School calendar sucks
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Anonymous
Yes. No school on 1/20 and 1/29. |
Anonymous
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Problems with the 2025-26 calendar:
* The third quarter's 47-day length compared to other quarters' 42-45 days creates an imbalanced instructional period, potentially leading to rushed curriculum coverage or uneven pacing of material * Professional workdays (PW) are frequently placed mid-week rather than on Mondays or Fridays, creating choppy weeks that interrupt learning flow and complicate family scheduling * The February calendar shows particularly poor planning with multiple interrupted weeks due to holidays and professional workdays, making it difficult to maintain consistent instruction during this period * The placement of religious and cultural observance days sometimes creates single school days within a week, which typically result in low attendance and reduced instructional effectiveness * The end of the school year in June includes several partial weeks, making it challenging to maintain student engagement and complete final assessments effectively * The calendar shows numerous two-hour early release days scattered throughout the year, which can be particularly challenging for working parents who need to arrange alternative childcare * The clustering of holidays and professional development days in certain months (like November) creates extended periods of interrupted instruction, while other months have minimal breaks, leading to uneven distribution of rest periods throughout the academic year |
Anonymous
| The calendar is designed to celebrate diversity. Not facilitate learning. |
Anonymous
Yeahhhhh most people aren’t going to care. They have those days off because it was hard to fully staff the buses, cafeteria, instructional aides etc. with so many employees calling off for religious reasons. |
Anonymous
The data from the school board showed less than 1% of employees were absent on Eid |
Anonymous
And, employees will be permitted take both the original and the new holiday date off if they request it. |
Anonymous
Are you looking at the right calendar? https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-02/2025-2026-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf |
Anonymous
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Back in 2021-22 the calendar started on Aug 23 (Aug 16 returning teachers, Aug 9 new teachers) and ended on June 10.
Still way too long for 1st year teachers but nearly two weeks shorter than 2025-26 which starts Aug 18 (Aug 11 returning teachers, Aug 5 new teachers) and goes ALL the way to June 17 which is 10 months on the dot for students (10.25 months for returning teachers and 10.5 months for 1st year teachers). YIKES! If next year's calendar was like 2021-22 the last day would be June 5. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/2021-22-standard-school-calendar.pdf https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/2025-2026-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf |
Anonymous
Compared to neighboring districts, FCPS teachers have 1.5-2.5 shorter summers. That’s real money for teachers who need to supplement their incomes. |
Anonymous
Eye roll. Nothing will change. |
Anonymous
+1 We are stuck with it for next year. Best case they realize what a disaster it is to hand out holidays like candy and dial it back to a saner amount in 2026-2027 |
Anonymous
2026-2027 starts a week later (Aug 24) but still ends June 17. https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2024-06/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf |
Anonymous
Yup, as bad as it might be, at least we don’t have to live through the board taking months to decide on a one-year calendar like we did before they approved three years at one time. It was so sloppy and embarrassing. Hopefully they will cut the extra holidays next time they take on a calendar. And hopefully they will coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions to move spring break to a fixed week instead of tied to Easter. |
Anonymous
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We get 180 days of school. Personally, I would like to switch to year-round school with 3 weeks between each quarter and a 5 week summer.
A 10-11 week summer is too long. Swim team has always happened just fine even while kids are in school. Teens can have "summer" jobs even while they are in school. Camps and drop-in child care can happen on random school days off just like it happens in the summer. 180 days of school is all you're going to get. Why do you all get so riled up with a shorter summer? |
Anonymous
They are so lucky that 2026 is a year where Labor Day bumps back (53 weeks after Labor Day 2025 instead of 52) or summer 2026 would be very short. In 2026-27 certain holidays (Rosh Hashana, Diwali, Lunar New Year) are on the weekend so it isn't historically long like 2025-26. |