Why does FCPS have all these random days of week off???

[Anonymous]

First time middle school parent here. I am welcoming the 4 day weeks because my new middle schooler has to be up at 6 am on school days! At least the extra days off give him a chance to rest. But I understand how annoying the disruptions are. I think there are only two full weeks in September and then not any full weeks until December!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was the reason for Friday being off?

State law. Labor day must be a 4 day weekend to appease the tourism lobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What was the reason for Friday being off?

Fri, Nov. 11 is Veterans Day. We have that full day off for the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because religion is dictating public school calendars.

Yup - specifically the Christian religion - Easter Break, Christmas Break disguised as spring break and winter break. LOL

Spring break is now the 1st week in April always. No longer tied to Easter (thank goodness, should have been this way for years).

[Anonymous]

Because the school.board doesn't actually care about education.

[Anonymous]

I’d love to move winter break to not coincide with Christmas. Travel would be so much cheaper. Give the kids the 25th as the federal holiday but move the two weeks to early January instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The first Wednesday in October is also no school.

Op here. Totally missed this one! This is so ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please excuse us for being Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim. PLEASE excuse us for not demanding one week off for our largest holiday and then another two week holiday for another big holiday like Christians do. EXCUSE US.

#ignorantwhitechristianskindofsuck

I'm not christian. I just think it's infuriating that I can't teach a full week of school for half the year because of religious holidays. In public (aka non religious) school.

If achoolw as in session those days you'd get mostly substitutes so not a real school day anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please excuse us for being Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim. PLEASE excuse us for not demanding one week off for our largest holiday and then another two week holiday for another big holiday like Christians do. EXCUSE US.

#ignorantwhitechristianskindofsuck

If you need religious holidays off, go to a religious schools. Keep religious calendar out of public schools. Xmas is a federal holiday so part of fed calendar. All other Christian holidays are Sundays and not a school day off. And the gripe about Xmas is silly. 75% of the country celebrates it. That’s an overwhelming majority so we should rightly plan around staffing and student shortages.

Having Eid, Diwali and high holidays off is ridiculous. Fed holidays and only fed days should be observed

Teachers and students can observe their religious holidays as appropriate. Which they do and request time off. School systems decide to close the whole systems for some of the days as it is too hard to find that many substitutes and have a lot of kids miss school. If you want fewer if those days off, move to a less diverse area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have been a million calendar threads. Parents were surveyed. Clearly you didn’t want what others did.

+1, already discussed numerous times

+1,000. Move on already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have been a million calendar threads. Parents were surveyed. Clearly you didn’t want what others did.

+1, already discussed numerous times

I am only just seeing the calendar now. I can't believe we have 3 Mondays off in October.

Why? You didn’t bother to look at it. It’s been available. So sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please excuse us for being Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim. PLEASE excuse us for not demanding one week off for our largest holiday and then another two week holiday for another big holiday like Christians do. EXCUSE US.

#ignorantwhitechristianskindofsuck

I'm not christian. I just think it's infuriating that I can't teach a full week of school for half the year because of religious holidays. In public (aka non religious) school.

But it really isn’t the religious holidays causing this. It is the number of teacher workdays. Fairfax has way more than most school districts. If they changed the schedule to accommodate the holidays but made changes to other TWD to create more full weeks, no one would complain.

They should have done the following:
Made Columbus Day a school day, Made Veteran’s Day a School Day, Moved End of Q1 to where Election Day is and make that Mon and Tues TWD. That would gain more full weeks.

Next year will be better because Rosh Hashanah and Diwali fall on a weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please excuse us for being Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim. PLEASE excuse us for not demanding one week off for our largest holiday and then another two week holiday for another big holiday like Christians do. EXCUSE US.

#ignorantwhitechristianskindofsuck

If you need religious holidays off, go to a religious schools. Keep religious calendar out of public schools.[b] Xmas is a federal holiday so part of fed calendar. All other Christian holidays are Sundays and not a school day off.And the gripe about Xmas is silly. 75% of the country celebrates it. That’s an overwhelming majority so we should rightly plan around staffing and student shortages. [b]

Having Eid, Diwali and high holidays off is ridiculous. Fed holidays and only fed days should be observed

Christians always say this. How conveeeeenient for you.

Go ahead, deny celebrating Christmas because it’s anonymous. Liar.

Other people are getting school observance of their holidays too now. It’s overdue. You don’t like it. Too damn bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please excuse us for being Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim. PLEASE excuse us for not demanding one week off for our largest holiday and then another two week holiday for another big holiday like Christians do. EXCUSE US.

#ignorantwhitechristianskindofsuck

If you need religious holidays off, go to a religious schools. Keep religious calendar out of public schools. Xmas is a federal holiday so part of fed calendar. All other Christian holidays are Sundays and not a school day off. And the gripe about Xmas is silly. 75% of the country celebrates it. That’s an overwhelming majority so we should rightly plan around staffing and student shortages.

Having Eid, Diwali and high holidays off is ridiculous. Fed holidays and only fed days should be observed

Teachers and students can observe their religious holidays as appropriate. Which they do and request time off. School systems decide to close the whole systems for some of the days as it is too hard to find that many substitutes and have a lot of kids miss school. If you want fewer if those days off, move to a less diverse area.

I’m not moving. I’m voting. I don’t think this board will last much longer. And the idea that there are massive teacher shortages on Diwali or high holidays is just wrong. Last year they tried to add Day of the Dead to observed days, too, which is just stupid. This is virtue signaling and no more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because religion is dictating public school calendars.

Yup - specifically the Christian religion - Easter Break, Christmas Break disguised as spring break and winter break. LOL

Spring break is now the 1st week in April always. No longer tied to Easter (thank goodness, should have been this way for years).

This is not true or permanent hence the calendar surveys every year. It will align to other counties which it should.