Will voting out the school board make the school calendar sane again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the O days were a great compromise without having so few full weeks. Students need full 5 day weeks for routine and consistency. If more holidays need to be observed - put the teacher work days around them as well. As a teacher - I would rather have one long weekend that includes a work day and a religious holiday than 2 weeks of 4 day weeks. The one week difference is not a huge change in what is in my grade book and I can easily make changes after the bulk of the work is done for grading.

O days were a complete waste of everyone’s time. I love the current schedule. People have lots of time (we are talking years!) to plan for these days off.

As a teacher - I am speaking in support of full day weeks, not the childcare part of it. For my Monday students there will be 3 out of 5 weeks (including next week) that I do not see those students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Do you have a job? If I have to explain this to you, you clearly do not have younger children and work full time.

NP, but don't you have childcare if you have a job? We are a dual parents working outside the home family and used SACC and they were almost always open on the single days off. The local martial arts places do the same. What kind of childcare are you using that you don't have coverage for these days?

I will agree, though, that I don't like how short the summers have gotten. Makes it hard for high school kids to get jobs, attend camps, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Well, Christian holidays weren't recognized (until they added the Orthodox ones with all the others), so you're just wrong.

If you want religious holidays, go private.

The major Christian holidays are absolutely recognized. That's why we have spring break the week leading up to Easter (Holy Week) and winter break around Christmastime. I don't need to go private for religious holidays. They're already included in the FCPS calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a former teacher, kids need consistency and five day weeks. Period.

Sure tell that to the bathroom nothing burger moms4liberty crowd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the O days were a great compromise without having so few full weeks. Students need full 5 day weeks for routine and consistency. If more holidays need to be observed - put the teacher work days around them as well. As a teacher - I would rather have one long weekend that includes a work day and a religious holiday than 2 weeks of 4 day weeks. The one week difference is not a huge change in what is in my grade book and I can easily make changes after the bulk of the work is done for grading.

O days were a complete waste of everyone’s time. I love the current schedule. People have lots of time (we are talking years!) to plan for these days off.

As a teacher - I am speaking in support of full day weeks, not the childcare part of it. For my Monday students there will be 3 out of 5 weeks (including next week) that I do not see those students.

Gotcha. I'm not familiar with classes that happen just one day a week. Is that in elementary school? I know for the high schools, they just follow the A/B calendar, so no classes are necessarily "missed."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

If you want religious holidays, then go private. If you want a different calendar, feel free to move to another country.

FCPS tried to move Spring Break from Easter but if failed horribly. Christmas is one day and not a specific school holiday. Feel free to advocate for a shorter or different Winter Break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Do you have a job? If I have to explain this to you, you clearly do not have younger children and work full time.

NP, but don't you have childcare if you have a job? We are a dual parents working outside the home family and used SACC and they were almost always open on the single days off. The local martial arts places do the same. What kind of childcare are you using that you don't have coverage for these days?

I will agree, though, that I don't like how short the summers have gotten. Makes it hard for high school kids to get jobs, attend camps, etc.

First, it's a pain to plan around these days. If you think it's not, you haven't experienced it. I gave up. I am exhausted from all the planning as I do enough of that for summer. Second, I want my child doing school work during the week, not playing Minecraft or watching shows or doing nothing productive/constructive. Third, the available camps are few and far between, and certainly there aren't any for the early releases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Well, Christian holidays weren't recognized (until they added the Orthodox ones with all the others), so you're just wrong.

If you want religious holidays, go private.

The major Christian holidays are absolutely recognized. That's why we have spring break the week leading up to Easter (Holy Week) and winter break around Christmastime. I don't need to go private for religious holidays. They're already included in the FCPS calendar.

Here's an idea: Maybe they shouldn't be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Well, Christian holidays weren't recognized (until they added the Orthodox ones with all the others), so you're just wrong.

If you want religious holidays, go private.

The major Christian holidays are absolutely recognized. That's why we have spring break the week leading up to Easter (Holy Week) and winter break around Christmastime. I don't need to go private for religious holidays. They're already included in the FCPS calendar.

Easter - nope. Christmas - nope.

You couldn't be more wrong. Too bad. If you were in school more, you might actually know something. But you'd rather be off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

So, what do you want? This calendar is not working. Please note the teacher who posted above. I assume she is a specialist of some type. We have so many different religions and cultures. The only ones that should be off are the ones where a very large number of kids are out of school.

Most of this country still observes the Christian holidays--if not religiously, they do culturally. Gee, my Indian neighbor puts up a Christmas tree in his family room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

Well, Christian holidays weren't recognized (until they added the Orthodox ones with all the others), so you're just wrong.

If you want religious holidays, go private.

The major Christian holidays are absolutely recognized. That's why we have spring break the week leading up to Easter (Holy Week) and winter break around Christmastime. I don't need to go private for religious holidays. They're already included in the FCPS calendar.

Here's an idea: Maybe they shouldn't be?

They aren't, so we don't have to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's so insane about the school year calendar? I think it's great that we're observing religious holidays beyond the Christian ones.

We don't observe the Christian holidays.

Easter is on a sunday. So it is never observed by FCPS.

Christmas is a federal holdiay, on a week that every industry in our area including most of the federal government shuts down.

Christmas would be off no matter what, for secular reasons.

It’s no coincidence that spring break always falls the week before Easter, or that winter break aligns with Christmas. The fact that many Christian holidays already fall on weekends, and are still widely observed, shows how deeply our western calendars are structured around Christian traditions. And I understand why; the country was founded on those roots. But centuries later, we’ve become a diverse population, and it’s time our schedules reflected that.

If you want religious holidays, then go private. If you want a different calendar, feel free to move to another country.

FCPS tried to move Spring Break from Easter but if failed horribly. Christmas is one day and not a specific school holiday. Feel free to advocate for a shorter or different Winter Break.

-Incorrect. At the non secular private schools they have breaks into between quarter with the standard "winter break" being around a Christian holiday. Spring break was 2 weeks and always in March, school year finished up late May. Great schedule!
You were probably thinking only religious schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And when will the opportunity arise?

Unfortunately not this year.

They were voted in after this type of calendar had already been in place. They were just elected in 2023! You have to wait until 2027 but, unless you organize at a stupendous level and make sure the Rs don’t nominate nuts again, the existing board or their successors will win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a former teacher, kids need consistency and five day weeks. Period.

If kids needed consistency, they'd be in school every day. There's barely any difference between 4 and 5 days. In the end they get 180 days of instruction. What would be really helpful would be to have a shorter winter holiday so that kids don't have two weeks off immediately before their exams. It's absurd.