August weeks were always the hardest to find camps. Get ‘em back in school. I’d much rather they be in school in August than in June.

End school by June 15 (preferably earlier): I can’t imagine this is controversial…but who knows?

OP here: your suggestions are exactly how I designed our calendar.

2nd and 3rd weeks of August are horrible for finding child care. We have to take so much time off work to watch our oldest. I'm taking off one week to take kid to see grandparents. My spouse is taking off the next week to spend time with oldest while waiting for school to start. Would absolutely prefer to start by mid-August so schedule syncs up better with college students who actually staff the camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest kid graduates in 2026, so this exercise isn’t for me. But if I had younger kids, here’s what I’d do, based on my 15 years as a DCPS parent:

Keep the April spring break: love that it’s fixed, love that it generally doesn’t coincide with other school systems, love that it’s in actual spring, when weather tends to be nicer. This is a keeper.

Bring back February break: better a week consolidated in February that already has a holiday than a couple of four-day weekends. If they need to work in PD days, make it a PD week for teachers.

Start school two weeks before Labor Day: Those mid/late August weeks were always the hardest to find camps. Get ‘em back in school. I’d much rather they be in school in August than in June.

End school by June 15 (preferably earlier): I can’t imagine this is controversial…but who knows?

OP here: your suggestions are exactly how I designed our calendar.

2nd and 3rd weeks of August are horrible for finding child care. We have to take so much time off work to watch our oldest. I'm taking off one week to take kid to see grandparents. My spouse is taking off the next week to spend time with oldest while waiting for school to start. Would absolutely prefer to start by mid-August so schedule syncs up better with college students who actually staff the camps.

Great! Godspeed. Our years in DCPS have had so many different “calendar philosophies” that I’d consider it a major achievement of the otherwise-mid-to-terrible Ferebee if he managed to put something consistent in place. While I don’t love all of the calendar decisions they’ve made since he arrived (as should be evident from my preferences above), I do give DCPS props for publishing three years of calendars at once. That has been super-helpful.

[Anonymous]

The tough nut to crack for DCPS is that they have to pencil in 180 days. And that's really hard to do with school closing every year for a General Election or Primary Day + Emancipation Day + 10 PD days for teachers. Pretty impossible to get these kids out before June 15 with those constraints.

There's also the fact that DCPS has a large underserved population who benefit from short summers and longer school years to minimize learning losses and to keep these kids off the street. DCPS has to balance their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tough nut to crack for DCPS is that they have to pencil in 180 days. And that's really hard to do with school closing every year for a General Election or Primary Day + Emancipation Day + 10 PD days for teachers. Pretty impossible to get these kids out before June 15 with those constraints.

There's also the fact that DCPS has a large underserved population who benefit from short summers and longer school years to minimize learning losses and to keep these kids off the street. DCPS has to balance their needs.

I’m the PP who suggested mid-August start and dismissal by June 15. The one consistent thing about DCPS calendars over our 15 years in the system has been nine weeks of summer. School used to follow the two-weeks-before Labor Day start and was always out by mid-June. The shift to late June came with the one-week-before-Labor Day start initiated by Ferebee (although a few calendars in earlier years had this, as well, seemingly tied to the date of Labor Day). The widespread distaste for late-June dismissal seems to have led them to get rid of Feb break in the current calendars. Returning to two weeks before Labor Day would allow them to reintroduce Feb break and still have kids out in June. Pretty simple!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tough nut to crack for DCPS is that they have to pencil in 180 days. And that's really hard to do with school closing every year for a General Election or Primary Day + Emancipation Day + 10 PD days for teachers. Pretty impossible to get these kids out before June 15 with those constraints.

There's also the fact that DCPS has a large underserved population who benefit from short summers and longer school years to minimize learning losses and to keep these kids off the street. DCPS has to balance their needs.

I’m the PP who suggested mid-August start and dismissal by June 15. The one consistent thing about DCPS calendars over our 15 years in the system has been nine weeks of summer. School used to follow the two-weeks-before Labor Day start and was always out by mid-June. The shift to late June came with the one-week-before-Labor Day start initiated by Ferebee (although a few calendars in earlier years had this, as well, seemingly tied to the date of Labor Day). The widespread distaste for late-June dismissal seems to have led them to get rid of Feb break in the current calendars. Returning to two weeks before Labor Day would allow them to reintroduce Feb break and still have kids out in June. Pretty simple!

If you setup the calendar so that the kids do two full weeks of school before Labor Day, you can get out by June 15 in basically every scenario and still hit 180 days. And this helps resolve the summer child care issues.

And if you bring back the full Presidents Day week, then the Spring Break tied to Emancipation Day doesn't feel so bad. You still need to do at least one long weekend between Presidents week and Spring Break in order to do record keeping/PD day + the 2nd PTC.

[Anonymous]

Question: would DCPS generally consider April 1 be too late for the second parent-teacher conference? Are there any foreseen implications with that?

The second PTC is typically around mid-March.

I've always wondered why PTC is not more closely tied to the record keeping day. It would make sense to me that folks would use PTC to discuss grades, development trajectory, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The tough nut to crack for DCPS is that they have to pencil in 180 days. And that's really hard to do with school closing every year for a General Election or Primary Day + Emancipation Day + 10 PD days for teachers. Pretty impossible to get these kids out before June 15 with those constraints.

There's also the fact that DCPS has a large underserved population who benefit from short summers and longer school years to minimize learning losses and to keep these kids off the street. DCPS has to balance their needs.

I’m the PP who suggested mid-August start and dismissal by June 15. The one consistent thing about DCPS calendars over our 15 years in the system has been nine weeks of summer. School used to follow the two-weeks-before Labor Day start and was always out by mid-June. The shift to late June came with the one-week-before-Labor Day start initiated by Ferebee (although a few calendars in earlier years had this, as well, seemingly tied to the date of Labor Day). The widespread distaste for late-June dismissal seems to have led them to get rid of Feb break in the current calendars. Returning to two weeks before Labor Day would allow them to reintroduce Feb break and still have kids out in June. Pretty simple!

If you setup the calendar so that the kids do two full weeks of school before Labor Day, you can get out by June 15 in basically every scenario and still hit 180 days. And this helps resolve the summer child care issues.

And if you bring back the full Presidents Day week, then the Spring Break tied to Emancipation Day doesn't feel so bad. You still need to do at least one long weekend between Presidents week and Spring Break in order to do record keeping/PD day + the 2nd PTC.

How does that resolve summer child care issues? More aligned with other school districts and thus camp schedules? Or something else?