Presenting a mock 23-24 calendar based on DCUM's preference for 5-day weeks

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. I would love a calendar like this. But the semester days need to be equal... and you have 4 more days in the first semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

195, but who’s counting? 😊

[Anonymous]

I am sorry you spent so much time thinking about this and typing it out. Haha the school board would never agree to this nor do they care at all what parents or teachers think.

They clearly don’t care about instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

You sound psychotic. I would much prefer OP's calendar -- I would love that week in November to take a vacation without holiday price gouging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

You sound psychotic. I would much prefer OP's calendar -- I would love that week in November to take a vacation without holiday price gouging.

This is exactly why parents should have no say in the calendar. They will never agree!

[Anonymous]

Don't like the November holiday - too late for the beach and too early to ski. Otherwise looks good to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't like the November holiday - too late for the beach and too early to ski. Otherwise looks good to me!

Which is why the poster who is “psychotic” is right. Move the days in that November week to the week before Christmas. Then everyone gets two full weeks.

[Anonymous]

I like the random days off!

I think it's mainly parents of young ones who have to find childcare that don't like them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of whining on DCUM about the number of "random" days off during the year, and the argument goes that this throws off regular routines and is difficult for working parents. I do not prescribe to this viewpoint as I think that scattered days off are better than a longer Summer Break, but I thought that I would conduct a "what-if" exercise.

This is what the school year could look like if 5-day weeks were prioritized, while staying within VA and traditional holiday guidelines. The big changes are dropping the newer holidays and aligning a Fall Break and the traditional Spring Break with the end of the quarter teacher activities. Teacher Workdays and Staff Development days would be consolidated to the end of the quarters.


Quarter 1: 47 days. Schools starts Monday, August 28th. Days off include: Sept. 1st/4th (state-mandated Labor Day weekend), Oct. 9th (Indigenous).

Fall Break: Monday, Nov. 6th - Friday, Nov. 10th. Overlaps with Election and Veteran's Day.

Quarter 2: 45 days, starting Monday, Nov. 13th. Days off include: 3-day Thanksgiving break, Winter Break Thursday 12/21 to Tuesday 1/2, MLK day Monday, Jan. 15th.

Q2 Break: Thurs, Feb 2nd and Fri., Feb 3rd.

Quarter 3: 44 days, starting Mon., Feb 5th. Days off include: Mon., Feb 19th (President's)

End of Q3 and Spring Break: Mon. Apr 8th to Fri. Apr 12th (overlaps with Eid, but divorced from Easter)

Quarter 4: 44 days, starting Mon. Apr 15th. Days off include: Mon May 27th (Memorial)

End of School Year on Friday, June 14th.


The end result is 29 weeks with a full 5-day school week. That is versus 23 weeks in the current 22-23 school calendar. It doesn't really provide any advantage to eliminate Indigenous/Presidents since the quarter ends would be more difficult to maneuver around and create additional shorter weeks.

NOPE. TWO FULL WEEKS FOR WINTER BREAK OR NOTHING.
Drop the November break. People would rather have the full two weeks at Christmas rather than some random week at the beginning of November.

Also, none of this matters unless you name the 194-days that teachers have to work. Which days do teachers also have off and which days do they have to work?

You sound psychotic. I would much prefer OP's calendar -- I would love that week in November to take a vacation without holiday price gouging

And you sound privileged. I would much prefer the time off in the winter break when we can spend time together with family who also have that time off.

[Anonymous]

FCPS should choose either to honor the Federal Holidays or Religious/Cultural/Equity days but not both. We didn’t need Columbus Day or Veterans Day off. We don’t need MLK or President’s Day off. Choose one or the other and the calendar would be far better but we should not do both.

[Anonymous]

I have the perfect calendar...

Q1 - 45 days (start on 21 Aug and end on 26 Oct)
-- 4 day Labor Day weekend
-- Yom Kippur as holiday
-- Indigenous Day as Teacher Work Day
-- 5 day weekend at the end of the quarter (27, 30, 31 Oct as Teacher Work Days)

Q2 - 45 days (start on 1 Nov and end on 24 Jan)
-- Election Day as holiday
-- 3 day Thanksgiving break
-- Winter Break from 18 Dec to 1 Jan
-- MLK Day as holiday
-- Quarter ends with 2 Teacher Work Days on 25-26 Jan

Q3 - 44 days (start on 29 Jan and end on 29 Mar)
-- President's Day as holiday
-- Quarter ends with a Teacher Work Day on 1 Apr

Q4 - 46 days (start on 2 Apr and end on 12 Jun)
-- Spring Break from 8-12 April
-- Memorial Day as holiday
-- School year ends with 2 Teacher Work Days on 13-14 Jun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have the perfect calendar...

Q1 - 45 days (start on 21 Aug and end on 26 Oct)
-- 4 day Labor Day weekend
-- Yom Kippur as holiday
-- Indigenous Day as Teacher Work Day
-- 5 day weekend at the end of the quarter (27, 30, 31 Oct as Teacher Work Days)

Q2 - 45 days (start on 1 Nov and end on 24 Jan)
-- Election Day as holiday
-- 3 day Thanksgiving break
-- Winter Break from 18 Dec to 1 Jan
-- MLK Day as holiday
-- Quarter ends with 2 Teacher Work Days on 25-26 Jan

Q3 - 44 days (start on 29 Jan and end on 29 Mar)
-- President's Day as holiday
-- Quarter ends with a Teacher Work Day on 1 Apr

Q4 - 46 days (start on 2 Apr and end on 12 Jun)
-- Spring Break from 8-12 April
-- Memorial Day as holiday
-- School year ends with 2 Teacher Work Days on 13-14 Jun

At first glance, I like this.
—FCPS administrator

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS should choose either to honor the Federal Holidays or Religious/Cultural/Equity days but not both. We didn’t need Columbus Day or Veterans Day off. We don’t need MLK or President’s Day off. Choose one or the other and the calendar would be far better but we should not do both.

It is really fall where the issue is - well and I guess Jan too if Chinese New Year ends up falling on a weekend. Pick the cultural holiday OR the federal one.