Is there ANY way to put the genie back in the bottle re: all of the religious holidays off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is like the 3rd active thread on this topic right now. The others didn’t suffice?

Seriously. It is what it is. My high school kids really like it. It’s actually a nice regular break during those stressful years. Clearly people have found a way to get childcare so just stick with that. Constant threads on DCUM will never get it to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're not in the minority. It's insane.

Anyone who approved this calendar should be fired.

Remove all religious holidays from the calendar.

Including Christmas and Easter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, I love the days off and what they represent. Most secondary parents like them, whether they care about the holidays off or not.

Good to know you don't value education. Most. parents and teacher do.

NP. We do value education. Our kids are taking a lot of AP classes and are using these upcoming 3 days off to prepare. (Monday, Fri and 4/21) We don’t need childcare anymore. We understand why you are so frustrated because it disrupted our kids terribly when they were little as well. Now they can use that time to prepare and study, more similar to what they will do in the near future in college. In college they are not sitting in classrooms for 7 hours M-F.

+1 this exactly. We absolutely love it for our high schooler. They are going to be well prepared for their AP exams!

Gee. If they do better with time off why bother to go to school? Please clarify.

They do better with large chunks of time studying the vast amount of material at home. The AP exam covers the whole year. Rather than sitting through PE class, advisory class or some bs elective and then getting home at 3:30 pm exhausted and then having to study on top of regular homework. If they have the day off, they can study 10-1 for an AP exam. They need big chunks of time to study for the exam that is hard to get when they are at school all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, I love the days off and what they represent. Most secondary parents like them, whether they care about the holidays off or not.

Good to know you don't value education. Most. parents and teacher do.

NP. We do value education. Our kids are taking a lot of AP classes and are using these upcoming 3 days off to prepare. (Monday, Fri and 4/21) We don’t need childcare anymore. We understand why you are so frustrated because it disrupted our kids terribly when they were little as well. Now they can use that time to prepare and study, more similar to what they will do in the near future in college. In college they are not sitting in classrooms for 7 hours M-F.

+1 this exactly. We absolutely love it for our high schooler. They are going to be well prepared for their AP exams!

Gee. If they do better with time off why bother to go to school? Please clarify.

Do you understand how an AP class even works? They get assigned a large amount of reading to do outside of class and then have to take notes on that reading (history). These kids haven’t even been taught how to take notes on the assigned history reading. It’s incredibly time consuming. They then have to study the entire year’s worth of material for a huge test in early May. It’s a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, I love the days off and what they represent. Most secondary parents like them, whether they care about the holidays off or not.

Good to know you don't value education. Most. parents and teacher do.

NP. We do value education. Our kids are taking a lot of AP classes and are using these upcoming 3 days off to prepare. (Monday, Fri and 4/21) We don’t need childcare anymore. We understand why you are so frustrated because it disrupted our kids terribly when they were little as well. Now they can use that time to prepare and study, more similar to what they will do in the near future in college. In college they are not sitting in classrooms for 7 hours M-F.

+1 this exactly. We absolutely love it for our high schooler. They are going to be well prepared for their AP exams!

Gee. If they do better with time off why bother to go to school? Please clarify.

Do you understand how an AP class even works? They get assigned a large amount of reading to do outside of class and then have to take notes on that reading (history). These kids haven’t even been taught how to take notes on the assigned history reading. It’s incredibly time consuming. They then have to study the entire year’s worth of material for a huge test in early May. It’s a lot.

My child began college as an academic sophomore because of the number of AP classes she took. That was before FCPS went to four day weeks. Obviously, she did very well on the AP tests or she would not have received credit for the classes. She went to class, participated in extracurricular activities, and did great --without tons of extra time at home to study.
If your child's teachers are not preparing them, there is a problem with them.

[Anonymous]

I think it's wild and we celebrate some of the holidays added. Just make it so there aren't exams those days and be accommodating, but no need for everyone to have to have the day off.

[Anonymous]

The Monday after Spring Break is so teachers can do 3rd quarter report cards. There’s always a teacher workday after each quarter. But I’m not sure about Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, no. One problem is that "floating holidays" or religious leave would cause a ton of operational issues. The other problem is that elementary parents are the only ones who are really bothered by the calendar. I'm a secondary teacher and it's not something anyone complains about. High schoolers and their parents love it because the kids can study for AP exams, visit colleges, and work on those days off. Middle schoolers are happy to have the chance to sleep in and are old enough to be left home unattended so the parents aren't rearranging their schedules.

+1 this exactly. The elementary parents need to suck it up and then be grateful when their kids get to high school. Unfortunately they just don’t get it. Luckily no one pays much attention to them becuase they know the stakes in high school are much higher.

elementary parents hate the 8 extra 3 hour early releases that middle and high schoolers don’t get. it was supposed to be last year to train for the new literacy program benchmark. i don’t know why they continued it this year. there are enough teacher work days and school planning days. (and i’m a teacher saying this)

[Anonymous]

ES parent here. I don’t mind the calendar. I don’t need childcare and my kids adjust fine to the schedule changes. I take advantage of the days off to give my kids valuable educational experiences outside of the classroom. What I do think negatively impact education: lack of standardized curriculum for many subjects so many teachers rely on worksheets they find online; inconsistent teacher quality due to this; too much ed tech; large classroom sizes; too many different levels for ES teachers to teach in gen ed classroom. The standardized curriculum should not be so rigid that there is little opportunity for teachers to provide supplemental lessons.

[Anonymous]

The right wing outrage machine on Twitter and other social media is going to get a hold of the fact that FCPS is going to drop Veterans Day and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day from the holiday calendar, but keep the various religious holidays and “cultural observances.” And the backlash and bad PR is going to be a total s*** show. They already hate Northern Virginia as it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're not in the minority. It's insane.

Anyone who approved this calendar should be fired.

Remove all religious holidays from the calendar.

Including Christmas and Easter?

Christmas and Easter aren't school holidays. Thanks for playing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The right wing outrage machine on Twitter and other social media is going to get a hold of the fact that FCPS is going to drop Veterans Day and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day from the holiday calendar, but keep the various religious holidays and “cultural observances.” And the backlash and bad PR is going to be a total s*** show. They already hate Northern Virginia as it is.

This. It’s like these idiot don’t think a single step ahead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, I love the days off and what they represent. Most secondary parents like them, whether they care about the holidays off or not.

Good to know you don't value education. Most. parents and teacher do.

You’re an idiot. It’s the same number of hours/days regardless of how you arrange them. While 5 day weeks may be better for elementary students, days off throughout the year can benefit middle and high schoolers.

Parents who don’t mind the current calendar value education as much as you do.

I'd love to see some evidence of that. And the kids get plenty of days off as it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The right wing outrage machine on Twitter and other social media is going to get a hold of the fact that FCPS is going to drop Veterans Day and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day from the holiday calendar, but keep the various religious holidays and “cultural observances.” And the backlash and bad PR is going to be a total s*** show. They already hate Northern Virginia as it is.

I'm surprised Twitter never picked up that FCPS just celebrated Iranian New Year. Aren't we blowing them up? Kind of awkward that FCPS is celebrating them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way, I love the days off and what they represent. Most secondary parents like them, whether they care about the holidays off or not.

Good to know you don't value education. Most. parents and teacher do.

NP. We do value education. Our kids are taking a lot of AP classes and are using these upcoming 3 days off to prepare. (Monday, Fri and 4/21) We don’t need childcare anymore. We understand why you are so frustrated because it disrupted our kids terribly when they were little as well. Now they can use that time to prepare and study, more similar to what they will do in the near future in college. In college they are not sitting in classrooms for 7 hours M-F.

+1 this exactly. We absolutely love it for our high schooler. They are going to be well prepared for their AP exams!

Gee. If they do better with time off why bother to go to school? Please clarify.

They do better with large chunks of time studying the vast amount of material at home. The AP exam covers the whole year. Rather than sitting through PE class, advisory class or some bs elective and then getting home at 3:30 pm exhausted and then having to study on top of regular homework. If they have the day off, they can study 10-1 for an AP exam. They need big chunks of time to study for the exam that is hard to get when they are at school all day.

So, since your kid is taking too many AP classes, we all have to take days off?