CALENDAR: O days and new material

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The schoolboard formed a committee that spent months, perhaps even the past year, to come up with exactly that recommendation. But then the school board completely ignored the committe's recommendation and came up with this crazy mess of zero days, most of which are not celebrated as a major holiday for any of the fcps families. The committee took input from faith and community leaders, as well as other things like demographics and attendance.

Sorry, but you people REALLY need to start paying attention to the school board meetings and agenda.

THIS

We could have had just four days off based on a year of thoughtful planning from an interfaith group of stakeholders that the SB tasked with calendar planning. Instead, the Open Fairfax people were like "No, put our kids in school all the days!" and the SB slapped together this O day disaster within a month or so.

Also, side note: the O is for Religious Observance days (O for Observance). It's not a zero. They're not "zero days."

[Anonymous]

No it was not that Open group crying for school all days that made the SB to an abrupt pivot away from the original plan for 4 additional holidays. It was a few SB members who starting to back away from it because they thought it would start to favor some religions over others and that the calendar would no longer be secular

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The schoolboard formed a committee that spent months, perhaps even the past year, to come up with exactly that recommendation. But then the school board completely ignored the committe's recommendation and came up with this crazy mess of zero days, most of which are not celebrated as a major holiday for any of the fcps families. The committee took input from faith and community leaders, as well as other things like demographics and attendance.

Sorry, but you people REALLY need to start paying attention to the school board meetings and agenda.

THIS

We could have had just four days off based on a year of thoughtful planning from an interfaith group of stakeholders that the SB tasked with calendar planning. Instead, the Open Fairfax people were like "No, put our kids in school all the days!" and the SB slapped together this O day disaster within a month or so.

Also, side note: the O is for Religious Observance days (O for Observance). It's not a zero. They're not "zero days."

Oh but they are!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

It’s actually only 11 days, but ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

No not good. We don’t want rogue teachers not following the rules. Not fair to the Jewish kids at all today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Both my kids reported nothing new and that teachers mentioned this was due to it being an O day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Both my kids reported nothing new and that teachers mentioned this was due to it being an O day.

Both of mine reported it seemed like a regular school day. Neither had homework though. 5th and 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No it was not that Open group crying for school all days that made the SB to an abrupt pivot away from the original plan for 4 additional holidays. It was a few SB members who starting to back away from it because they thought it would start to favor some religions over others and that the calendar would no longer be secular

Ye gads. Look, I think it’s great to respect holidays like Yom Kippur, but what percentage of the students are devout Buddhists? This is crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

No not good. We don’t want rogue teachers not following the rules. Not fair to the Jewish kids at all today.

Why do Jewish kids need special treatment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

No not good. We don’t want rogue teachers not following the rules. Not fair to the Jewish kids at all today.

Why do Jewish kids need special treatment?

Because a lot of them are smart and in advanced classes where it’s more difficult to catch up after an absence? Look, I’m not Jewish, but that culture, religion, genealogy or whatever it is seems to cultivate a high number of superior students. I await the backlash…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ES parent here. Our teachers most definitely did not follow the rules. My child had a new math lesson with new content today. Plus new homework supporting that content.

Good. After a year of learning loss, creating 15 more days on learning loss and justifying it in a public school based on religion is ridiculous. The sooner someone challenges this 100% illegal setup, the better.

No not good. We don’t want rogue teachers not following the rules. Not fair to the Jewish kids at all today.

Why do Jewish kids need special treatment?

Because a lot of them are smart and in advanced classes where it’s more difficult to catch up after an absence? Look, I’m not Jewish, but that culture, religion, genealogy or whatever it is seems to cultivate a high number of superior students. I await the backlash…

Not untrue, most of my smartest kids were absent today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The schoolboard formed a committee that spent months, perhaps even the past year, to come up with exactly that recommendation. But then the school board completely ignored the committe's recommendation and came up with this crazy mess of zero days, most of which are not celebrated as a major holiday for any of the fcps families. The committee took input from faith and community leaders, as well as other things like demographics and attendance.

Sorry, but you people REALLY need to start paying attention to the school board meetings and agenda.

THIS

We could have had just four days off based on a year of thoughtful planning from an interfaith group of stakeholders that the SB tasked with calendar planning. Instead, the Open Fairfax people were like "No, put our kids in school all the days!" and the SB slapped together this O day disaster within a month or so.

Also, side note: the O is for Religious Observance days (O for Observance). It's not a zero. They're not "zero days."

Why should the public school system have 4 (or any) explicitly religious holidays?

If anyone want religious holidays, go to a private religious school.

[Anonymous]

Our ES had a Lockdown Drill yesterday. My 6th grader had combined classes as one teacher was out with no sub. Otherwise, no real learning occurred -- although today they are testing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The schoolboard formed a committee that spent months, perhaps even the past year, to come up with exactly that recommendation. But then the school board completely ignored the committe's recommendation and came up with this crazy mess of zero days, most of which are not celebrated as a major holiday for any of the fcps families. The committee took input from faith and community leaders, as well as other things like demographics and attendance.

Sorry, but you people REALLY need to start paying attention to the school board meetings and agenda.

THIS

We could have had just four days off based on a year of thoughtful planning from an interfaith group of stakeholders that the SB tasked with calendar planning. Instead, the Open Fairfax people were like "No, put our kids in school all the days!" and the SB slapped together this O day disaster within a month or so.

Also, side note: the O is for Religious Observance days (O for Observance). It's not a zero. They're not "zero days."

Except that’s not what happened. FCPS did not consult their lawyer, and when they did just before adopting the calendar, heir legal counsel told them the 4 days off was illegal, because there was no showing of secular need. And the lawyer was right. Of course, FCPS being FCPS, they then pushed through something even less legal with no notice to the community.

FCPS is a public school. Establishment clause and Lemon Test say we should not get religious holidays off (or hold school and not teach) without a secular need. There is a secular need for Christmas— too many a sense to run school. They discovered there was no secular need for the 4 holidays because there was a bump in absences, looking at historical data.

I have my issues with Open FCPS. But, this isn’t on Open FCPS. It’s on the SB for not bringing in their lawyer much earlier in the process.