The number of student holidays is insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I read calendar correctly, after start, the most weeks on a row that kids have full week of school in 2022 is 2 weeks and rest are short weeks?

Yes, where's the calendar that, you know, keeps kids in school and learning?

Shouldn't the School Board be interested in getting kids IN school instead of making up new and idiotic ways to get OUT of school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

Ash Wednesday is a minor holiday. Catholics the their major holidays off every year. As a Catholic teacher if someone suggested I work Christmas or Easter I'd take leave too! My first responder husband works them and we figure it out, but I don't have that kind of job.

Wow! Are you really a Jew? Even non-practicing ones know that Yom Kippor absolutely cannot wait until the evening to, and I use this term very loosely since it a day of atonement, "celebrate". Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are such important holidays that schools in NYC are closed for those holidays. How can you not know this?

[Anonymous]

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

I'm the PP and just realized I didn't identify the post I was responding to effectively. This is it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

They didn’t take off because most didn’t know about religious leave and/or didn’t want to use personal. When I first started, I didn’t know I could take off using religious leave. Have taken off every year since. Every Jewish teacher at my school takes off for the Jewish holidays.

+100, now that teachers know about it, many take it off. Almost all of the Jewish teachers took the days last year, at my school, now that they know they could take them off without using a personal day.

If they were not important enough to use one of their personal days for they don’t seem that important. If I worked somewhere that did not celebrate Christmas then come help or high water I would be putting in a vacation day request for Christmas.

Well that is probably because our society values (and has made federal holidays) out of Christian holidays. Please keep your opinion about how Jews celebrate their holidays to yourself.

Agreed. Wow, people have a lot of comments on things they shouldn't comment on. "Well, Jewish people never cared before so let's keep screwing them." Dear lord.

?!? I think you're on the wrong forum if you think people can only comment on certain topics. People can comment on whatever they want to comment on here!
I stand by my earlier comment that I find it hard to understand - when someone DOES have PTO days - why they would not use one to take a day off for their most important religious holiday. That is what I would do for Christmas if I lived in Israel or another country where Christmas is not widely celebrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

Ash Wednesday is a minor holiday. Catholics the their major holidays off every year. As a Catholic teacher if someone suggested I work Christmas or Easter I'd take leave too! My first responder husband works them and we figure it out, but I don't have that kind of job.

Wow! Are you really a Jew? Even non-practicing ones know that Yom Kippor absolutely cannot wait until the evening to, and I use this term very loosely since it a day of atonement, "celebrate". Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are such important holidays that schools in NYC are closed for those holidays. How can you not know this?

Clearly I am not really a Jew when I wrote "As a Catholic teacher, I. . . " I'm as Catholic as they come.

I'lll also point out for the post below that there's a difference between using PTO for a religious holiday if you work in a job where you have weeks of PTO. As a teacher, I got two discretionary days (days when I didn't have to document that I was sick). That's two days for my adoption homestudy, my dog's veterinary emergency, my kids' parent teacher conferences or field trips, etc . . . If the school said I had to use 1/2 of that leave to have Christmas (or Yom Kippur, if i was Jewish) off, I'd be advocating for a change too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

They didn’t take off because most didn’t know about religious leave and/or didn’t want to use personal. When I first started, I didn’t know I could take off using religious leave. Have taken off every year since. Every Jewish teacher at my school takes off for the Jewish holidays.

+100, now that teachers know about it, many take it off. Almost all of the Jewish teachers took the days last year, at my school, now that they know they could take them off without using a personal day.

If they were not important enough to use one of their personal days for they don’t seem that important. If I worked somewhere that did not celebrate Christmas then come help or high water I would be putting in a vacation day request for Christmas.

Well that is probably because our society values (and has made federal holidays) out of Christian holidays. Please keep your opinion about how Jews celebrate their holidays to yourself.

Agreed. Wow, people have a lot of comments on things they shouldn't comment on. "Well, Jewish people never cared before so let's keep screwing them." Dear lord.

?!? I think you're on the wrong forum if you think people can only comment on certain topics. People can comment on whatever they want to comment on here!
I stand by my earlier comment that I find it hard to understand - when someone DOES have PTO days - why they would not use one to take a day off for their most important religious holiday. That is what I would do for Christmas if I lived in Israel or another country where Christmas is not widely celebrated.

Guess what....your experience and emotions ARE NOT THE SAME as others. Is it that hard to understand? Plus, you can comment on anything you like, but think about how it looks before you start telling Jewish people how they should feel or act otherwise their experience is not valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

Ash Wednesday is a minor holiday. Catholics the their major holidays off every year. As a Catholic teacher if someone suggested I work Christmas or Easter I'd take leave too! My first responder husband works them and we figure it out, but I don't have that kind of job.

Wow! Are you really a Jew? Even non-practicing ones know that Yom Kippor absolutely cannot wait until the evening to, and I use this term very loosely since it a day of atonement, "celebrate". Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are such important holidays that schools in NYC are closed for those holidays. How can you not know this?

I'm the non-practicing Jew. I would say that I am Jewish by culture but that I am atheist by religion. I would prefer that our area schools not close for religious holidays. But then I also would prefer year-round school with 2 weeks off in Oct, 3 weeks off in Dec/Jan, 2 weeks off in April, and 5 weeks off in July. (And, yes, we should still have off on Labor Day, Thanksgiving, MLK Jr Day, Presidents Day, and Memorial Day.)

[Anonymous]

When did April 21st get added as a holiday? Either I missed that or it wasn't in the initial calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What sucks also is that SOLS will be in May and then there are weeks of school with no teaching whatsoever. So as far as “instructional time”, it is lost. That’s the babysitting part. So much would rather actual school without breaks and an early release once they stop teaching (or: after SOL).

That really isn’t true at all. Trust me, there is plenty of content that can still be taught and many fun learning projects that can be done.

My kid’s ES teachers did that and it was great. DD in 8th at a decent / mid-tier MS was basically just hanging out for at least two weeks at the end. It was ridiculous.

My ES kid’s teacher had the students study and perform a full musical after SOLs. The kids had so much fun!

[Anonymous]

Even excellent MS hang out at the end. My kid is at Rachel Carson and they did nothing once the SOLs happened. In fact, I kept him home a few times because going in to watch movies wasn’t ideal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not even about childcare. It's about routine and continuity and the upcoming school year is FULL of disruptive days off. It's ridiculous and someone should call attention to it. I recently wrote them all down in our calendar and the amount of 3 day weekends and random days off are just awful. I think October and April barely have any full weeks. January we all know is a disaster year after year. December is nothing. November has tons of days off. It really leaves so few full weeks.

This. In ES kids sometimes end up missing the same “specials” class over and over again. So few full weeks it’s absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Why? Because we don’t need every religious holiday off. No secular country in the world gives so many religious holidays. Provide leave for teachers who celebrate (Sorry, but that’s actually quite generous already!) and allow kids to make up work. Yes, Christmas is over winter break. The majority of the county would take off so schools couldn’t be staffed and classrooms would be empty if they were staffed. Its also a federal holiday.

Well unfortunately staffing is now a huge issue. So if 2,000 teachers took over for the Jewish holidays plus other people take off for sickness or other reasons it becomes an operational issue. So unless parents start volunteering to sub once a month then it is a problem to have school. There are so many vacancies already that they will need to cover.

But Jewish teachers usually don't take the Jewish holidays off. I'm a non-practicing Jew, so it doesn't matter for me, but I have had many practicing Jewish colleagues in FCPS over the past 25 years. They taught on all high holy days without batting an eye. There are many, many different religious holidays throughout the school year. We really shouldn't be taking any of them off. Celebrations can wait until the evening (or happen in the morning before school -- like on Ash Wednesday for Catholics).

Ash Wednesday is a minor holiday. Catholics the their major holidays off every year. As a Catholic teacher if someone suggested I work Christmas or Easter I'd take leave too! My first responder husband works them and we figure it out, but I don't have that kind of job.

Wow! Are you really a Jew? Even non-practicing ones know that Yom Kippor absolutely cannot wait until the evening to, and I use this term very loosely since it a day of atonement, "celebrate". Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor are such important holidays that schools in NYC are closed for those holidays. How can you not know this?

I'm the non-practicing Jew. I would say that I am Jewish by culture but that I am atheist by religion. I would prefer that our area schools not close for religious holidays. But then I also would prefer year-round school with 2 weeks off in Oct, 3 weeks off in Dec/Jan, 2 weeks off in April, and 5 weeks off in July. (And, yes, we should still have off on Labor Day, Thanksgiving, MLK Jr Day, Presidents Day, and Memorial Day.)

DP. This ^

Non-practicing atheist Catholic here.

[Anonymous]

You people who advocate for year round school live in fantasy land. Are you willing to go become a teacher?! They can’t even get enough teachers for summer school what makes you think they want to teach year round? Teachers love summer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids love these days off..they break up the monotony of a long school year. Teachers generally don't mind them because days off here and there really aren't that disruptive to learning. The only ones who really care are...parents.

Not sure why we want kids to experience the same 9-5, 5 day a week grind of so many of their parents.

Because many of us parents have to work and we need our kids in school while we work!

No matter how much you want it to be true, school is not daycare. Teachers are not daycare providers. You chose to have kids. You choose to work. It is 100% on you to figure this out.

the teachers always say this until they have to figure out their own childcare issues and then they get outraged. Public schools were started so adults could go to work. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people who advocate for year round school live in fantasy land. Are you willing to go become a teacher?! They can’t even get enough teachers for summer school what makes you think they want to teach year round? Teachers love summer!

they would make more money and then they could stop complaining about how little they get paid.