Why didn’t APS start this week?

[Anonymous]

All these extra religious holidays were pulled at the last minute by FCPS due to advice from their lawyers.

So expect that to go away next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don’t care what you want. The teachers get the schedule they want.

They tried to match FCPS this year but then FCPS adopted after us and made a bunch of changes. Going forward expect us to match to FCPS. The teachers who live there and have kids in school there want this. The community engagement within Arlington is just optics.

I am completely fine with this. I'm sure APS parents can find a million other things to complain about.

-- APS Parent who has dealt with misaligned school schedules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a full calendar process every year with different options and people vote. Next year engage with it and make your voice heard. Montgomery county, FCCPS, APS, DCPS all staet next Monday. Loud on starts this Thursday.

I'm so sick of people saying this. I engaged a ton on this, and we still ended up with this shitty calendar this year where we start a week earlier than last year and still get out at the same time in June.

Because they added a bunch of non Christian holidays that we didn’t previously have off.

let it go already,

[Anonymous]

Also, not all private schools started this week. Some aligned with the public school calendars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t care what you want. The teachers get the schedule they want.

They tried to match FCPS this year but then FCPS adopted after us and made a bunch of changes. Going forward expect us to match to FCPS. The teachers who live there and have kids in school there want this. The community engagement within Arlington is just optics.

I am completely fine with this. I'm sure APS parents can find a million other things to complain about.

-- APS Parent who has dealt with misaligned school schedules

I am totally fine with it as well. (I am the PP.) The problem is don't pretend to ask people. Just put out the schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

[Anonymous]

To prepare for a full virtual start

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Barely. Most camp registrations are in January, booking vacation rentals starts in December, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Why can’t they decide now. It’s a calendar. What’s going to change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t care what you want. The teachers get the schedule they want.

They tried to match FCPS this year but then FCPS adopted after us and made a bunch of changes. Going forward expect us to match to FCPS. The teachers who live there and have kids in school there want this. The community engagement within Arlington is just optics.

This is exactly right.

It's because without teachers that live in Fairfax working in APS, we wouldn't have enough teachers. Younger teachers can't afford to buy in Arlington anymore and are moving to Fairfax more often. Once they have kids, they switch to FCPS because its easier for life when everything lines up. All the teachers that left my school last year were going to FCPS because that's where they live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish they would have followed through with what they said in 2019 (or 2018?) and made calendar decisions by April of the prior year so I could plan better!

The calendar was adopted in December 2020, that’s plenty of time

Lots of people book summer vacations well before that timing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They don’t care what you want. The teachers get the schedule they want.

They tried to match FCPS this year but then FCPS adopted after us and made a bunch of changes. Going forward expect us to match to FCPS. The teachers who live there and have kids in school there want this. The community engagement within Arlington is just optics.

This is exactly right.

It's because without teachers that live in Fairfax working in APS, we wouldn't have enough teachers. Younger teachers can't afford to buy in Arlington anymore and are moving to Fairfax more often. Once they have kids, they switch to FCPS because its easier for life when everything lines up. All the teachers that left my school last year were going to FCPS because that's where they live.

As a PP said, then don't poll us. Just say why we need to match to Fairfax and do it. I get the reason. It rightfully annoys people when you ask them and then ignore the input.

[Anonymous]

LOL. There's a thread in the FCPS forum questioning why they started this week and not next week!

It doesn't matter what the schools do. Parents are gonna complain no matter what.

[Anonymous]

I like the pre-labor day start. But I do wish we got out a week earlier in June. Though maybe I don't really care. I can't decide.

The one thing I wish they'd do is figure out the start date for next year NOW. Knowing what day we start is key. Since there are no camps, it's a good time to travel, but we can't make plans because the start date is so up in the air. Commit to the start dates, and then figure out the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL. There's a thread in the FCPS forum questioning why they started this week and not next week!

It doesn't matter what the schools do. Parents are gonna complain no matter what.

This.