Why does FCPS have all these random days of week off???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the posted survey results. The fact that only 23% of the parents responded is problematic. I would guess that parents who wanted to add religious holidays were far more incentivized to participate then parents who had no real idea that there was a chance that we would add how many religious holidays as days off.

And I don't see a question on there regarding adding days off for religious holidays across the board. The question was new days off and extending the school year or adding async days. There was no option for not adding new days off or anything that said that the new days off would be for every religious groups day of importance. There was no place to say "I don't want new days added" except the comments. I know that I specifically said that I was not in favor of adding any new holidays in my comment section. Not to mention, the add new days and extend the school year did not get over 50% in any of the populations surveyed. I suspect that the only reason Option B, the asynch days BS, was so high was because there was no option for don't add new days at all.

Essentially, the survey did not allow anyone to say that they didn't want to add days. The Board wanted to add in a ton of religious holidays because the O day idea was so poorly developed and implemented, that the Board just added those days with no real input from anyone other then the various religious leaders that wanted those days. Had the board created a decent O day policy, no tests and assignments due on those days and maybe even the day after the O days so kids participating in said religious activity didn't feel like they had to work on the O day, and left it at that most folks would have been happy. Instead we end up with this ridiculous schedule based on the argument that Christmas is always off so every religious group should have a day off.

There were very vocal groups clamoring for the calendar with added religious days off. This was mainly Jewish groups to get YK and RH off, as they had been disappointed with the vote last year. I think the rest of the religious days added were so that the school board would look fair and balanced like it wasn't just catering to the Jewish advocates. So here we are.

I get that. I know that is what happened. But then what is the point of the survey when we are not going to listen to them? They had to add all the other religious holidays to cover their butts, not being inclusive when you add one set of religious holidays would have been an immediate no go for obvious reasons. It is ridiculous that the calendar is as poorly structured as it is and has so few full weeks because one group wants its religion recognized on the calendar. the Christmas is in Winter Break is a tired argument. It is a Federal Holiday, should it be a Federal Holiday? I have no clue. Probably not. But it is. Spring Break should have been removed from the Easter holidays ages ago, that is a welcome change. And the response to that was "Let's screw up the rest of the calendar by adding a day for every group because Christmas."

I am sorry but it is BS. The calendar is a mess. Hopefully more then 23% of the parents will respond this year and clearly type in the comments section that they want the religious holidays as days off gone. Because it is not going to be asked about in the actual questions.

Do we need an entire week before Christmas off? No, we do not. My family has never needed a full week before and after Christmas to celebrate it. Why we need to start Winter Break on Monday, December 19, instead of, say, Friday, December 23, is beyond me. The week between Christmas and New Years is enough of a break and worth closing for attendance, but I don't know anyone who travels as early as Monday for a holiday the following Sunday.

Many people do travel days or weeks before Christmas. There are also many people traveling to see international family during the break, even adding on weeks. Both Indian and Central American families do this frequently.

If people want to take these long trips during the school year they can choose to take unexcused absences. Why are we building the calendar around this? It’s absurd. Why should people get a long break AND their personal religious holidays off? Pick one or the other. And that goes for Christians too.

Agreed! Parent of elementary kids here and I detest that week. Bad weather, hyper kids, and a job I'm still expected to perform. Great for the holiday spirit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the posted survey results. The fact that only 23% of the parents responded is problematic. I would guess that parents who wanted to add religious holidays were far more incentivized to participate then parents who had no real idea that there was a chance that we would add how many religious holidays as days off.

And I don't see a question on there regarding adding days off for religious holidays across the board. The question was new days off and extending the school year or adding async days. There was no option for not adding new days off or anything that said that the new days off would be for every religious groups day of importance. There was no place to say "I don't want new days added" except the comments. I know that I specifically said that I was not in favor of adding any new holidays in my comment section. Not to mention, the add new days and extend the school year did not get over 50% in any of the populations surveyed. I suspect that the only reason Option B, the asynch days BS, was so high was because there was no option for don't add new days at all.

Essentially, the survey did not allow anyone to say that they didn't want to add days. The Board wanted to add in a ton of religious holidays because the O day idea was so poorly developed and implemented, that the Board just added those days with no real input from anyone other then the various religious leaders that wanted those days. Had the board created a decent O day policy, no tests and assignments due on those days and maybe even the day after the O days so kids participating in said religious activity didn't feel like they had to work on the O day, and left it at that most folks would have been happy. Instead we end up with this ridiculous schedule based on the argument that Christmas is always off so every religious group should have a day off.

There were very vocal groups clamoring for the calendar with added religious days off. This was mainly Jewish groups to get YK and RH off, as they had been disappointed with the vote last year. I think the rest of the religious days added were so that the school board would look fair and balanced like it wasn't just catering to the Jewish advocates. So here we are.

I get that. I know that is what happened. But then what is the point of the survey when we are not going to listen to them? They had to add all the other religious holidays to cover their butts, not being inclusive when you add one set of religious holidays would have been an immediate no go for obvious reasons. It is ridiculous that the calendar is as poorly structured as it is and has so few full weeks because one group wants its religion recognized on the calendar. the Christmas is in Winter Break is a tired argument. It is a Federal Holiday, should it be a Federal Holiday? I have no clue. Probably not. But it is. Spring Break should have been removed from the Easter holidays ages ago, that is a welcome change. And the response to that was "Let's screw up the rest of the calendar by adding a day for every group because Christmas."

I am sorry but it is BS. The calendar is a mess. Hopefully more then 23% of the parents will respond this year and clearly type in the comments section that they want the religious holidays as days off gone. Because it is not going to be asked about in the actual questions.

Do we need an entire week before Christmas off? No, we do not. My family has never needed a full week before and after Christmas to celebrate it. Why we need to start Winter Break on Monday, December 19, instead of, say, Friday, December 23, is beyond me. The week between Christmas and New Years is enough of a break and worth closing for attendance, but I don't know anyone who travels as early as Monday for a holiday the following Sunday.

Many people do travel days or weeks before Christmas. There are also many people traveling to see international family during the break, even adding on weeks. Both Indian and Central American families do this frequently.

If people want to take these long trips during the school year they can choose to take unexcused absences. Why are we building the calendar around this? It’s absurd. Why should people get a long break AND their personal religious holidays off? Pick one or the other. And that goes for Christians too.

Agreed! Parent of elementary kids here and I detest that week. Bad weather, hyper kids, and a job I'm still expected to perform. Great for the holiday spirit

I don't what has happened but people in this area have really lost all common sense. It didn't used to be this way and it isn't like this in other areas (blue states, BTW). Winter break is shorter and there are some but not all religious holidays off, and people deal with it. Trying to please everyone just ends up making everyone (except for a vocal minority) mad. It's pointless. This obsession with equity is making everything worse. I hope we get some more moderate, common-sense candidates for the school board, but I have little faith in that happening with the local political parties playing such a large role in who runs and who gets endorsed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the posted survey results. The fact that only 23% of the parents responded is problematic. I would guess that parents who wanted to add religious holidays were far more incentivized to participate then parents who had no real idea that there was a chance that we would add how many religious holidays as days off.

And I don't see a question on there regarding adding days off for religious holidays across the board. The question was new days off and extending the school year or adding async days. There was no option for not adding new days off or anything that said that the new days off would be for every religious groups day of importance. There was no place to say "I don't want new days added" except the comments. I know that I specifically said that I was not in favor of adding any new holidays in my comment section. Not to mention, the add new days and extend the school year did not get over 50% in any of the populations surveyed. I suspect that the only reason Option B, the asynch days BS, was so high was because there was no option for don't add new days at all.

Essentially, the survey did not allow anyone to say that they didn't want to add days. The Board wanted to add in a ton of religious holidays because the O day idea was so poorly developed and implemented, that the Board just added those days with no real input from anyone other then the various religious leaders that wanted those days. Had the board created a decent O day policy, no tests and assignments due on those days and maybe even the day after the O days so kids participating in said religious activity didn't feel like they had to work on the O day, and left it at that most folks would have been happy. Instead we end up with this ridiculous schedule based on the argument that Christmas is always off so every religious group should have a day off.

There were very vocal groups clamoring for the calendar with added religious days off. This was mainly Jewish groups to get YK and RH off, as they had been disappointed with the vote last year. I think the rest of the religious days added were so that the school board would look fair and balanced like it wasn't just catering to the Jewish advocates. So here we are.

This is not what happened. The SB put together an equity task force right before the pandemic with leaders from different faith communities, and asked them to come up with calendar recommendations. That task force chose four holidays (Eid, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Diwali) to add to the calendar and made that recommendation to the SB (calendars A and B from what feels like a million years ago). The SB ignored their own task force's recommendations and came up with the O Day nonsense from last year. Those religious groups were asked to come to the table and contribute to an equitable calendar, and then they were straight-up ignored, so of course they continued to advocate on their own behalf. All four of those days were always meant to be on the calendar. Eid and Diwali weren't added to look "fair and balanced" in the face of Jewish "clamor." They were carefully chosen by an interfaith task force that considered the religious significance and observance requirements of many holidays and decided on those four. Spring Break is also now realigned with Easter.

Spring break is going to occasionally coincide with Easter because of when Spring Break falls. Spring Break is supposed to be locked into one specific week now, that was the change made several years ago. It should stay that way.

And we should not be consulting with any religion about any holidays. Keep Spring Break to a specific week every year and it is removed from Easter. That leaves Christmas which is a Federal Holiday, when the Federal Government removes it from the list of Federal Holidays it should not be a consideration for a school holiday. Ideally, winter break comes at the end of the first quarter but right now, Christmas is a Federal Holiday and that tends to be a time when there is a lot of travel. You will see massive amounts of absence over that week on the part of Teachers and students, it is why it is a Federal Holiday because so many people took that time period off who work for the Federal Government. It shouldn't be a holiday for secular purposes but it is because it was just practical.

The priority should be a schedule that advances teaching all the kids in the school not to develop a mish-mash calendar that makes as many religious groups happy. If you want your specific religious holiday off, go a private school for your faith.

The SB didn't put the idea of adding religious holidays on the survey because they knew what the response would be and because they knew that most people would object.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a school district where we only had a week of between christmas and new year. My parents just took us out of school a few days early and put us back in a few days late so we could travel internationally to visit family. Never an issue. This whole "but people travel internationally" thing is truly just upper class Americans' excuses. Immigrant families will do what they have to do and their kids will be just fine..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the posted survey results. The fact that only 23% of the parents responded is problematic. I would guess that parents who wanted to add religious holidays were far more incentivized to participate then parents who had no real idea that there was a chance that we would add how many religious holidays as days off.

And I don't see a question on there regarding adding days off for religious holidays across the board. The question was new days off and extending the school year or adding async days. There was no option for not adding new days off or anything that said that the new days off would be for every religious groups day of importance. There was no place to say "I don't want new days added" except the comments. I know that I specifically said that I was not in favor of adding any new holidays in my comment section. Not to mention, the add new days and extend the school year did not get over 50% in any of the populations surveyed. I suspect that the only reason Option B, the asynch days BS, was so high was because there was no option for don't add new days at all.

Essentially, the survey did not allow anyone to say that they didn't want to add days. The Board wanted to add in a ton of religious holidays because the O day idea was so poorly developed and implemented, that the Board just added those days with no real input from anyone other then the various religious leaders that wanted those days. Had the board created a decent O day policy, no tests and assignments due on those days and maybe even the day after the O days so kids participating in said religious activity didn't feel like they had to work on the O day, and left it at that most folks would have been happy. Instead we end up with this ridiculous schedule based on the argument that Christmas is always off so every religious group should have a day off.

There were very vocal groups clamoring for the calendar with added religious days off. This was mainly Jewish groups to get YK and RH off, as they had been disappointed with the vote last year. I think the rest of the religious days added were so that the school board would look fair and balanced like it wasn't just catering to the Jewish advocates. So here we are.

This is not what happened. The SB put together an equity task force right before the pandemic with leaders from different faith communities, and asked them to come up with calendar recommendations. That task force chose four holidays (Eid, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Diwali) to add to the calendar and made that recommendation to the SB (calendars A and B from what feels like a million years ago). The SB ignored their own task force's recommendations and came up with the O Day nonsense from last year. Those religious groups were asked to come to the table and contribute to an equitable calendar, and then they were straight-up ignored, so of course they continued to advocate on their own behalf. All four of those days were always meant to be on the calendar. Eid and Diwali weren't added to look "fair and balanced" in the face of Jewish "clamor." They were carefully chosen by an interfaith task force that considered the religious significance and observance requirements of many holidays and decided on those four. Spring Break is also now realigned with Easter.

Spring break is going to occasionally coincide with Easter because of when Spring Break falls. Spring Break is supposed to be locked into one specific week now, that was the change made several years ago. It should stay that way.

And we should not be consulting with any religion about any holidays. Keep Spring Break to a specific week every year and it is removed from Easter. That leaves Christmas which is a Federal Holiday, when the Federal Government removes it from the list of Federal Holidays it should not be a consideration for a school holiday. Ideally, winter break comes at the end of the first quarter but right now, Christmas is a Federal Holiday and that tends to be a time when there is a lot of travel. You will see massive amounts of absence over that week on the part of Teachers and students, it is why it is a Federal Holiday because so many people took that time period off who work for the Federal Government. It shouldn't be a holiday for secular purposes but it is because it was just practical.

The priority should be a schedule that advances teaching all the kids in the school not to develop a mish-mash calendar that makes as many religious groups happy. If you want your specific religious holiday off, go a private school for your faith.

The SB didn't put the idea of adding religious holidays on the survey because they knew what the response would be and because they knew that most people would object.

Now you’re just ignorant. The first time they actually tried that was last school year and it was a disaster because it didn’t align with surrounding districts. This year it happens to also align with Easter. We don’t know if that will always be spring break going forward and the change was not made several years ago at all. Every year except last year spring break was tied to Easter.

[Anonymous]

I thought last year spring break was fantastic and so did my friends. "Disaster" according to whom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought last year spring break was fantastic and so did my friends. "Disaster" according to whom?

All the teachers who live in other districts that either couldn't take a family vacation because the vacations didn't line up and all the students who were stuck with subs or in some cases no sub, because their teacher had children at home. FCPS could not get enough subs for all the teachers were out. Not a great situation for HS students trying to get ready for AP exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I looked at the posted survey results. The fact that only 23% of the parents responded is problematic. I would guess that parents who wanted to add religious holidays were far more incentivized to participate then parents who had no real idea that there was a chance that we would add how many religious holidays as days off.

And I don't see a question on there regarding adding days off for religious holidays across the board. The question was new days off and extending the school year or adding async days. There was no option for not adding new days off or anything that said that the new days off would be for every religious groups day of importance. There was no place to say "I don't want new days added" except the comments. I know that I specifically said that I was not in favor of adding any new holidays in my comment section. Not to mention, the add new days and extend the school year did not get over 50% in any of the populations surveyed. I suspect that the only reason Option B, the asynch days BS, was so high was because there was no option for don't add new days at all.

Essentially, the survey did not allow anyone to say that they didn't want to add days. The Board wanted to add in a ton of religious holidays because the O day idea was so poorly developed and implemented, that the Board just added those days with no real input from anyone other then the various religious leaders that wanted those days. Had the board created a decent O day policy, no tests and assignments due on those days and maybe even the day after the O days so kids participating in said religious activity didn't feel like they had to work on the O day, and left it at that most folks would have been happy. Instead we end up with this ridiculous schedule based on the argument that Christmas is always off so every religious group should have a day off.

There were very vocal groups clamoring for the calendar with added religious days off. This was mainly Jewish groups to get YK and RH off, as they had been disappointed with the vote last year. I think the rest of the religious days added were so that the school board would look fair and balanced like it wasn't just catering to the Jewish advocates. So here we are.

I get that. I know that is what happened. But then what is the point of the survey when we are not going to listen to them? They had to add all the other religious holidays to cover their butts, not being inclusive when you add one set of religious holidays would have been an immediate no go for obvious reasons. It is ridiculous that the calendar is as poorly structured as it is and has so few full weeks because one group wants its religion recognized on the calendar. the Christmas is in Winter Break is a tired argument. It is a Federal Holiday, should it be a Federal Holiday? I have no clue. Probably not. But it is. Spring Break should have been removed from the Easter holidays ages ago, that is a welcome change. And the response to that was "Let's screw up the rest of the calendar by adding a day for every group because Christmas."

I am sorry but it is BS. The calendar is a mess. Hopefully more then 23% of the parents will respond this year and clearly type in the comments section that they want the religious holidays as days off gone. Because it is not going to be asked about in the actual questions.

Do we need an entire week before Christmas off? No, we do not. My family has never needed a full week before and after Christmas to celebrate it. Why we need to start Winter Break on Monday, December 19, instead of, say, Friday, December 23, is beyond me. The week between Christmas and New Years is enough of a break and worth closing for attendance, but I don't know anyone who travels as early as Monday for a holiday the following Sunday.

Many people do travel days or weeks before Christmas. There are also many people traveling to see international family during the break, even adding on weeks. Both Indian and Central American families do this frequently.

+1, The majority of people did vote for two weeks off at Christmas time

[Anonymous]

Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

FCPS doesn’t negotiate contracts. No negotiating, no renegotiating. FCPS doesn’t have collective bargaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

This is why parents should have no say. Everyone has a different opinion.

Winter break- some love two weeks, others hate it
Mid June end- summer needs to be shorter, summer needs to be longer

I can literally keep going. Surveys to parents should stop. The county needs to make a calendar where teachers give feedback regarding consistency, planning and learning outcomes. I can 100 percent tell you, that if you put teachers in charge, they would have come up with a much better calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

This is why parents should have no say. Everyone has a different opinion.

Winter break- some love two weeks, others hate it
Mid June end- summer needs to be shorter, summer needs to be longer

I can literally keep going. Surveys to parents should stop. The county needs to make a calendar where teachers give feedback regarding consistency, planning and learning outcomes. I can 100 percent tell you, that if you put teachers in charge, they would have come up with a much better calendar.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Working conditions are so bad for teachers these days, that even the “vacation package” (teachers aren’t paid in July) isn’t as appealing anymore, and haven’t you noticed how stingy FCPS is about funding faculty? They’d rather dump that money in a crony’s contract for some technological service few will ever use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Working conditions are so bad for teachers these days, that even the “vacation package” (teachers aren’t paid in July) isn’t as appealing anymore, and haven’t you noticed how stingy FCPS is about funding faculty? They’d rather dump that money in a crony’s contract for some technological service few will ever use.

It's not going to happen because there
is
no
negotiating
of the contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Counterpoint: we should stop bickering about religious holidays and random Fridays and reckon with the reality that kids need more than 180 days in school. Especially after the disaster of the past two years. Kids are way behind and its going to take more than cheerful press releases from Gatehouse to catch them up.

FCPS should use federal funds to renegotiate teacher contracts and get kids in seats for at least 200 days/year.

This is why parents should have no say. Everyone has a different opinion.

Winter break- some love two weeks, others hate it
Mid June end- summer needs to be shorter, summer needs to be longer

I can literally keep going. Surveys to parents should stop. The county needs to make a calendar where teachers give feedback regarding consistency, planning and learning outcomes. I can 100 percent tell you, that if you put teachers in charge, they would have come up with a much better calendar.

+100

Agreed. Whose stupid idea was it to ask parents? Does any other school system do that? There are too many competing interests. Surveying employees makes sense, but not parents. It’s not like parents have a choice but to send their kids to school regardless of the calendar. Asking for parent input has created a mess with every little interest group fighting for their cause.