Explain ridiculously early 2023/24 start date?

[Anonymous]

My kinderg hasn't turned 5 yet - bday end of Aug. Wished school started after Labor Day like the good ol' days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have friends in California that started school yesterday - so the trend overall is earlier start dates.

Most places in the US start mid August and end late May/early June.

This. I once saw a graph of the US and when school started. The Majority of districts started Before Labor Day in August. The districts that start after Labor Day tend to be in the northeast.

I grew up in NY and school started after Labor Day and ended in late June. I prefer August start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am probably in the minority here. I would rather have a shorter summer and more days off during the school year. Kids and teachers need some extra time to re-fuel and catch up with work. Those extra days spread over the school year also give families more options to schedule doctors appts without taking kids out of school. Oh, then there is also that pesky “summer slide”.

I taught for many years, and yes, a lot of those PD sessions were a waste of time, but they at least gave teachers a day off from lesson planning. A happier, relaxed teacher is a better teacher.

Also, families could schedule vacations in the off season. I kept hearing about so many stories this summer of families in Italy struggling in the heat! Not us! We cannot afford those trips.

But we are having the worst of both worlds with a short summer PLUS no extra consolidated breaks beyond the winter and spring breaks that we always had. It's just random 3 day weekends or a lone Wednesday off.

[Anonymous]

An August start is fine, but there needs to be an earlier end to the year. This school calendar is way too long, and it includes a ridiculous amount of PD days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS sports tryouts and sports have already begun for my 2 oldest.

For us, school has "started" already (can't plan vacations, have to be home at X time, back and forth to school, etc).

So yea, a super early school date pushes everything super forward

Right. People who like the early August start date and don't mind short summers likely have young kids still. Once you get to high school age you see how much sports and music and internships and camps cut into the summer. Not to mention trying to get a summer job when you're only out of school for 9 weeks. If your kid does a spring sport or swimming they are likely going through the end of July. And if they do a fall sport or marching band they are starting back up now. Hopefully they don't do both!

[Anonymous]

I hate it. One week before Labor Day is fine. Beyond that and you pretty much lose August as a vacation month. Same for June. Beyond 1.5 weeks takes away that month as a vacation month. Plus the water in the pools is colder then. With all the activities starting in August, it makes sense to have 8 weeks free of activities for families to actually have a break from school.

[Anonymous]

Why can't these AP tests be moved to May? Why are they so early? Everything is digital now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An August start is fine, but there needs to be an earlier end to the year. This school calendar is way too long, and it includes a ridiculous amount of PD days.

Yes, our ES didn't even grade any work after the SOL's were over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The early start date is ideal.

Unfortunately, the school board failed to balance tge early start date with a corresponding early June end date.

23/24 calendar is a disaster. Hopefully the new school board will throw it out and fix it with a start date around the 3rd week of August and ending the first week of June.

It is not ideal. There was NO ISSUE with the Post-Labor Day start, as it has been forever up to a few years ago. I have a kid in AP classes, as well, and there is a lot of wasted time in those classes. There is no need for a few extra days to prepare them. GMAFB.

The one major beef I have had with EVERY FCPS School board, not jsut this one, is how they take what should be relatively uncomplicated -an EFFING school calendar- and make it stupidly complicate and seemingly arbitrary every single year. Thank effing god I only have a couple years of this stupidity left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS sports tryouts and sports have already begun for my 2 oldest.

For us, school has "started" already (can't plan vacations, have to be home at X time, back and forth to school, etc).

So yea, a super early school date pushes everything super forward

Right. People who like the early August start date and don't mind short summers likely have young kids still. Once you get to high school age you see how much sports and music and internships and camps cut into the summer. Not to mention trying to get a summer job when you're only out of school for 9 weeks. If your kid does a spring sport or swimming they are likely going through the end of July. And if they do a fall sport or marching band they are starting back up now. Hopefully they don't do both!

Yep. Fall sports started YESTERDAY, July 31. And don't say "don't do sports" b/c we can easily say "Don't do AP classes." And sports is just as valid -for enrichment, exercise, staying out of trouble- as School. And my kid, ftr, does both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't these AP tests be moved to May? Why are they so early? Everything is digital now.

AP exams are internationally administered tests that take place at the exact same time all over the world.

Each test has only one date/time and one make up date.

They occur the first two weeks of May since the majority of US schools are finished by mid to late May.

Very few schools in the US go into June.

If your kid is at a DOD school in Japan, and AP chem is scheduled for noon eastern time on May 3rd, then your kid will sit for the AP chem exam starting at midnight to 3:00 AM on May 4th.

FCPS is definitely the outlier on its calendar. They need to norm it to August/early June or Memorial Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS sports tryouts and sports have already begun for my 2 oldest.

For us, school has "started" already (can't plan vacations, have to be home at X time, back and forth to school, etc).

So yea, a super early school date pushes everything super forward

Right. People who like the early August start date and don't mind short summers likely have young kids still. Once you get to high school age you see how much sports and music and internships and camps cut into the summer. Not to mention trying to get a summer job when you're only out of school for 9 weeks. If your kid does a spring sport or swimming they are likely going through the end of July. And if they do a fall sport or marching band they are starting back up now. Hopefully they don't do both!

Yep. Fall sports started YESTERDAY, July 31. And don't say "don't do sports" b/c we can easily say "Don't do AP classes." And sports is just as valid -for enrichment, exercise, staying out of trouble- as School. And my kid, ftr, does both.

If FCPS would do a normal calendar and end at Memorial day or the first week of June like most states, then the August sports starts date would not be an issue.

The issue is fcps not ending school until late June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am probably in the minority here. I would rather have a shorter summer and more days off during the school year. Kids and teachers need some extra time to re-fuel and catch up with work. Those extra days spread over the school year also give families more options to schedule doctors appts without taking kids out of school. Oh, then there is also that pesky “summer slide”.

I taught for many years, and yes, a lot of those PD sessions were a waste of time, but they at least gave teachers a day off from lesson planning. A happier, relaxed teacher is a better teacher.

Also, families could schedule vacations in the off season. I kept hearing about so many stories this summer of families in Italy struggling in the heat! Not us! We cannot afford those trips.

+1

My preferred schedule would be a 6 week summer and two weeks between each quarter and a 3/4 day weekend in the middle of the quarter.

[Anonymous]

IF you want

Full 2 weeks + for Xmas break, (used to be 10 days, now it's more like 14-16 days)

+

Wed-Fri off at Tgiving (used to be only Thurs. and Fri. off with early release on Wed.)

+

A bunch of religious days off

+

ALL the federal holidays off

+

Full week for spring break

... well, at some point you are going to have start earlier and end later just to fit in something close to the required amount of hours.

You don't get to eat your piece of cake and save it at the same time. So, we start earlier and end later with a lot of messed up weeks in between.

[Anonymous]

The problem is ending school in June, not starting sports in August.