Why is school closed on Sept. 25th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every religion has at least 1 day off on the FCPS calendar. Remember: equity!

Yes, equity. How horrible it is to show respect to a diverse community & let them celebrate their holidays. /sarcasm

Rastafarians? No insult to them (just an example), but if everyone was to get a holiday, there would be no school. What should be the size of the student population or petition necessary to get a holiday?

I don't have the answer.

You are not actually comparing Jews to Rastafarians

Are YOU saying Jews are more important than Rastafarians?

I am saying you cannot seriously compare taking a day to celebrate the holiday of one of the 3 major Abrahamic religions to taking days off for every single faith no matter how niche. There is a huge difference between schools saying let’s take off for Buddhist and Rastafarian and Bah’ai and Pagan and whatever else holidays and schools saying, this is a major Jewish holiday that many people observe.

Do you have any rough numbers for Fairfax? Relatively it may not be that many.

I think there is just some general frustration that there are lots of partial weeks (disruptive for many families) and despite the fact that school starts much earlier, it still doesn't end until mid June.

I personally think there are too many other closures and the winter break is at least 3 days too long.

Saying “winter break doesn’t need to be this long” is fair and reasonable. Saying “schools shouldn’t close for a major Jewish holiday” isn’t. You wouldn’t expect schools to be open on Christmas Day.

But then where is the line drawn. There are a slew of holidays important to people. The new religious holidays off were not created in response to operational issues. They were created in response to lobbying. By that logic anyone left out without their special holiday off should lobby for a day off too. And we could end up just going all of June at that rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should only get Federal Holidays off. We don't need Yom Kippur off.

I'm the outlier that loves all the random days off in FCPS. The long weekends give us a chance to see family, relax, whatever.

I completely disagreed with the previous O day policy where they couldn't teach any new material or give a test or take a field trip. That was more of an issue than the days off. But recognizing major religious holidays with a school closure is fine with me.

That's cool. Some parents work for a living.

So use a vacation day? It must be so easy to just take a day, since that's the suggestion for Jewish teachers and students to just take time off to observe Yom Kippur.

It’s not hard to take A day off particularly to mark a day you celebrate. It is burdensome to have to take like 5-6 days off all for holidays you don’t celebrate. It’s not just Yom Kippur. It’s multiple other days that were added too.

And that’s the beauty of living in the United States of America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should only get Federal Holidays off. We don't need Yom Kippur off.

I'm the outlier that loves all the random days off in FCPS. The long weekends give us a chance to see family, relax, whatever.

I completely disagreed with the previous O day policy where they couldn't teach any new material or give a test or take a field trip. That was more of an issue than the days off. But recognizing major religious holidays with a school closure is fine with me.

That's cool. Some parents work for a living.

So use a vacation day? It must be so easy to just take a day, since that's the suggestion for Jewish teachers and students to just take time off to observe Yom Kippur.

It’s not hard to take A day off particularly to mark a day you celebrate. It is burdensome to have to take like 5-6 days off all for holidays you don’t celebrate. It’s not just Yom Kippur. It’s multiple other days that were added too.

ding ding ding!
I feel like the person arguing may be newish to the USA and not used the the blending we've got going on here. Lots of compromise rather than edicts.

And that’s the beauty of living in the United States of America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every religion has at least 1 day off on the FCPS calendar. Remember: equity!

Yes, equity. How horrible it is to show respect to a diverse community & let them celebrate their holidays. /sarcasm

Rastafarians? No insult to them (just an example), but if everyone was to get a holiday, there would be no school. What should be the size of the student population or petition necessary to get a holiday?

I don't have the answer.

You are not actually comparing Jews to Rastafarians

Are YOU saying Jews are more important than Rastafarians?

I am saying you cannot seriously compare taking a day to celebrate the holiday of one of the 3 major Abrahamic religions to taking days off for every single faith no matter how niche. There is a huge difference between schools saying let’s take off for Buddhist and Rastafarian and Bah’ai and Pagan and whatever else holidays and schools saying, this is a major Jewish holiday that many people observe.

Do you have any rough numbers for Fairfax? Relatively it may not be that many.

I think there is just some general frustration that there are lots of partial weeks (disruptive for many families) and despite the fact that school starts much earlier, it still doesn't end until mid June.

I personally think there are too many other closures and the winter break is at least 3 days too long.

Saying “winter break doesn’t need to be this long” is fair and reasonable. Saying “schools shouldn’t close for a major Jewish holiday” isn’t. You wouldn’t expect schools to be open on Christmas Day.

But then where is the line drawn. There are a slew of holidays important to people. The new religious holidays off were not created in response to operational issues. They were created in response to lobbying. By that logic anyone left out without their special holiday off should lobby for a day off too. And we could end up just going all of June at that rate.

Read the post from the teacher saying it is an operational issue. There is still a very large substitute problem. So some schools may have 10 plus teachers out in these holidays when you add in sickness, personal leave and religious leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every religion has at least 1 day off on the FCPS calendar. Remember: equity!

Yes, equity. How horrible it is to show respect to a diverse community & let them celebrate their holidays. /sarcasm

Rastafarians? No insult to them (just an example), but if everyone was to get a holiday, there would be no school. What should be the size of the student population or petition necessary to get a holiday?

I don't have the answer.

You are not actually comparing Jews to Rastafarians

Are YOU saying Jews are more important than Rastafarians?

I am saying you cannot seriously compare taking a day to celebrate the holiday of one of the 3 major Abrahamic religions to taking days off for every single faith no matter how niche. There is a huge difference between schools saying let’s take off for Buddhist and Rastafarian and Bah’ai and Pagan and whatever else holidays and schools saying, this is a major Jewish holiday that many people observe.

Do you have any rough numbers for Fairfax? Relatively it may not be that many.

I think there is just some general frustration that there are lots of partial weeks (disruptive for many families) and despite the fact that school starts much earlier, it still doesn't end until mid June.

I personally think there are too many other closures and the winter break is at least 3 days too long.

Saying “winter break doesn’t need to be this long” is fair and reasonable. Saying “schools shouldn’t close for a major Jewish holiday” isn’t. You wouldn’t expect schools to be open on Christmas Day.

But then where is the line drawn. There are a slew of holidays important to people. The new religious holidays off were not created in response to operational issues. They were created in response to lobbying. By that logic anyone left out without their special holiday off should lobby for a day off too. And we could end up just going all of June at that rate.

Read the post from the teacher saying it is an operational issue. There is still a very large substitute problem. So some schools may have 10 plus teachers out in these holidays when you add in sickness, personal leave and religious leave.

This. Parents forget schools are a business. They cannot do their job properly with many staff members out. The days when a lot of staff is out, it is felt throughout the building. Kids not getting services, classes combined, poor behavior due to lack of consistency.

[Anonymous]

The two week winter break was a teacher demand. Shortening that would solve a lot of problems but it’s a third rail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should only get Federal Holidays off. We don't need Yom Kippur off.

I'm the outlier that loves all the random days off in FCPS. The long weekends give us a chance to see family, relax, whatever.

I completely disagreed with the previous O day policy where they couldn't teach any new material or give a test or take a field trip. That was more of an issue than the days off. But recognizing major religious holidays with a school closure is fine with me.

That's cool. Some parents work for a living.

So use a vacation day? It must be so easy to just take a day, since that's the suggestion for Jewish teachers and students to just take time off to observe Yom Kippur.

It’s not hard to take A day off particularly to mark a day you celebrate. It is burdensome to have to take like 5-6 days off all for holidays you don’t celebrate. It’s not just Yom Kippur. It’s multiple other days that were added too.

And that’s the beauty of living in the United States of America.

Don'r forget that September "Attandance Month" SO If a lot of students are absent the school losses money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps serves over 180,000 students in over 400 schools. As is true in many places, ethnic and religious minorities have created sub communities which makes some schools have large numbers of students all from the same minority community. While not all schools would be affected by days like Yom Kippur or Diwali or Eid being in session, the reality is some schools *are* heavily affected and the district has those days off.

To be completely honest, FCPS could probably use being split into a few smaller districts that are able to be tailored to their unique populations a bit better but I also love the level of resources that come with a district of this size.

Also having religious holidays off is in no way bringing religion into the schools. They aren't teaching the doctrines of these days, they're literally just acknowledging that they exist and are important for some.

LOL, stop pushing this operational reason angle. There is no data that supports this or FPCS would trumpet it loud and clear.

Still wondering why libs want the public schools to acknowledge any religious holiday when they fought so hard to get religion out of schools.

[Anonymous]

It is a major financial burden for hourly paid employees, like me. FCPS does NOT pay us these days off, including teacher working days or Federal Holidays.

Last October we only had ONE full week of work as all other three weeks had at least one day off, some more than one.

That is one of the main reasons they cannot seem to retain employees, like bus drivers. On top of it, you have the unpaid summer as well, or at best, only 20 hrs/week of available work.

Many get a summer job and don’t come back to FCPS in August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is a major financial burden for hourly paid employees, like me. FCPS does NOT pay us these days off, including teacher working days or Federal Holidays.

Last October we only had ONE full week of work as all other three weeks had at least one day off, some more than one.

That is one of the main reasons they cannot seem to retain employees, like bus drivers. On top of it, you have the unpaid summer as well, or at best, only 20 hrs/week of available work.

Many get a summer job and don’t come back to FCPS in August.

But there are the same number of school days in the year regardless of how many holidays are off, so your total salary will be the same by the end of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps serves over 180,000 students in over 400 schools. As is true in many places, ethnic and religious minorities have created sub communities which makes some schools have large numbers of students all from the same minority community. While not all schools would be affected by days like Yom Kippur or Diwali or Eid being in session, the reality is some schools *are* heavily affected and the district has those days off.

To be completely honest, FCPS could probably use being split into a few smaller districts that are able to be tailored to their unique populations a bit better but I also love the level of resources that come with a district of this size.

Also having religious holidays off is in no way bringing religion into the schools. They aren't teaching the doctrines of these days, they're literally just acknowledging that they exist and are important for some.

LOL, stop pushing this operational reason angle. There is no data that supports this or FPCS would trumpet it loud and clear.

Still wondering why libs want the public schools to acknowledge any religious holiday when they fought so hard to get religion out of schools.

Fcps published data that showed that district wide it wasn't an issue but that doesn't mean it isn't an issue at *some* schools. Powell ES has a 2 way Korean immersion program. They would likely have an attendance issue for lunar new year while most other schools wouldn't. A school with a larger than average muslim population may have an attendance issue for Eid while most other schools wouldn't. None of that would show system wide but for individual schools, it would be a problem and they can't give the day off to some schools and not others. It's also a very diverse county and showing minority groups respect by granting the day off for their most important celebration is the right thing to do.

I would love to know why you think this is FCPS bringing religion into schools. Acknowledging a day isn't bringing religious ideals into the classroom...

[Anonymous]

While I know this is NOT the reason - don't discount staff morale on some level. I appreciate a system that respects and acknowledges my beliefs for even just a couple of days a year, even if I have have to use personal days for some others.

I know I'm a minority. I know that somebody you feel inconvenienced by having a variety of minories taken into consideration. The acknowledgment of THE holiest days of the year is important to me and my children and my community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps serves over 180,000 students in over 400 schools. As is true in many places, ethnic and religious minorities have created sub communities which makes some schools have large numbers of students all from the same minority community. While not all schools would be affected by days like Yom Kippur or Diwali or Eid being in session, the reality is some schools *are* heavily affected and the district has those days off.

To be completely honest, FCPS could probably use being split into a few smaller districts that are able to be tailored to their unique populations a bit better but I also love the level of resources that come with a district of this size.

Also having religious holidays off is in no way bringing religion into the schools. They aren't teaching the doctrines of these days, they're literally just acknowledging that they exist and are important for some.

LOL, stop pushing this operational reason angle. There is no data that supports this or FPCS would trumpet it loud and clear.

Still wondering why libs want the public schools to acknowledge any religious holiday when they fought so hard to get religion out of schools.

Giving students the day off for Yom Kippur (and Rosh Hashanah, Diwali and Eid) is not putting religion in schools. One can want prayer to stay out of the classroom and also acknowledge/value that we live in a multicultural society where other religions can get some holidays off too, in addition to Christmas and Easter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We should only get Federal Holidays off. We don't need Yom Kippur off.

I'm the outlier that loves all the random days off in FCPS. The long weekends give us a chance to see family, relax, whatever.

I completely disagreed with the previous O day policy where they couldn't teach any new material or give a test or take a field trip. That was more of an issue than the days off. But recognizing major religious holidays with a school closure is fine with me.

That's cool. Some parents work for a living.

So use a vacation day? It must be so easy to just take a day, since that's the suggestion for Jewish teachers and students to just take time off to observe Yom Kippur.

The observance of Yom Kippur, or any other religious holiday, is a personal choice. I know I know, not a popular opinion. But no one has a gun to your head. I don’t see why 99% of students and their families need to be inconvenienced to enable others to seamlessly engage with the faith that they chose.

-Culturally Jewish family that does not celebrate any religious holiday

You’ll survive being “inconvenienced.”

"Inconvenienced" in this case meaning "you don't get to learn today".

When did school go from learning to finding any reason to get out of school?

If your child can’t learn while he or she is in your care, that says a lot more about your parenting than it does about FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps serves over 180,000 students in over 400 schools. As is true in many places, ethnic and religious minorities have created sub communities which makes some schools have large numbers of students all from the same minority community. While not all schools would be affected by days like Yom Kippur or Diwali or Eid being in session, the reality is some schools *are* heavily affected and the district has those days off.

To be completely honest, FCPS could probably use being split into a few smaller districts that are able to be tailored to their unique populations a bit better but I also love the level of resources that come with a district of this size.

Also having religious holidays off is in no way bringing religion into the schools. They aren't teaching the doctrines of these days, they're literally just acknowledging that they exist and are important for some.

LOL, stop pushing this operational reason angle. There is no data that supports this or FPCS would trumpet it loud and clear.

Still wondering why libs want the public schools to acknowledge any religious holiday when they fought so hard to get religion out of schools.

Giving students the day off for Yom Kippur (and Rosh Hashanah, Diwali and Eid) is not putting religion in schools. One can want prayer to stay out of the classroom and also acknowledge/value that we live in a multicultural society where other religions can get some holidays off too, in addition to Christmas and Easter.

Agreed. Having a day off where those who are a given religion can celebrate their holiday is not acknowledging the religious holiday. If they make announcements in the school or teachers are teaching about the holiday, that would be acknowledging the holiday. Scheduling a day off from school on a major holiday for some religions by itself is not.