The number of student holidays is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sucks also is that SOLS will be in May and then there are weeks of school with no teaching whatsoever. So as far as “instructional time”, it is lost. That’s the babysitting part. So much would rather actual school without breaks and an early release once they stop teaching (or: after SOL).

That really isn’t true at all. Trust me, there is plenty of content that can still be taught and many fun learning projects that can be done.

+1, people say this over and over but it’s not true.

No learning at all! Kahoot math isn’t learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP this is actually one instance in which you can't blame the school board. Surrounding counties are forcing FCPS to do it.

Oh plz. Surrounding counties jumped because they thought FCPS was jumping. FCPS finally did legal due diligence and was like “holy Crap! Maybe it is illegal to create explicitly religious holidays just to celebrate them!” Now they claim it is for the secular goal of aligning. Give me a break.
We start and end at different times than LCPS. We do not align exactly anyway. No reason to make these days be what it has to align on. The main problem with subs this year was for the spring break week and other “alignment” days perhaps that were beside the weekend given the generous leave policy for those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One problem I have with all the random days off is if your child is scheduled to receive therapy or services from FCPS, they get canceled all the time. I had a child in speech every other Friday, and he rarely met with the ST even once a month. Once he went several months without seeing her at all. They don't make up time.

Yes. Agree! Same with specials. If kids has music on Fridays, we’ll forget it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

ITA and also, let's make it easier on teachers and students and make sure the breaks are aligned to the end of the quarter like they are in more secular countries - e.g., winter break comes at the end of January, not December, and spring break comes at the end of Q3, rather than being tied to Easter. This year, high school students are going to have exams either the week before spring break in which case they come back after spring break and do nothing for a week, OR they're going to go on spring break and have to come back to exams. Either one is a ridiculous scenario.

Hello? What do you think students do between exams? We hit the ground running with new material the moment they're back from break. We have a set curriculum to teach and never enough time to teach it.

Which is why after SOLs my kids watch a bunch of movies and have carnivals and BMX stunt shows for the last month of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

ITA and also, let's make it easier on teachers and students and make sure the breaks are aligned to the end of the quarter like they are in more secular countries - e.g., winter break comes at the end of January, not December, and spring break comes at the end of Q3, rather than being tied to Easter. This year, high school students are going to have exams either the week before spring break in which case they come back after spring break and do nothing for a week, OR they're going to go on spring break and have to come back to exams. Either one is a ridiculous scenario.

Hello? What do you think students do between exams? We hit the ground running with new material the moment they're back from break. We have a set curriculum to teach and never enough time to teach it.

Which is why after SOLs my kids watch a bunch of movies and have carnivals and BMX stunt shows for the last month of school.

In summary we can all agree that there is barely any school happening in a consistent manner this upcoming year. Between all the days off and the SOLs happening in May and school not ending till late June, there is a lot of wasted time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

ITA and also, let's make it easier on teachers and students and make sure the breaks are aligned to the end of the quarter like they are in more secular countries - e.g., winter break comes at the end of January, not December, and spring break comes at the end of Q3, rather than being tied to Easter. This year, high school students are going to have exams either the week before spring break in which case they come back after spring break and do nothing for a week, OR they're going to go on spring break and have to come back to exams. Either one is a ridiculous scenario.

Hello? What do you think students do between exams? We hit the ground running with new material the moment they're back from break. We have a set curriculum to teach and never enough time to teach it.

Which is why after SOLs my kids watch a bunch of movies and have carnivals and BMX stunt shows for the last month of school.

In summary we can all agree that there is barely any school happening in a consistent manner this upcoming year. Between all the days off and the SOLs happening in May and school not ending till late June, there is a lot of wasted time.

We can all agree with that? Not me. Some of us like our schools/teachers/principal, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

ITA and also, let's make it easier on teachers and students and make sure the breaks are aligned to the end of the quarter like they are in more secular countries - e.g., winter break comes at the end of January, not December, and spring break comes at the end of Q3, rather than being tied to Easter. This year, high school students are going to have exams either the week before spring break in which case they come back after spring break and do nothing for a week, OR they're going to go on spring break and have to come back to exams. Either one is a ridiculous scenario.

Hello? What do you think students do between exams? We hit the ground running with new material the moment they're back from break. We have a set curriculum to teach and never enough time to teach it.

Which is why after SOLs my kids watch a bunch of movies and have carnivals and BMX stunt shows for the last month of school.

In summary we can all agree that there is barely any school happening in a consistent manner this upcoming year. Between all the days off and the SOLs happening in May and school not ending till late June, there is a lot of wasted time.

DS was still learning stuff in the last month of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sucks also is that SOLS will be in May and then there are weeks of school with no teaching whatsoever. So as far as “instructional time”, it is lost. That’s the babysitting part. So much would rather actual school without breaks and an early release once they stop teaching (or: after SOL).

That really isn’t true at all. Trust me, there is plenty of content that can still be taught and many fun learning projects that can be done.

+1, people say this over and over but it’s not true.

No learning at all! Kahoot math isn’t learning.

I find it extremely hard to believe that they did Kahoolawe for the whole math block for 3 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get down to specifics. Review the holiday list here. Which dates would you get rid of and why?

https://www.fcps.edu/calendars/standard-school-year-calendar

Get rid of:
- 26 Sep (Rosh Hashanah) -- not needed as holiday Because Jewish holidays don't count?
- 5 Oct (Yom Kippur) -- not needed as holiday [b]Because Jewish holidays don't count?
- 10 Oct (Indigenous Peoples') -- not needed as holiday It's Columbus Day, a federal Holiday. Almost everyone everywhere has this off.
- 24 Oct (Diwali) -- not needed as holiday Why? Because it isn't your holiday or because you are at a mostly white school>
- 31 Oct (Halloween) -- not needed as holiday Agree with this.
- 11 Nov (Veterans) -- not needed as holiday , a federal Holiday. Almost everyone everywhere has this off.
[/b]
- 3 Mar -- not needed as holiday not entirely sure the two hour early release the day before and this day is for other than PD days ARE needed.
- 14 Apr (Orthodox Good Friday) -- not needed as holiday (they should time spring break to be at the end of the quarter and include a teacher workday on the Friday before or Monday after) I could agree with this, but either way, the same number of days are off.
- 21 Apr (Eid) -- not needed as holiday Why? Because it isn't your holiday or because you are at a mostly white school>


Add in:
- Week long "fall break" at the middle or end of Oct (best to be timed at the end of the quarter)


Keep:
- 4-day Labor Day break
- Election Day
- The 2 week winter break
- The 3-day Thanksgiving break
- The holiday for MLK
- The 4-day holiday at the semester's end in January
- The holiday for President's Day
- Spring break (best to be timed at the end of the quarter and move the end-of-quarter teacher workday to the Friday before Spring Break or the Monday after)
- Memorial Day

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's get down to specifics. Review the holiday list here. Which dates would you get rid of and why?

https://www.fcps.edu/calendars/standard-school-year-calendar

Get rid of:
- 26 Sep (Rosh Hashanah) -- not needed as holiday Because Jewish holidays don't count?
- 5 Oct (Yom Kippur) -- not needed as holiday [b]Because Jewish holidays don't count?
- 10 Oct (Indigenous Peoples') -- not needed as holiday It's Columbus Day, a federal Holiday. Almost everyone everywhere has this off.
- 24 Oct (Diwali) -- not needed as holiday Why? Because it isn't your holiday or because you are at a mostly white school>
- 31 Oct (Halloween) -- not needed as holiday Agree with this.
- 11 Nov (Veterans) -- not needed as holiday , a federal Holiday. Almost everyone everywhere has this off.
[/b]
- 3 Mar -- not needed as holiday not entirely sure the two hour early release the day before and this day is for other than PD days ARE needed.
- 14 Apr (Orthodox Good Friday) -- not needed as holiday (they should time spring break to be at the end of the quarter and include a teacher workday on the Friday before or Monday after) I could agree with this, but either way, the same number of days are off.
- 21 Apr (Eid) -- not needed as holiday [b]Why? Because it isn't your holiday or because you are at a mostly white school>[/b

Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

[Anonymous]

Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

ITA and also, let's make it easier on teachers and students and make sure the breaks are aligned to the end of the quarter like they are in more secular countries - e.g., winter break comes at the end of January, not December, and spring break comes at the end of Q3, rather than being tied to Easter. This year, high school students are going to have exams either the week before spring break in which case they come back after spring break and do nothing for a week, OR they're going to go on spring break and have to come back to exams. Either one is a ridiculous scenario.

Hello? What do you think students do between exams? We hit the ground running with new material the moment they're back from break. We have a set curriculum to teach and never enough time to teach it.

Which is why after SOLs my kids watch a bunch of movies and have carnivals and BMX stunt shows for the last month of school.

In summary we can all agree that there is barely any school happening in a consistent manner this upcoming year. Between all the days off and the SOLs happening in May and school not ending till late June, there is a lot of wasted time.

We can all agree with that? Not me. Some of us like our schools/teachers/principal, etc.

You can like them and still advocate for a compressed calendar and longer breaks. You know…consistency!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

They didn’t take off because most didn’t know about religious leave and/or didn’t want to use personal. When I first started, I didn’t know I could take off using religious leave. Have taken off every year since. Every Jewish teacher at my school takes off for the Jewish holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

The attendance data showed that a lot of teachers do take off.