The number of student holidays is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

Nope! I use every single one of those “days off” to grade and catch up. It’s hard to get planning and grading done in the 45 minutes a day I get to prep. Those “days off” make me a better teacher.

Give me a break. Grade? I get it for HS but ES gets nothing to "grade" . The whole system is a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

See, I don't get this. Kids love not going to school and playing video games all day, but that doesn't mean it will help their academic progress. I have always found the days off to be incredibly disruptive to my kids, especially my one child with ADHD who absolutely needs a struct routine.

My kids hate them. No kid loves them unless they have a SAHM parent who can take them to play. Most of us are just piecing together a plan to keep them sane and not fighting with one another or entertained. Everyone prefers routine.

Even as a SAHM my kids do better with routine. There’s so many days off and a lot of them are early in the school year too! I try to find my ES age kids something to do on those days, a day camp or something so they aren’t at each others’ throats at home all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

Nope! I use every single one of those “days off” to grade and catch up. It’s hard to get planning and grading done in the 45 minutes a day I get to prep. Those “days off” make me a better teacher.

Give me a break. Grade? I get it for HS but ES gets nothing to "grade" . The whole system is a joke.

I don’t teach in FCPS, but have kids here. I teach in a different district. That said, we use the same system for report cards and it is the most awful backwards software you have seen since color monitors. Seriously we can’t even see which kids we are typing in or which standard. It is just a row of drop down arrows and you have to count up from the bottom to see which kid you are entering. They dont know how to freeze the name column. According to the tech department “many teachers have complained” but there you go.
Yes, I need an entire day because the software is just. That. Bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

Because many of us parents have to work and we need our kids in school while we work!

No matter how much you want it to be true, school is not daycare. Teachers are not daycare providers. You chose to have kids. You choose to work. It is 100% on you to figure this out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

See, I don't get this. Kids love not going to school and playing video games all day, but that doesn't mean it will help their academic progress. I have always found the days off to be incredibly disruptive to my kids, especially my one child with ADHD who absolutely needs a struct routine.

My kids hate them. No kid loves them unless they have a SAHM parent who can take them to play. Most of us are just piecing together a plan to keep them sane and not fighting with one another or entertained. Everyone prefers routine.

We both work but my kids love the breaks they get from the days off. I’d rather a longer school year with days off sprinkled in, too.

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent who loves the days off during the school year to break up the monotony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

See, I don't get this. Kids love not going to school and playing video games all day, but that doesn't mean it will help their academic progress. I have always found the days off to be incredibly disruptive to my kids, especially my one child with ADHD who absolutely needs a struct routine.

My kids hate them. No kid loves them unless they have a SAHM parent who can take them to play. Most of us are just piecing together a plan to keep them sane and not fighting with one another or entertained. Everyone prefers routine.

MS and HS kids are the ones that normally prefer them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not even about childcare. It's about routine and continuity and the upcoming school year is FULL of disruptive days off. It's ridiculous and someone should call attention to it. I recently wrote them all down in our calendar and the amount of 3 day weekends and random days off are just awful. I think October and April barely have any full weeks. January we all know is a disaster year after year. December is nothing. November has tons of days off. It really leaves so few full weeks.

sounds typical…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just up the student holidays. Ridiculous! Sorry, but we don’t need off for every religious holiday. Give them a fall break, winter break, February break and spring break, like other secular countries. And, let them out two weeks earlier in June. It has to be impossible to teach with all the sporadic days off.

Nope! I use every single one of those “days off” to grade and catch up. It’s hard to get planning and grading done in the 45 minutes a day I get to prep. Those “days off” make me a better teacher.

Give me a break. Grade? I get it for HS but ES gets nothing to "grade" . The whole system is a joke.

I don’t teach in FCPS, but have kids here. I teach in a different district. That said, we use the same system for report cards and it is the most awful backwards software you have seen since color monitors. Seriously we can’t even see which kids we are typing in or which standard. It is just a row of drop down arrows and you have to count up from the bottom to see which kid you are entering. They dont know how to freeze the name column. According to the tech department “many teachers have complained” but there you go.
Yes, I need an entire day because the software is just. That. Bad.

wow. That is just sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

Because many of us parents have to work and we need our kids in school while we work!

No matter how much you want it to be true, school is not daycare. Teachers are not daycare providers. You chose to have kids. You choose to work. It is 100% on you to figure this out.

I make it work, but i still think longer breaks instead of random days would be a better way to organize the calendar.

[Anonymous]

We are going back way too early. It's really hurting summer programs because there is no week in between summer sports and fall sports prep to vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

Because many of us parents have to work and we need our kids in school while we work!

No matter how much you want it to be true, school is not daycare. Teachers are not daycare providers. You chose to have kids. You choose to work. It is 100% on you to figure this out.

If only you teachers embraced this outlook yourselves during the first yr of the pandemic...but I can't teach! I have kids at home!!!

[Anonymous]

Five days off in October? Just take out Indigenous Peoples Day. How many people in FCPS actually celebrate this day for what the new name is for? And why do we need to get out on December 19th? The December break is too long. January 2nd? Why? Shorten it and take out Indigenous Peoples Day and we can start a week later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Five days off in October? Just take out Indigenous Peoples Day. How many people in FCPS actually celebrate this day for what the new name is for? And why do we need to get out on December 19th? The December break is too long. January 2nd? Why? Shorten it and take out Indigenous Peoples Day and we can start a week later.

The majority of people who take the survey want 2 weeks. That one is a losing battle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who believes their goal is to teach children?

People like you should be permanently banned from posting on dcum.

Good thing you’re not the moderator. (not PP)