Creating a mock 2023-2024 FCPS Calendar

[Anonymous]

While we are all waiting for a few more months until the official calendar, it isn't really too hard to get close to figuring out what the calendar will look like.

Per VA codes:

*The school year must be 180 days or a minimum of 990 hours
*The following holidays are observed: Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day and Memorial Day
*Thanksgiving vacation will be Wednesday through Friday
*Winter vacation will be 5-10 days, depending on when the legal holidays fall. The school week before or after the holiday should be at least two days.
*Spring vacation is a full M-F week

Apparent FCPS preferences:

*Add the following holidays (usually as teacher workdays): Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Orthodox Good Friday, Eid al Fitr, Lunar New Year.
*Provide teacher workdays at the end of each Quarter
*Election Day is a holiday
*Winter Break goes through January 2nd
*Spring Break is the first week of April

Calendar specifics for 2023-2024:

*With Christmas/New Years on a Monday, the regulations would favor a shorter 11-day Winter Break. Saturday 12/23 - Tuesday 1/2
*Easter falls on Sunday, March 31st, 2024, so Spring Break the first week of April is a near certainty
*Diwali and Lunar New Year are on weekends and will not be observed

If you plug all of that into a calendar that starts on Monday, August 21st, 2023 and ends on Friday, June 14th, 2023, you end up with 184 days. So, there are ~4 days to play with depending on how you structure the end of the quarters.


Potential options are to:

*Start or end the school year with partial weeks
*Add days to Winter Break (such as Thursday 12/21 and Friday 12/22)
*Provide an extended Spring Break (Eid is on Wednesday 4/10, so the Mon/Tue of that week)
*Provide random days off

So, what say you, cranky DCUM posters?

[Anonymous]

Add St Patrick's Day so White people stop complaining about Diwali.

[Anonymous]

I think we should always go until Dec. 20 or 21st regardless of how Xmas falls on the calendar. It's silly to start Xmas break on Dec. 15 or 16th.

Nothing wrong with starting the first week of school on a Wednesday. Makes for a more gentle transition back to school when you get a weekend after 3 days of being back.

Don't know why you think Spring Break is going to be the first week in April if Easter is March 31. The tradition in FCPS is to have spring break BEFORE Easter. So, it would likely be the last week of March.

I think kids should be IN SCHOOL for Veterans Day AND MLK Day. They can talk about being a minority of any kind on MLK Day as well as productive activism. We already have days off for end of the quarter plus snow days in January. Same with Presidents Day -- kids should be in school. We don't need to be going unitl the middle of June.

NOTHING useful happens after June 1st. People see JUNE and they check out. So, any days of school in June are just wasted time (subtracting from the 180 that kids need). The kids are in the building, but they aren't getting anything for their time if it's in June. So the earlier we end in June, the better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we should always go until Dec. 20 or 21st regardless of how Xmas falls on the calendar. It's silly to start Xmas break on Dec. 15 or 16th.

Nothing wrong with starting the first week of school on a Wednesday. Makes for a more gentle transition back to school when you get a weekend after 3 days of being back.

Don't know why you think Spring Break is going to be the first week in April if Easter is March 31. The tradition in FCPS is to have spring break BEFORE Easter. So, it would likely be the last week of March.

I think kids should be IN SCHOOL for Veterans Day AND MLK Day. They can talk about being a minority of any kind on MLK Day as well as productive activism. We already have days off for end of the quarter plus snow days in January. Same with Presidents Day -- kids should be in school. We don't need to be going unitl the middle of June.

NOTHING useful happens after June 1st. People see JUNE and they check out. So, any days of school in June are just wasted time (subtracting from the 180 that kids need). The kids are in the building, but they aren't getting anything for their time if it's in June. So the earlier we end in June, the better.

Agree on Winter Break.

Not sure about starting school mid-week. I'm thinking mainly of child-care and how camps are generally full weeks.

My impression was that FCPS was trying to go to a fixed Spring Break schedule rather than trying to follow Easter around.

Veterans/MLK/Presidents are going to be holidays. That seems to be a state thing.

It seems like your strongest preference would be ending early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should always go until Dec. 20 or 21st regardless of how Xmas falls on the calendar. It's silly to start Xmas break on Dec. 15 or 16th.

Nothing wrong with starting the first week of school on a Wednesday. Makes for a more gentle transition back to school when you get a weekend after 3 days of being back.

Don't know why you think Spring Break is going to be the first week in April if Easter is March 31. The tradition in FCPS is to have spring break BEFORE Easter. So, it would likely be the last week of March.

I think kids should be IN SCHOOL for Veterans Day AND MLK Day. They can talk about being a minority of any kind on MLK Day as well as productive activism. We already have days off for end of the quarter plus snow days in January. Same with Presidents Day -- kids should be in school. We don't need to be going unitl the middle of June.

NOTHING useful happens after June 1st. People see JUNE and they check out. So, any days of school in June are just wasted time (subtracting from the 180 that kids need). The kids are in the building, but they aren't getting anything for their time if it's in June. So the earlier we end in June, the better.

Agree on Winter Break.

Not sure about starting school mid-week. I'm thinking mainly of child-care and how camps are generally full weeks.

My impression was that FCPS was trying to go to a fixed Spring Break schedule rather than trying to follow Easter around.

Veterans/MLK/Presidents are going to be holidays. That seems to be a state thing.

It seems like your strongest preference would be ending early.

Veterans Day was never a holiday in FCPS until THIS year. It's not a "state thing."

Yes, my strongest preference is to end school as close to June 1st as possible ONLY b/c I HATE having my kids go to school and get nothing out of it. I would rather lose "holidays" during the school year b/c those are days that will be treated as actual school days. Any day in June is treated as babysitting (even at the HS level). My kids hate going to school and doing nothing valuable.

[Anonymous]

Agree with all the PP's who say winter break is too long.

[Anonymous]

9 weeks on, 3 weeks off, all year long. Bonus 4 weeks in the summer (7 week long summer break). Make breaks align with traditional spring/winter break time frame. Everything else can go. The quarterly TWDs can fall in those 3 week breaks. School ends June 1 as soon as AP/IB testing is over to maximize time in class before testing.

Okay, back to my fantasyland...

[Anonymous]

A fall break !!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we should always go until Dec. 20 or 21st regardless of how Xmas falls on the calendar. It's silly to start Xmas break on Dec. 15 or 16th.

Nothing wrong with starting the first week of school on a Wednesday. Makes for a more gentle transition back to school when you get a weekend after 3 days of being back.

Don't know why you think Spring Break is going to be the first week in April if Easter is March 31. The tradition in FCPS is to have spring break BEFORE Easter. So, it would likely be the last week of March.

I think kids should be IN SCHOOL for Veterans Day AND MLK Day. They can talk about being a minority of any kind on MLK Day as well as productive activism. We already have days off for end of the quarter plus snow days in January. Same with Presidents Day -- kids should be in school. We don't need to be going unitl the middle of June.

NOTHING useful happens after June 1st. People see JUNE and they check out. So, any days of school in June are just wasted time (subtracting from the 180 that kids need). The kids are in the building, but they aren't getting anything for their time if it's in June. So the earlier we end in June, the better.

Agree on Winter Break.

Not sure about starting school mid-week. I'm thinking mainly of child-care and how camps are generally full weeks.

My impression was that FCPS was trying to go to a fixed Spring Break schedule rather than trying to follow Easter around.

Veterans/MLK/Presidents are going to be holidays. That seems to be a state thing.

It seems like your strongest preference would be ending early.

Veterans Day was never a holiday in FCPS until THIS year. It's not a "state thing."

Yes, my strongest preference is to end school as close to June 1st as possible ONLY b/c I HATE having my kids go to school and get nothing out of it. I would rather lose "holidays" during the school year b/c those are days that will be treated as actual school days. Any day in June is treated as babysitting (even at the HS level). My kids hate going to school and doing nothing valuable.

You are right, Labor Day is a Fairfax thing: https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/C8LT8J7576A6/$file/R1344.pdf. Arlington has Labor Day off, while Loudoun does not this year.

Some people really like a longer Winter Break. Somebody is always going to be unhappy. I do think it makes sense for it to be shorter in 23-24.

The question about reducing the number of off days during the year is whether you are ok with reducing the number of teacher workdays. Many of the student holidays are matched with teacher workdays.


Student Holidays/Teacher workdays
Rosh Hashanah
Yom Kippur
Indigenous Day
Q1 end
Veterans Day
Q2 end
March 3rd
Orthodox Good Friday
Eid al Fitr

Student and Teacher holidays
Labor Day weekend (mandated by Virginia)
Diwali (2022, on a weekend in 2023)
Election Day (due to use of schools)
Thanksgiving 3-day
Winter Break
MLK
Presidents Day
Spring Break
Memorial Day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While we are all waiting for a few more months until the official calendar, it isn't really too hard to get close to figuring out what the calendar will look like.

Per VA codes:

*The school year must be 180 days or a minimum of 990 hours
*The following holidays are observed: Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day and Memorial Day
*Thanksgiving vacation will be Wednesday through Friday
*Winter vacation will be 5-10 days, depending on when the legal holidays fall. The school week before or after the holiday should be at least two days.
*Spring vacation is a full M-F week

Apparent FCPS preferences:

*Add the following holidays (usually as teacher workdays): Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Orthodox Good Friday, Eid al Fitr, Lunar New Year.
*Provide teacher workdays at the end of each Quarter
*Election Day is a holiday
*Winter Break goes through January 2nd
*Spring Break is the first week of April

Calendar specifics for 2023-2024:

*With Christmas/New Years on a Monday, the regulations would favor a shorter 11-day Winter Break. Saturday 12/23 - Tuesday 1/2
*Easter falls on Sunday, March 31st, 2024, so Spring Break the first week of April is a near certainty
*Diwali and Lunar New Year are on weekends and will not be observed

If you plug all of that into a calendar that starts on Monday, August 21st, 2023 and ends on Friday, June 14th, 2023, you end up with 184 days. So, there are ~4 days to play with depending on how you structure the end of the quarters.


Potential options are to:

*Start or end the school year with partial weeks
*Add days to Winter Break (such as Thursday 12/21 and Friday 12/22)
*Provide an extended Spring Break (Eid is on Wednesday 4/10, so the Mon/Tue of that week)
*Provide random days off

So, what say you, cranky DCUM posters?

Except Rosh Hashana and Diwali fall on a weekend next year so they won’t be days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While we are all waiting for a few more months until the official calendar, it isn't really too hard to get close to figuring out what the calendar will look like.

Per VA codes:

*The school year must be 180 days or a minimum of 990 hours
*The following holidays are observed: Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, MLK Day, Presidents' Day and Memorial Day
*Thanksgiving vacation will be Wednesday through Friday
*Winter vacation will be 5-10 days, depending on when the legal holidays fall. The school week before or after the holiday should be at least two days.
*Spring vacation is a full M-F week

Apparent FCPS preferences:

*Add the following holidays (usually as teacher workdays): Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, Orthodox Good Friday, Eid al Fitr, Lunar New Year.
*Provide teacher workdays at the end of each Quarter
*Election Day is a holiday
*Winter Break goes through January 2nd
*Spring Break is the first week of April

Calendar specifics for 2023-2024:

*With Christmas/New Years on a Monday, the regulations would favor a shorter 11-day Winter Break. Saturday 12/23 - Tuesday 1/2
*Easter falls on Sunday, March 31st, 2024, so Spring Break the first week of April is a near certainty
*Diwali and Lunar New Year are on weekends and will not be observed

If you plug all of that into a calendar that starts on Monday, August 21st, 2023 and ends on Friday, June 14th, 2023, you end up with 184 days. So, there are ~4 days to play with depending on how you structure the end of the quarters.


Potential options are to:

*Start or end the school year with partial weeks
*Add days to Winter Break (such as Thursday 12/21 and Friday 12/22)
*Provide an extended Spring Break (Eid is on Wednesday 4/10, so the Mon/Tue of that week)
*Provide random days off

So, what say you, cranky DCUM posters?

Except Rosh Hashana and Diwali fall on a weekend next year so they won’t be days off.

Yeah, I had Diwali, but must have looked up 2024's Rosh Hashana. So that's one more day.

[Anonymous]

YOu're wrong about winter Break. They'll make it two weeks and start the week before Christmas - Dec 18 - Jan 2. It'll be AWFUL.

[Anonymous]

And then school will end June 21st because of people insistence on an insanely long winter break.

[Anonymous]

And people will complain about the late end, but refuse to make do with a one week winter break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And people will complain about the late end, but refuse to make do with a one week winter break.

As with pretty much everything, the School Board is in a no-win position.