2023 - 2024 school calendar

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m torn between the green and the orange choices.

Sorry- slip of the thumb here.

I would like for spring break to start April 1st. Come back on April 11th. The kids will be crazy for two days back in school but it will be a good transition back. For people who want cheaper plan tickets: get a plane ticket for April 2nd and you will have a great long spring break. Or just take the kids out of school for the full second week. I really want this because it’s too cold in late March for travel to Europe anyway. But that second week in April- is fantastic.

The green option is amazing except for the last week. If they were to take the PW day from February and May away- we could end school on June 14th. I don’t want to start in august to early and I am eyeing that short week in November for a quick trip to Mexico.

This is all a little tongue in cheek but yes, this would be the way I would do it. I really like the green one more than the orange one except for that last week. And moving spring break to make it longer would be a treat.

Why not do Green and 178 days to get rid of the last week?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City has it figured out.

McLean and Great Falls need to figure out how to leave Fairfax County and establish their own schools.

Please go but know that we'll take our police, fire, rec centers, libraries, and other public services away. I'm sure there are plenty of builders that would want to build the land those properties sit on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the options suck but esp the one that goes way late into June. No way!

Look at the calendar. It doesn’t actually go to the end of June for students. The last week is a fake week with Monday AND Wednesday off. Students will be done by June 14th.

It does screw over teachers who work over the summer. It pushes out their last day of work by 6 days.

I will quit. 100%. I’m already getting fed up, and they keep adding days. One of the benefits of teaching is having that break during the summer, and if they keep adding on days to each end of it, I’m done. I’ve had enough of the meetings and the professional development. Enough.

I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development.

DP
Well, the PD needs to be valuable. Sometimes it is, often it is not.

To the other PP, in my 30 years of teaching our contract was 194 days until this year when they added a day. I do agree though that I do not like starting at the end of the second week of August and ending June 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it really telling that they included Montgomery county as a 'surrounding jurisdiction' but did not include Falls Church City. I recognize that FCC is tiny- but it actually borders Fairfax and it adopted a much better calendar that did not include the additional religious holidays. It seems like they want to control the narrative that 'everyone' is including the holidays.

This was my exact first thought as well! Take a look at the plan for 2023-24. It’s so beautiful.

Very suspicious that it’s not even mentioned. I know the Falls Church City Calendar was discussed at length came up in at least one of the calendar focus groups. Someone at Gatehouse is intentionally trying to remove it from the discussion.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t30_0em4B90tiPFpskQUiCNiNPBfxZKW/view

That calendar is awesome. I would love if FCPS was done by June 7th.

I know people love the FCC calendar: but I’m going to point out that this calendar is most likely the reason why we have spring break during the last week of March- so that things match up.

Eff that.

The more I look at the options, if they gave us spring break for 7 days as another poster suggested, the Orange calendar would win hands down. Like without a doubt.

I’m so confused. Are you saying fcps has bad options bc of the fccps calendar and an effort to align? Fcps won’t even acknowledge that fccps exists and has a calendar, I’m sure they are not trying to align with it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City has it figured out.

McLean and Great Falls need to figure out how to leave Fairfax County and establish their own schools.

Maybe, but FAllS Church CITY also had school on JANUARY 2 this year. THe federal government holiday for New Years Day. They were the only district in 50 mile radius - or probably more that had school that day. Most of the teachers have kids going to school in other districts and had to find care or just took it as personal and many families just didn’t send their kids to school. So maybe they have it a little but more together, but plenty of those parents and teachers were unhappy- granted it was just ONE day compared to soooooooooo many random days for FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it really telling that they included Montgomery county as a 'surrounding jurisdiction' but did not include Falls Church City. I recognize that FCC is tiny- but it actually borders Fairfax and it adopted a much better calendar that did not include the additional religious holidays. It seems like they want to control the narrative that 'everyone' is including the holidays.

+1
There is no chance we have many staff commuting from MoCo to work in FCPS.

The McLean schools have plenty of MCPS teachers and staff.

Very odd that Falls Church City is ignored entirely.

Staff don’t live in Falls Church City and FCC students are not diverse like Fairfax County. The holidays are not relevant there.

If people need to do religious activities on a certain day, then I believe we all agree that they should be given latitude to complete assignments or take tests or whatever. But your religious activities are YOUR CHOICE. I don't see why EVERYONE must stop all education just because some choose religious activities over education. 🤷 We can support and accomodate those who want to prioritize their religious activities without stopping everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it really telling that they included Montgomery county as a 'surrounding jurisdiction' but did not include Falls Church City. I recognize that FCC is tiny- but it actually borders Fairfax and it adopted a much better calendar that did not include the additional religious holidays. It seems like they want to control the narrative that 'everyone' is including the holidays.

This was my exact first thought as well! Take a look at the plan for 2023-24. It’s so beautiful.

Very suspicious that it’s not even mentioned. I know the Falls Church City Calendar was discussed at length came up in at least one of the calendar focus groups. Someone at Gatehouse is intentionally trying to remove it from the discussion.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t30_0em4B90tiPFpskQUiCNiNPBfxZKW/view

That calendar is awesome. I would love if FCPS was done by June 7th.

I know people love the FCC calendar: but I’m going to point out that this calendar is most likely the reason why we have spring break during the last week of March- so that things match up.

Eff that.

The more I look at the options, if they gave us spring break for 7 days as another poster suggested, the Orange calendar would win hands down. Like without a doubt.

I’m so confused. Are you saying fcps has bad options bc of the fccps calendar and an effort to align? Fcps won’t even acknowledge that fccps exists and has a calendar, I’m sure they are not trying to align with it

The presentation puts that neighboring calendars are taken into consideration.

Let’s be clear here: the is way more transparent that FCC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m torn between the green and the orange choices.

Sorry- slip of the thumb here.

I would like for spring break to start April 1st. Come back on April 11th. The kids will be crazy for two days back in school but it will be a good transition back. For people who want cheaper plan tickets: get a plane ticket for April 2nd and you will have a great long spring break. Or just take the kids out of school for the full second week. I really want this because it’s too cold in late March for travel to Europe anyway. But that second week in April- is fantastic.

The green option is amazing except for the last week. If they were to take the PW day from February and May away- we could end school on June 14th. I don’t want to start in august to early and I am eyeing that short week in November for a quick trip to Mexico.

This is all a little tongue in cheek but yes, this would be the way I would do it. I really like the green one more than the orange one except for that last week. And moving spring break to make it longer would be a treat.

Why not do Green and 178 days to get rid of the last week?

I actually think part of that 180 is to adjust for inclement weather.

My thoughts are we should just say that if there are no snow days, those two days will be off and school will end early.

Regardless of that- I personally think the green calendar is more cohesive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m torn between the green and the orange choices.

Sorry- slip of the thumb here.

I would like for spring break to start April 1st. Come back on April 11th. The kids will be crazy for two days back in school but it will be a good transition back. For people who want cheaper plan tickets: get a plane ticket for April 2nd and you will have a great long spring break. Or just take the kids out of school for the full second week. I really want this because it’s too cold in late March for travel to Europe anyway. But that second week in April- is fantastic.

The green option is amazing except for the last week. If they were to take the PW day from February and May away- we could end school on June 14th. I don’t want to start in august to early and I am eyeing that short week in November for a quick trip to Mexico.

This is all a little tongue in cheek but yes, this would be the way I would do it. I really like the green one more than the orange one except for that last week. And moving spring break to make it longer would be a treat.

Why not do Green and 178 days to get rid of the last week?

I actually think part of that 180 is to adjust for inclement weather.

My thoughts are we should just say that if there are no snow days, those two days will be off and school will end early.

Regardless of that- I personally think the green calendar is more cohesive.

They offer 177 for the Purple option. The Green calendar would be the best they can do if they go to 177/178 for the three years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City has it figured out.

McLean and Great Falls need to figure out how to leave Fairfax County and establish their own schools.

Maybe, but FAllS Church CITY also had school on JANUARY 2 this year. THe federal government holiday for New Years Day. They were the only district in 50 mile radius - or probably more that had school that day. Most of the teachers have kids going to school in other districts and had to find care or just took it as personal and many families just didn’t send their kids to school. So maybe they have it a little but more together, but plenty of those parents and teachers were unhappy- granted it was just ONE day compared to soooooooooo many random days for FCPS.

FCCPS has a lot of issues. They took a step in the right direction by getting rid of the religious holidays for next year and releasing more than one year of the calendar. This thread highlights staff and community thoughts on Jan 2 and some other issues they face. They are not perfect either. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1103393.page#24063964

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falls Church City has it figured out.

McLean and Great Falls need to figure out how to leave Fairfax County and establish their own schools.

Maybe, but FAllS Church CITY also had school on JANUARY 2 this year. THe federal government holiday for New Years Day. They were the only district in 50 mile radius - or probably more that had school that day. Most of the teachers have kids going to school in other districts and had to find care or just took it as personal and many families just didn’t send their kids to school. So maybe they have it a little but more together, but plenty of those parents and teachers were unhappy- granted it was just ONE day compared to soooooooooo many random days for FCPS.

FCCPS has a lot of issues. They took a step in the right direction by getting rid of the religious holidays for next year and releasing more than one year of the calendar. This thread highlights staff and community thoughts on Jan 2 and some other issues they face. They are not perfect either. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1103393.page#24063964

Did they get rid of them for good? I think they just landed on the weekend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the options suck but esp the one that goes way late into June. No way!

Look at the calendar. It doesn’t actually go to the end of June for students. The last week is a fake week with Monday AND Wednesday off. Students will be done by June 14th.

It does screw over teachers who work over the summer. It pushes out their last day of work by 6 days.

I will quit. 100%. I’m already getting fed up, and they keep adding days. One of the benefits of teaching is having that break during the summer, and if they keep adding on days to each end of it, I’m done. I’ve had enough of the meetings and the professional development. Enough.

I don't think I want my child to have a teacher who doesn't see the value in professional development.

DP
Well, the PD needs to be valuable. Sometimes it is, often it is not.

To the other PP, in my 30 years of teaching our contract was 194 days until this year when they added a day. I do agree though that I do not like starting at the end of the second week of August and ending June 20.

Welcome to adulthood. I'm not sure why teachers -who I generally support- say things like this as if they should be exempt from things other professions have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m torn between the green and the orange choices.

Sorry- slip of the thumb here.

I would like for spring break to start April 1st. Come back on April 11th. The kids will be crazy for two days back in school but it will be a good transition back. For people who want cheaper plan tickets: get a plane ticket for April 2nd and you will have a great long spring break. Or just take the kids out of school for the full second week. I really want this because it’s too cold in late March for travel to Europe anyway. But that second week in April- is fantastic.

The green option is amazing except for the last week. If they were to take the PW day from February and May away- we could end school on June 14th. I don’t want to start in august to early and I am eyeing that short week in November for a quick trip to Mexico.

This is all a little tongue in cheek but yes, this would be the way I would do it. I really like the green one more than the orange one except for that last week. And moving spring break to make it longer would be a treat.

Why not do Green and 178 days to get rid of the last week?

I actually think part of that 180 is to adjust for inclement weather.

My thoughts are we should just say that if there are no snow days, those two days will be off and school will end early.

Regardless of that- I personally think the green calendar is more cohesive.

There is ZERO need for snow days. We don't have a need for them, from a weather perspective. And when we do, They can do asynchronous or virtual. And if the "but the snow days are so fun!" people want to play in the snow -and we would be one of those- the littles can just miss the day.

[Anonymous]

All you people saying that they wouldn’t be tying spring break to Easter were so wrong. You guys said it would remain the first week of April. I knew they’d go back to this! I called it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you people saying that they wouldn’t be tying spring break to Easter were so wrong. You guys said it would remain the first week of April. I knew they’d go back to this! I called it!

Because it aligns with the other districts and they “promised” we’d align. It’s probably the easiest break to alter.