Summer is getting shorter. Fix the 26-29 calendars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of us like a shorter summer. I like having fewer weeks of camp to arrange and pay for.

I wish they would go truly year round so that we have only had a month of summer, spring break was two weeks, there was a true fall break, etc.

DCPS intentionally seeks to keep summers shorter in order to keep kids occupied and reduce child are burden/costs on working parents.

-------------------
So people would be in school during 8 or 9 weeks of summer when they should be at the beach, camps on vacation etc.
------------------
Similar number of non school days except they have R/PD days and no school on election day. Is child care magically free on those days?
How about during a fall break and double spring break?
---------------------------------
Don't get me wrong I would not be against a two week spring break but 1 month of summer would be awful.

No one is on vacation or at the beach for 8-9 weeks of summer. And if they somehow are, they can go to the beach for 5 weeks in the summer, and go skiing for 3 weeks in january instead, or to the lake for 3 weeks in the fall, or to europe for 3 weeks in the spring.

+1, no one is suggesting getting rid of summer altogether. Most families have working parents. Most families can't do more than a week, *maybe* two weeks of vacation in the summer. The rest is childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.

But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Who exactly is going to provide camps for 3 weeks in the summer, 2 random weeks during the late winter (esp. when the camp can't be outside), etc.? Nobody will be there for your desired schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.

But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Who exactly is going to provide camps for 3 weeks in the summer, 2 random weeks during the late winter (esp. when the camp can't be outside), etc.? Nobody will be there for your desired schedule.

Trust me, the market will adapt - it is capitalism after all isn't it? Also, the PP said 6 weeks not 3 of summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.

But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Who exactly is going to provide camps for 3 weeks in the summer, 2 random weeks during the late winter (esp. when the camp can't be outside), etc.? Nobody will be there for your desired schedule.

Trust me, the market will adapt - it is capitalism after all isn't it? Also, the PP said 6 weeks not 3 of summer.

This. It wouldn't be 3 weeks in the summer -- camps would provide camp for 6 weeks and families would sign up for the number they needed. As it currently stands, most camps do not provide 10 weeks of camp in the summer and families are always having to supplement on either end.

Whenever DCPS is out, there are camps available. Our aftercare provider has spring break and day off camps. Our summer camps provide day off and spring break camps. Our kids sports and activities often provide day off and same day camps. Summer is actually the only time of the year where we don't have school but sometimes struggle to find childcare options, at the beginning and end of the summer. There were camps available the week of Christmas last year (not Christmas Day, but before and after). So yes, the market adapts and if there is demand, camps will happen.

[Anonymous]

seems like a lot of the staff PD days line up with long weekends. I'm guessing that not all staff have PD those days and find those times convenient for days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.
r
But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Some places have even longer summers than 10 weeks. When your in the middle of a tough winter you should especially long for a long summer. Gotta spend time outside when you can. If summer is shorter camps will be too. No camp runs the last week before school no matter how long summer is. So a 6 week summer means only 4 or 5 weeks of camps. Hardly any camps occur during other school breaks and single off days. A 10 week summer means 6-8 weeks of camp, 1-2 weeks vacation and possibly a week leftover for defusing for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like a shorter summer.

I want:
-Give kids two approved religious absences for religious observance.
-Fewer random days off
-a week long break in February
-a week long break in October (or fall)
-stop tying spring break to Easter. It wasn't tied with Easter until this group got released. The middle year is fine but the other two spring breaks are wrongly placed.
-no half days ever

They haven't had a half day since 2018 but unfortunately that extends the year and doesn't give off additional breaks either. With 180 days scheduled the year is longer to have 4 records days on non-student days than if they were doubled. If they went by hours they could avoid half days and still not extend things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:seems like a lot of the staff PD days line up with long weekends. I'm guessing that not all staff have PD those days and find those times convenient for days off.

All staff have PD, but a lot just take leave since they are rarely worth it.

I think the last set of calendars they said they prioritized bundling them with other days off to give longer weekends for families, sort of in lieu of February break you get a 5-day weekend to work with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.
r
But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Some places have even longer summers than 10 weeks. When your in the middle of a tough winter you should especially long for a long summer. Gotta spend time outside when you can. If summer is shorter camps will be too. No camp runs the last week before school no matter how long summer is. So a 6 week summer means only 4 or 5 weeks of camps. Hardly any camps occur during other school breaks and single off days. A 10 week summer means 6-8 weeks of camp, 1-2 weeks vacation and possibly a week leftover for defusing for school.

Do you live in DC? Because this is not true at all. There are plenty of options for day off camps.

[Anonymous]

My last kid graduates this year, so ultimately I don’t have a dog in this fight.

But I’m pretty sure the premise of this post is wrong. DCPS has had 9 or 10 week summer breaks for as long as my kids have been in DCPS (more than 15 years). The calendars used to end earlier in June and return earlier in August. Then they shifted with Ferebee to later in June and later in August. Beyond that, all of the changes are within the school year. (It looks like they are trying to shift back again to a week earlier in June and a week earlier in August.)

So I’m not sure how meaningful this debate about summer length actually is—it’s the one thing DCPS has been consistent about for a pretty long time!

[Anonymous]

Meh as a teacher? I’d like a 6 week summer 3 week winter break and a 1 week February break. Personally I wouldn’t mind coming back in early August.

But I’m sure some teachers would hate it or parents -some may love it. We ca never make everyone happy.

All I know is I do not want a 9-10 week summer break…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.

But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Who exactly is going to provide camps for 3 weeks in the summer, 2 random weeks during the late winter (esp. when the camp can't be outside), etc.? Nobody will be there for your desired schedule.

Trust me, the market will adapt - it is capitalism after all isn't it? Also, the PP said 6 weeks not 3 of summer.

How is that going to happen?
--------------------------------
A 6 week summer does NOT mean 6 weeks of camp. No high schooler is going to want to be a counselor if camp is EVERY week of the summer. A 6 week summer most likely means 4 weeks of camp. England has this year round schedule with 6 weeks of summer but its climate is apparently a lot different. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/q9crjn/do_you_think_summer_camps_could_be_successful_in/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer, longer fall and spring breaks, get rid of the random PD days and replace with a week of PD at the end of the school year.

Learning loss over the summer is real. A month of camp is reasonable (or 2-3 weeks of camp plus a family holiday for those who can do it). 10 weeks off is not and results in boredom, backsliding, and is a major financial hit for families that comes all at once instead of spread out throughout the year. It also creates a planning stress because no camp lasts all summer, many families have to piecemeal the summer together.

Having longer breaks throughout the year combats fatigue and boredom for kids and teachers, getting rid of the lengthy summer break facilitates both teaching and learning.

If one month seems too short for people, then let's try 6 weeks of summer.
r
But OP wanting to lengthen summer flies in the face of both family practicalities and everything we know about learning and retention.

Some places have even longer summers than 10 weeks. When your in the middle of a tough winter you should especially long for a long summer. Gotta spend time outside when you can. If summer is shorter camps will be too. No camp runs the last week before school no matter how long summer is. So a 6 week summer means only 4 or 5 weeks of camps. Hardly any camps occur during other school breaks and single off days. A 10 week summer means 6-8 weeks of camp, 1-2 weeks vacation and possibly a week leftover for defusing for school.

Do you live in DC? Because this is not true at all. There are plenty of options for day off camps.

Not the same as summer camps since the weather doesn't allow it in winter.

[Anonymous]

Also, once you get past camp-as-daycare, the market will not adapt for sleepaway and specialty non-local camps, which are what most families are looking from late elementary school onwards. So, yes, I will be able to get my kid a day or a week of quasi-daycare summer camp, but my kid will not be able to do CTY or Interlochen or just the normal YMCA sleepaway camp they've been attending for years if just DC totally changes its schedule.

[Anonymous]

6 week summer please.