Ferebee email re adding school days because of snow
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
February 11, 2026
Dear DC Public Schools Parents and Families, At DC Public Schools (DCPS), we are committed to providing students with rigorous and joyful learning experiences through high quality instruction. I am writing to share adjustments to the School Year (SY) 2025–2026 calendar resulting from the recent inclement weather closures. Last month’s winter storm brought significant snow and ice to our city, and DCPS closed schools on Tuesday, January 27 and Wednesday, January 28. In order to meet the instructional day requirements outlined in the DC Municipal Regulations (DCMR), DCPS is making the following modifications to the SY 2025–2026 calendar: * Thursday, March 12 previously scheduled for Parent-Teacher Conferences, will shift to an instructional day for all students and teachers. Parent-Teacher Conferences previously scheduled for this date are cancelled, and schools are encouraged to leverage existing communication structures—such as routine check‑ins, emails, or phone outreach—to share timely student updates with families and caregivers. * Friday, March 13 will remain a Wellness Day with no school for students or teachers. Maintaining this day supports student and educator well‑being and honors the commitments outlined in the district’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Washington Teachers’ Union. * Thursday, June 18 will be the last day of school for students. This one-day extension ensures students receive the full instructional time needed to finish the school year before the Juneteenth holiday. We recognize that changes to the school year calendar can affect our families' planning and end-of-year expectations. We hope that with this advance notice, families will be able to plan ahead as we look toward closing out another remarkable school year at DCPS. Thank you for your flexibility and continued support. In partnership, Lewis D. Ferebee, Ed.D. Chancellor, DC Public Schools |
Anonymous
| Ugh, I get so little communication from my kids’ teachers. I wish they could have found a different day in the calendar. |
Anonymous
|
Love that they kept the Wellness Day, but scrapped PTCs. (Eyeroll....) Way to keep accountability to an absolute minimum, DC teachers' union.
Can't wait until my DC heads to her older siblings' charter... |
Anonymous
| Only in DC do you put snow days at the end of the calendar and then instead of using them take away a parent-teacher conference day. And shorten what some people had already planned for as a long weekend away a month out. Is this better than ending after Juneteenth and all the mess that causes with camps and travel? Absolutely. Hands down. Is it also annoying that they are just making up stuff as they go? Yes. |
Anonymous
| Add to this the canned responses on report cards and I literally have no idea how my student is actually doing in class. This is so pathetic. |
Anonymous
For the record, they didn’t ask the Union about this. If they had, I can assure you teachers would have either given up that wellness day or kept PTC. We now have to report to work on June 22nd…. |
Anonymous
I get great communication from our two kids’ teachers and still really value the parent teacher conferences. I agree something else should be figured out. I don’t think the teachers should lose their day off but this isn’t great. The schools/teachers that already communicate well will “make it up” and the ones that don’t won’t. |
Anonymous
I think you're wrong - the union would not have given up wellness day |
Anonymous
I’m really sorry to hear this. So it’s just an annoying decision all around, and apparently it was done in a total vacuum. |
Anonymous
I absolutely believe WTU would have given up a wellness day to avoid reporting on the 22nd. I don’t believe they would have given it up for PTCs. |
Anonymous
I get good communication as well but really value parent teacher conferences. It’s the only opportunity to get specific feedback. It’s bizarre DCPS thought this was a good idea. |
Anonymous
|
I don’t think this is acceptable at all. My kids get “excellent” report cards (elementary) but it really tells me nothing. Since we don’t have any major issues we receive zero individual communication from the school and don’t have any chance to ask questions or speak to the teacher. The only time is during the 2 x a year conferences. What school system thinks it’s acceptable to do cancel parent teacher conferences like this?
And didn’t the kids only miss two days of school and trudge through the snow with all those late start times so there wouldn’t be snow make up days? |
Anonymous
Same here. My oldest has been in DCPS for six years now and we had maybe one teacher who gave us any information specific to her outside PTC (and in that case, the teacher was super experienced and had a system down). Both my kids get solid report cards, test well, and aren't disruptive, which tends to mean you don't know anything. I totally understand why it's like that, but c'mon ... don't scrap conference on top of that. |
Anonymous
You think teachers had anything to do with this decision? We found out at the same time as parents! Enjoy the “accountability” at your charter 🤡 |
Anonymous
| A big part of the problem is this new federal holiday that falls right near the end of school and causes all sorts of headaches. Tuesday the 16th having no school isn't helping either. |