Is the 22-23 Calendar designed to be an f-u to parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So is Spring Break being the week of Easter again intentional, or is it just always going to be the first week of April (like it is in 2022) and in 2023 it happened to align?

It will always be the first week of April. It has nothing to do with Easter.

I wish it were after the end of the third quarter. It makes no sense to have a week off and then one week of the third quarter.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, OP, that’s not the point of the calendar. I am so tired of these over the top, angry screeds against FCPS. My FCPS kids have gotten out as late as the third week of June so I don’t know what the hubbub is about (other than the usual political bs). No one is going to love every part of the calendar. I don’t want a two week winter break. I would prefer year-round school. But, it’s fine.

DP. When they got out that late, they started school later. Summer break has never been less than 10 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Summer vacation is down to 9 weeks now?

That is what it seems like - I wonder how the teachers feel about that.

where is everyone getting 9 weeks of summer vacation? They get out this year on 6/10, so with an 8/22 start that's 10 weeks. 3 weeks in June, 4 in July, 3 in August.

I don't love the veterans day holiday only because the traditional M/T 4 day weekend for election day is much more conducive to a trip or something than having Tuesday and Friday off...

I am normally in favor of a long winter break since I have a lot of family across the country but this year might have been a good year to explore a shorter break, based on how the holidays fall.

I'm bummed about the loss of the Monday before Election Day as a holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they start after labor day?

Because AP parents complain that their kids don't have enough time to prepare for AP tests if we start after Labor Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they start after labor day?

Because AP parents complain that their kids don't have enough time to prepare for AP tests if we start after Labor Day.

I really think it’s a wash for those kids. IIRC the common app gets released on 8/1. A post labor start would allow more time to work on the apps with no school and also visit college in session w/o missing school.
There’s no academic reason to start earlier IMO.

[Anonymous]

Abrar Omeish quoting the Quaran and religious holidays in her FB post. Thought religion not supposed to be considered in the calendar.

🚨 Yesterday, our board voted to pass the FY22-23 Standard School Year Calendar. We have finally, for the first time ever, put one in place that begins to reflect this community: inclusive of Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Orthodox Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Veterans Day, and Lunar New Year. 🙌🏻🙌🏼🙌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏿

Indeed, it is an E Pluribus Unum project. Like this nation, our community calendar requires unity and collective power to achieve. It remains in need of continuous improvement and involves every single one of us to build “out of many, one.” These are the values I grew with and will never give up on.

Calendars structure our time. They schedule our priorities. I am proud that everyone came together this year to pass a calendar that:

✅ Centers student achievement and instruction time
✅ Supports student and staff mental health through caring culture
✅ Minimizes disruption for families and students with disabilities
✅ Increases planning time for overworked staff
✅ Expands opportunities for staff development to respect the profession after years of cutbacks
✅ Reduces operational disruption for families
✅ Thinks more creatively about how we retain and recruit a premier workforce

To our dear bus drivers: we are not done yet. Those two days must be made up for, and the budget conversation remains ongoing to ensure this is the case. A working group that focuses on your concern will be meeting before the budget vote, and I commit to bringing an amendment if the promised correction is not made. Please review my comments from last night for more details: youtube.com/watch?v=yG0DJqAOH0U&t=4835s

Many may not realize that this win came only after a grueling two years of work– building coalitions with community partners, investing in interfaith relationships, deliberating to bring creative solutions that meet the needs of a vast array of constituent groups, and intentionally elevating the voices of those who are often unseen.

On the campaign trail, I used to share this as a “pie in the sky” dream of something I might try starting conversations around.

Today, it is a reality.

💪 Let this be a lesson that we must never allow those who seek to divide us claim our narrative.
💪 Let it be a reminder that, even if we are not successful the first time, we must keep on, and we must continue the fight.
💪 Let it be a permanent example that we are more powerful when we are together than when we are apart, and that EVERYbody wins when we work to construct, to build, and to improve upon, rather than to simply divide and destroy.
We win when we lead with compassion, and sometimes we win bigger when we bring others along with us.

Indeed, it is befitting that yesterday was also Holocaust Remembrance Day. We think such human disasters could never happen again, but we forget that they don’t arise overnight.

🌎 Teaching our children the realities of our past and exposing them to the many beliefs, practices, and worldviews of their neighbors help us cultivate a more peaceful world that can come together. Reaching this goal doesn’t come from merely telling one another to have empathy. It requires intentionally teaching our children about our varied beliefs and establishing comfort around our differences as we bring them to the table unapologetically.

🌏 Recognizing days that matter to all of our community members is part of opening space for precisely that.

🌍 Through authentic understanding, we can *actually* see past our differences and reflect on the meaningful ways they reflect human experiences, building an empathy muscle that taps into our deeper humanity. The ability to do this makes it much more difficult to set us apart. It makes the plights of every one of us personal to the rest, and it is where I find my motivation to advance equity and inclusion at all costs.

Make no mistake– this is no easy task. In the toughest of times during this journey, I have challenged myself to remain steadfast towards this goal. I have sought comfort and inspiration from reminders in my own faith, which I will continue to carry forward as we lead ahead:

“O you who have believed, be constantly upright for God, witnesses with equity, and let not antagonism of a people provoke you to not do justice. Do justice; that (Literally: it) is nearer to piety. And be pious to God, surely God is Ever-Cognizant of whatever you do” (5:8).

🤝 Let’s keep the movement for a more equitable and inclusive future alive.

➡️ As much as I try, I cannot continue this work alone. Please support my ability to keep fighting: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fairfaxfighters

[Anonymous]

to 7:14
Thanks for posting that. Clear that academics do not count. Love the fundraising request at the end.

[Anonymous]

Dear god, that’s SB member seems nuts.
It’s just a calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Year after year we put up with this nonsense by the school board. After such a decisive election year, they still did not get the memo. Parents wants kids in school, not with more days off and at home.

On the bright side, I think many of these members have limited days left on the board. Hopefully, we only have to deal with this for one more year and then we can get a school board with some sense to put kids in school instead of creating a Swiss cheese calendar that ensures a lack of continuous schooling.

Isn’t it still a 180 day calendar?

I'd like for you to tell me how a working parent can try to get through a work week with all the days off that FCPS has packed into each month. Why is it impossible for the kids to get more than 2 months where they go to school continuously? They have more weeks with days off from school in what should be the regular school and work week. How is that even doable for average families?

Do they have any idea how difficult that is for parents who are not sitting at home all day? I work with many low-income households and I can tell you that this virtue signaling calendar is unmanageable for these families. For families that cannot afford the back up care or to miss work, kids are left at home on their own, with no oversight, no management, and in the case of older kids end up in dangerous, destructive behaviors. One PP posted about how easy it was for her because her teens slept all day but I can tell you that is not what happens in many families. Teens walk out the door, get into trouble and drugs and violence become a real threat for them.

FCPS has clearly forgot its mission to educate and take care of kids and instead is catering to the wealthy, affluent donors who both have the resources to provide care for kids when not in school and don't have the financial strain of having to attend jobs out of the house. This is just infuriating to me because in its push to appear "inclusive" it really hurts low-income immigrant families. The irony, of course, is missed entirely on this Board.

Fyi,

Poor and immigrant families like and want summer vacations too.

It is elitist and out of touch to suggest otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curious if there was an actual/significant decrease in attendance on O days? I mean, do kids actually stay home and miss school for their respective religious observance?

Nah, high school kids wity no connection to the holodays skipped those days en masse.

At our school O days were the unofficial senior skip days.

There was no point in sitting at school doing nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they start after labor day?

No one wants that because it keeps the kids in school until almost July.

Fcps needs to follow what most school districts in the country do.

Start the 3rd week of August.

Finish no later than the first week of June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear god, that’s SB member seems nuts.
It’s just a calendar.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the f are Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur and Diwali holidays now?

...Why are Christmas and Easter 2 weeks and 1 week long, respectively?

Because that is the majority in the country.

You don't need a week to celebrate Easter (maybe a long weekend if you want to include Good Friday) and the entire week before Christmas.

Yes you do. If you celebrated those holidays you would understand. There is a lot of preparation for Christmas and Christmas Eve that takes place the whole month. There are gingerbread houses to be made, cookies, shopping, presents to be wrapped, decorating the house and tree. Going to see lights. It’s the whole month of December. We don’t just roll up to the actual day of the holiday and say Merry Christmas and hope everything comes together. Having that week off is essential.kids there may be traveling.

Oh, please. Gingerbread houses and going to see the lights are wants, not needs. Do them on the weekends or after school/work. Or, you know, just stop whining about school being closed for OTHER religions’ holidays.

You are arguing with an anti Christmas troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they start after labor day?

Because AP parents complain that their kids don't have enough time to prepare for AP tests if we start after Labor Day.

I really think it’s a wash for those kids. IIRC the common app gets released on 8/1. A post labor start would allow more time to work on the apps with no school and also visit college in session w/o missing school.
There’s no academic reason to start earlier IMO.

Wrong.

AP exams go through a set curriculum. The test dates are a national schedule in May with no deviation.

Starting after labor day did not allow fcps to get through the entire AP curriculum in time for the tests.

There is no justification to start classes after labor day. Most states in the country start before labor day and end in May or June.

Fcps needs to get with the times and asopt a schedule without all of these excessive short weeks and with a school schedule that mimics most of the rest of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Abrar Omeish quoting the Quaran and religious holidays in her FB post. Thought religion not supposed to be considered in the calendar.

🚨 Yesterday, our board voted to pass the FY22-23 Standard School Year Calendar. We have finally, for the first time ever, put one in place that begins to reflect this community: inclusive of Eid Al-Fitr, Eid Al-Adha, Orthodox Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Veterans Day, and Lunar New Year. 🙌🏻🙌🏼🙌🏽🙌🏾🙌🏿

Indeed, it is an E Pluribus Unum project. Like this nation, our community calendar requires unity and collective power to achieve. It remains in need of continuous improvement and involves every single one of us to build “out of many, one.” These are the values I grew with and will never give up on.

Calendars structure our time. They schedule our priorities. I am proud that everyone came together this year to pass a calendar that:

✅ Centers student achievement and instruction time
✅ Supports student and staff mental health through caring culture
✅ Minimizes disruption for families and students with disabilities
✅ Increases planning time for overworked staff
✅ Expands opportunities for staff development to respect the profession after years of cutbacks
✅ Reduces operational disruption for families
✅ Thinks more creatively about how we retain and recruit a premier workforce

To our dear bus drivers: we are not done yet. Those two days must be made up for, and the budget conversation remains ongoing to ensure this is the case. A working group that focuses on your concern will be meeting before the budget vote, and I commit to bringing an amendment if the promised correction is not made. Please review my comments from last night for more details: youtube.com/watch?v=yG0DJqAOH0U&t=4835s

Many may not realize that this win came only after a grueling two years of work– building coalitions with community partners, investing in interfaith relationships, deliberating to bring creative solutions that meet the needs of a vast array of constituent groups, and intentionally elevating the voices of those who are often unseen.

On the campaign trail, I used to share this as a “pie in the sky” dream of something I might try starting conversations around.

Today, it is a reality.

💪 Let this be a lesson that we must never allow those who seek to divide us claim our narrative.
💪 Let it be a reminder that, even if we are not successful the first time, we must keep on, and we must continue the fight.
💪 Let it be a permanent example that we are more powerful when we are together than when we are apart, and that EVERYbody wins when we work to construct, to build, and to improve upon, rather than to simply divide and destroy.
We win when we lead with compassion, and sometimes we win bigger when we bring others along with us.

Indeed, it is befitting that yesterday was also Holocaust Remembrance Day. We think such human disasters could never happen again, but we forget that they don’t arise overnight.

🌎 Teaching our children the realities of our past and exposing them to the many beliefs, practices, and worldviews of their neighbors help us cultivate a more peaceful world that can come together. Reaching this goal doesn’t come from merely telling one another to have empathy. It requires intentionally teaching our children about our varied beliefs and establishing comfort around our differences as we bring them to the table unapologetically.

🌏 Recognizing days that matter to all of our community members is part of opening space for precisely that.

🌍 Through authentic understanding, we can *actually* see past our differences and reflect on the meaningful ways they reflect human experiences, building an empathy muscle that taps into our deeper humanity. The ability to do this makes it much more difficult to set us apart. It makes the plights of every one of us personal to the rest, and it is where I find my motivation to advance equity and inclusion at all costs.

Make no mistake– this is no easy task. In the toughest of times during this journey, I have challenged myself to remain steadfast towards this goal. I have sought comfort and inspiration from reminders in my own faith, which I will continue to carry forward as we lead ahead:

“O you who have believed, be constantly upright for God, witnesses with equity, and let not antagonism of a people provoke you to not do justice. Do justice; that (Literally: it) is nearer to piety. And be pious to God, surely God is Ever-Cognizant of whatever you do” (5:8).

🤝 Let’s keep the movement for a more equitable and inclusive future alive.

➡️ As much as I try, I cannot continue this work alone. Please support my ability to keep fighting: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/fairfaxfighters

Why oh why did you dems elect her in the first place???

Please start researching your candidates. You had plenty of strong options that you could have put forth instead of her, plus at least one R who was an infinitely better choice.