The response to MoCo's calendar change shows why the FCPS religious holidays will never go away

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we want to remove religious holidays, it needs to be all. It isn’t right to leave in Christian holidays but then view Muslim holidays as expendable. A new calendar system where only federal holidays are honored and no religious holidays are included at all would work, but it would require people who are very used to having Christian holidays honored to accept the change.[b] No two week winter break. Christmas Eve in school, only Christmas Day off for the federal holidays and back on 12/26. Spring break untied from Easter.

Even if you’re not Christian, winter break is very ingrained in our culture. It’sa very practical way for families to gather, because all the children and most of the adults have off at the same time. The alternative would be to constantly have work disrupted by families taking vacations at random times. I taught in a private school where this was common, and it was chaos. So much work, and the kids who left never caught up. I be had one student go from first in the class to sixth, and he could tell. He was not happy.

Winter break is something that happens across the Country at the same time. FCPS makes it a 2 week break, which is different then a fair amount of the Country. There are plenty of historic reasons why it is tied to Christmas. At this point in time, it is a traditional break time in the US even as the Christmas holiday has become more secular.

I would guess that there are parts of the world where the major breaks are tied to other religious holidays for the same reason that Winter Break is tied to Christmas in the US.

And yes, we need to uncouple Spring Break from holy week leading into Easter. Most of the country does not tie Spring break to holy week, I have no clue why this area is so attached to it. Choose a week in March, call it Spring Break week and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

So this thread proves there is no real appetite to balance the calendar. You can’t pretend one day off for Eid is the thing that tips us into mid June end dates while being wholly unwilling to consider parting with any of the 2 full weeks of winter break. You all want your travel time at Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So this thread proves there is no real appetite to balance the calendar. You can’t pretend one day off for Eid is the thing that tips us into mid June end dates while being wholly unwilling to consider parting with any of the 2 full weeks of winter break. You all want your travel time at Christmas.

Not true. Plenty of people have pointed to not giving the federal holidays off for school. They are not given as days off in many places, there is no need to give them as days off here. Or turn federal holidays into teacher work days and decrease the number of teacher work days during the year. There are teacher work days that are not at the end of the quarter, remove those from the schedule.

And a lot of folks would be happy to have a week for Christmas but that does seem to be a solid no go for a large percentage of the population so I doubt that is going to change. But we could reclaim Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, and MLK Day as either school days or teacher work days and pull back close to a week of summer vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Claiming that the 2 WEEK winter break around Christmas (the longest break of the entire year) isn’t specifically about Christmas is disingenuous. If we scheduled Christmas the way we did every other major religion’s holidays, it would be one day off- Christmas Day. And again for New Year’s Day a week later. Those are the only two days in that span that are federal holidays. But it gets 2 weeks in the calendar because it’s the major Christian holiday. Pretending otherwise is goofy.

No. It is not goofy. Yes, Christmas is a Christian holiday, but the two weeks off has been a tradition in our schools for many, many years. Why? Because people get together with family at that time to celebrate--and many are not even observant Christians. Many people travel to be with family at that time. There are festivities, parties, etc.

Many businesses and offices also shut down at that time. Do you not realize how difficult it would be to staff schools that would be open at that time?

It is part of the culture of the United States. Sorry you don't like it.

That tradition dates from a time when the default was the five day school week and the long summer. FCPS will need to choose to embrace one or the other going forward but the swiss cheese calendar, short summer, and long breaks pleases no one.

So you think by breaking up the one consistent and prolonged break of the school year that the calendar will magically be fixed? Hardly. We’d probably start and end on the same dates and the 8 instructional days we get back would be used to implement more random early releases and cultural observances.

Also, FCPS would lose accreditation due to chronic absenteeism from people pulling their kids from school to spend time with family when the entire rest of the country is on winter break.

Thanksgiving break and winter break are untouchable. Spring break is also untouchable but they could at least tie it to the end of the quarter. FCPS isn’t the only district with a floating spring break. In my NY school it was tied to Passover. Some schools do the week before or after Easter. Some have a fixed week.

I disagree about Thanksgiving. My public school (in NY) break was Thurs-Fri. Weds could be a teacher work day if absenteeism is really the risk.

My NY school was 15 minute early release on Wednesday and then Thursday/Friday off for Thanksgiving when I was enrolled. The same school district today is now closed for staff and students Wed-Fri for Thanksgiving. My NY school also had classes until December 24 and would return on January 2. It now closes for 2 full weeks for Winter Break. It also closes for both Eid’s and had the audacity to mention Lunar New Year on the calendar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this thread proves there is no real appetite to balance the calendar. You can’t pretend one day off for Eid is the thing that tips us into mid June end dates while being wholly unwilling to consider parting with any of the 2 full weeks of winter break. You all want your travel time at Christmas.

Not true. Plenty of people have pointed to not giving the federal holidays off for school. They are not given as days off in many places, there is no need to give them as days off here. Or turn federal holidays into teacher work days and decrease the number of teacher work days during the year. There are teacher work days that are not at the end of the quarter, remove those from the schedule.

And a lot of folks would be happy to have a week for Christmas but that does seem to be a solid no go for a large percentage of the population so I doubt that is going to change. But we could reclaim Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, and MLK Day as either school days or teacher work days and pull back close to a week of summer vacation.

There is a very good reason to give them off here: Many parents have them off.
We did not get them off where I lived as a child, though we did get Veterans Day off because there was a big parade in my city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this thread proves there is no real appetite to balance the calendar. You can’t pretend one day off for Eid is the thing that tips us into mid June end dates while being wholly unwilling to consider parting with any of the 2 full weeks of winter break. You all want your travel time at Christmas.

Not true. Plenty of people have pointed to not giving the federal holidays off for school. They are not given as days off in many places, there is no need to give them as days off here. Or turn federal holidays into teacher work days and decrease the number of teacher work days during the year. There are teacher work days that are not at the end of the quarter, remove those from the schedule.

And a lot of folks would be happy to have a week for Christmas but that does seem to be a solid no go for a large percentage of the population so I doubt that is going to change. But we could reclaim Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, and MLK Day as either school days or teacher work days and pull back close to a week of summer vacation.

There is a very good reason to give them off here: Many parents have them off.
We did not get them off where I lived as a child, though we did get Veterans Day off because there was a big parade in my city.

Wait wait wait.

When schools close on random Tuesday’s when parents don’t have work and people point out the economic costs and how the wide majority of families here are expected to have two working parents, the shrieking is about how school isn’t childcare and parents schedules don’t matter.

But now the parents have the days off is supposed to drive the calendar? Ok. Get rid of all teacher workdays and non-federal holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Claiming that the 2 WEEK winter break around Christmas (the longest break of the entire year) isn’t specifically about Christmas is disingenuous. If we scheduled Christmas the way we did every other major religion’s holidays, it would be one day off- Christmas Day. And again for New Year’s Day a week later. Those are the only two days in that span that are federal holidays. But it gets 2 weeks in the calendar because it’s the major Christian holiday. Pretending otherwise is goofy.

No. It is not goofy. Yes, Christmas is a Christian holiday, but the two weeks off has been a tradition in our schools for many, many years. Why? Because people get together with family at that time to celebrate--and many are not even observant Christians. Many people travel to be with family at that time. There are festivities, parties, etc.

Many businesses and offices also shut down at that time. Do you not realize how difficult it would be to staff schools that would be open at that time?

It is part of the culture of the United States. Sorry you don't like it.

That tradition dates from a time when the default was the five day school week and the long summer. FCPS will need to choose to embrace one or the other going forward but the swiss cheese calendar, short summer, and long breaks pleases no one.

So you think by breaking up the one consistent and prolonged break of the school year that the calendar will magically be fixed? Hardly. We’d probably start and end on the same dates and the 8 instructional days we get back would be used to implement more random early releases and cultural observances.

Also, FCPS would lose accreditation due to chronic absenteeism from people pulling their kids from school to spend time with family when the entire rest of the country is on winter break.

Thanksgiving break and winter break are untouchable. Spring break is also untouchable but they could at least tie it to the end of the quarter. FCPS isn’t the only district with a floating spring break. In my NY school it was tied to Passover. Some schools do the week before or after Easter. Some have a fixed week.

I disagree about Thanksgiving. My public school (in NY) break was Thurs-Fri. Weds could be a teacher work day if absenteeism is really the risk.

My NY school was 15 minute early release on Wednesday and then Thursday/Friday off for Thanksgiving when I was enrolled. The same school district today is now closed for staff and students Wed-Fri for Thanksgiving. My NY school also had classes until December 24 and would return on January 2. It now closes for 2 full weeks for Winter Break. It also closes for both Eid’s and had the audacity to mention Lunar New Year on the calendar.

There’s no reason weds can’t be a workday. Teachers can use leave if they’re traveling but Thanksgiving doesn’t need to be a five day holiday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this thread proves there is no real appetite to balance the calendar. You can’t pretend one day off for Eid is the thing that tips us into mid June end dates while being wholly unwilling to consider parting with any of the 2 full weeks of winter break. You all want your travel time at Christmas.

Not true. Plenty of people have pointed to not giving the federal holidays off for school. They are not given as days off in many places, there is no need to give them as days off here. Or turn federal holidays into teacher work days and decrease the number of teacher work days during the year. There are teacher work days that are not at the end of the quarter, remove those from the schedule.

And a lot of folks would be happy to have a week for Christmas but that does seem to be a solid no go for a large percentage of the population so I doubt that is going to change. But we could reclaim Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, President's Day, and MLK Day as either school days or teacher work days and pull back close to a week of summer vacation.

There is a very good reason to give them off here: Many parents have them off.
We did not get them off where I lived as a child, though we did get Veterans Day off because there was a big parade in my city.

Federal Government employees have them off. Some Contractors are forced to take them off. Everyone else is working and they are disruptive. There is no reason for them to be off. If they are going to be off, then use them as teacher work days.

My kid attended school on Veteran's Day and Columbus day when he started in FCPS. We loved it because those were days that we could complete chores, have lunch together, or do something special the two of us while he was in school. We are both Contractors who were forced to take PTO because the Fed Government was closed. Veteran's Day was paid for us but not Columbus Day.

The point is, the calendar is a disjointed mess. What could we do to make it less of a disjointed mess. Those 4 federal holidays would give us 4 weeks that were 5 day weeks instead of 4 days weeks, that would be great for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

Looking at this school year’s calendar I would make the following changes:

There isn’t much that can be done about the Election Day stuff so I guess that can remain a 4 day weekend, but I would dump all the quarter end 2 hour early releases. Or dump the 3 hour early releases for elementary, which absolutely should not have continued this school year.

School on Veterans Day like it always was in the past.

Move the staff development scheduled for Jan. 29 (Thurs) to the day before Thanksgiving. Move the QE date for Q2 to Jan. 29 and have it a regular school day, then Friday Jan. 30 a TW for grades.

April 10 SP day moved to May 26 (this is a TW day right now - combine the two as May 26 is not a QE). School as normal on April 10, could be an O day if they anticipate a lot of student absences for Orthodox Good Friday.

That gives us back 3 school days and we could end on June 12, a whole weekend earlier vs. the current June 17.

In these years where we have to have off mid week for every single religious/cultural holiday, I think tough decisions have to be made about even some of the federal holidays like Veterans and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day. Fortunately next year’s calendar is a little more favorable as we get to start almost a full week later on August 24 vs. this year’s August 18.

[Anonymous]

I think the premise that majority want a long summer is flawed.

I think the majority want a predictable calendar that is easy to plan childcare or vacations around. Long weekends vs. Wednesdays off, or a week off in February instead of a couple of 3 or 4 day weeks.

I absolutely do not want a straight through, only 5 day week calendar just to have a 10+ week summer though. That sounds miserable and exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

Looking at this school year’s calendar I would make the following changes:

There isn’t much that can be done about the Election Day stuff so I guess that can remain a 4 day weekend, but I would dump all the quarter end 2 hour early releases. Or dump the 3 hour early releases for elementary, which absolutely should not have continued this school year.

School on Veterans Day like it always was in the past.

Move the staff development scheduled for Jan. 29 (Thurs) to the day before Thanksgiving. Move the QE date for Q2 to Jan. 29 and have it a regular school day, then Friday Jan. 30 a TW for grades.

April 10 SP day moved to May 26 (this is a TW day right now - combine the two as May 26 is not a QE). School as normal on April 10, could be an O day if they anticipate a lot of student absences for Orthodox Good Friday.

That gives us back 3 school days and we could end on June 12, a whole weekend earlier vs. the current June 17.

In these years where we have to have off mid week for every single religious/cultural holiday, I think tough decisions have to be made about even some of the federal holidays like Veterans and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day. Fortunately next year’s calendar is a little more favorable as we get to start almost a full week later on August 24 vs. this year’s August 18.

The 2025-26 calendar probably shouldn't be used as a model on how the school year could be improved. It is an abnormally bad calendar that has filler work days to fill gaps in holidays. Feb 17 and May 26 were entirely pointless. Sept 9 was a special election fluke. Oct 13, Nov 11, and Apr 10 were expendable. When you look at the 2026-27 calendar, we start a week later and there’s less fat to trim.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-04/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

Looking at this school year’s calendar I would make the following changes:

There isn’t much that can be done about the Election Day stuff so I guess that can remain a 4 day weekend, but I would dump all the quarter end 2 hour early releases. Or dump the 3 hour early releases for elementary, which absolutely should not have continued this school year.

School on Veterans Day like it always was in the past.

Move the staff development scheduled for Jan. 29 (Thurs) to the day before Thanksgiving. Move the QE date for Q2 to Jan. 29 and have it a regular school day, then Friday Jan. 30 a TW for grades.

April 10 SP day moved to May 26 (this is a TW day right now - combine the two as May 26 is not a QE). School as normal on April 10, could be an O day if they anticipate a lot of student absences for Orthodox Good Friday.

That gives us back 3 school days and we could end on June 12, a whole weekend earlier vs. the current June 17.

In these years where we have to have off mid week for every single religious/cultural holiday, I think tough decisions have to be made about even some of the federal holidays like Veterans and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day. Fortunately next year’s calendar is a little more favorable as we get to start almost a full week later on August 24 vs. this year’s August 18.

There’s no need for SD days to be at the end of the quarter.

TW day on August 29 makes Sept 8th a five day week.

TW day on 11/11 and SD day the weds before Thanksgiving (virtual because its 2026…) makes Nov 3 a five day week. Yes in presidential years schools should still be closed.

TW day on MLK and SD day moved virtual to Jan 2 makes the week of the 26th a five day week.

April 10 SD day moved virtual and covered during snow days, alternatively makeup SD virtual
Day on March 20 in the unprecedented circumstances that there wasn’t a snow or weather closures. April 6 TW day moves to May 27 and now week of April 6th is five days.

Thousands of dollars saved parents, same number of contract days, and school can end on June 12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

Looking at this school year’s calendar I would make the following changes:

There isn’t much that can be done about the Election Day stuff so I guess that can remain a 4 day weekend, but I would dump all the quarter end 2 hour early releases. Or dump the 3 hour early releases for elementary, which absolutely should not have continued this school year.

School on Veterans Day like it always was in the past.

Move the staff development scheduled for Jan. 29 (Thurs) to the day before Thanksgiving. Move the QE date for Q2 to Jan. 29 and have it a regular school day, then Friday Jan. 30 a TW for grades.

April 10 SP day moved to May 26 (this is a TW day right now - combine the two as May 26 is not a QE). School as normal on April 10, could be an O day if they anticipate a lot of student absences for Orthodox Good Friday.

That gives us back 3 school days and we could end on June 12, a whole weekend earlier vs. the current June 17.

In these years where we have to have off mid week for every single religious/cultural holiday, I think tough decisions have to be made about even some of the federal holidays like Veterans and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day. Fortunately next year’s calendar is a little more favorable as we get to start almost a full week later on August 24 vs. this year’s August 18.

The 2025-26 calendar probably shouldn't be used as a model on how the school year could be improved. It is an abnormally bad calendar that has filler work days to fill gaps in holidays. Feb 17 and May 26 were entirely pointless. Sept 9 was a special election fluke. Oct 13, Nov 11, and Apr 10 were expendable. When you look at the 2026-27 calendar, we start a week later and there’s less fat to trim.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-04/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

Next year is less bananas because some of the religious holidays in the fall are on weekends. That’s the only reason - luck. I’m sure next time those holidays are on weekdays, we’ll be right back to this absurd calendar.

It would be very easy to model our calendar like those in the northeast - they start after Labor Day and end in the first half of June - and a lot of those districts have a week long break in February AND April! Also, predominately Christian / catholic schools up north never tie spring break to Easter.

Or look across the river to DCPS! They don’t have every religious holiday under the sun and have a more reasonable start date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain the “make it a teacher workday” request? Looking at the 2026-27 calendar, every TW/SP/SD day is placed at the end of a quarter except for Indigenous People Day. How is converting Student Holidays to TW going to improve the calendar? They’ll still need the planning days between quarters. The only benefit I see is that SACC would have to be open those days, but that would require paying them more, and the county has already proven they’d rather cut services than do that.

Looking at this school year’s calendar I would make the following changes:

There isn’t much that can be done about the Election Day stuff so I guess that can remain a 4 day weekend, but I would dump all the quarter end 2 hour early releases. Or dump the 3 hour early releases for elementary, which absolutely should not have continued this school year.

School on Veterans Day like it always was in the past.

Move the staff development scheduled for Jan. 29 (Thurs) to the day before Thanksgiving. Move the QE date for Q2 to Jan. 29 and have it a regular school day, then Friday Jan. 30 a TW for grades.

April 10 SP day moved to May 26 (this is a TW day right now - combine the two as May 26 is not a QE). School as normal on April 10, could be an O day if they anticipate a lot of student absences for Orthodox Good Friday.

That gives us back 3 school days and we could end on June 12, a whole weekend earlier vs. the current June 17.

In these years where we have to have off mid week for every single religious/cultural holiday, I think tough decisions have to be made about even some of the federal holidays like Veterans and Columbus/Indigenous Peoples day. Fortunately next year’s calendar is a little more favorable as we get to start almost a full week later on August 24 vs. this year’s August 18.

The 2025-26 calendar probably shouldn't be used as a model on how the school year could be improved. It is an abnormally bad calendar that has filler work days to fill gaps in holidays. Feb 17 and May 26 were entirely pointless. Sept 9 was a special election fluke. Oct 13, Nov 11, and Apr 10 were expendable. When you look at the 2026-27 calendar, we start a week later and there’s less fat to trim.

https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-04/2026-2027-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf

Next year is less bananas because some of the religious holidays in the fall are on weekends. That’s the only reason - luck. I’m sure next time those holidays are on weekdays, we’ll be right back to this absurd calendar.

It would be very easy to model our calendar like those in the northeast - they start after Labor Day and end in the first half of June - and a lot of those districts have a week long break in February AND April! Also, predominately Christian / catholic schools up north never tie spring break to Easter.

Or look across the river to DCPS! They don’t have every religious holiday under the sun and have a more reasonable start date.

Literally the same conversation is happening on the DCPS board. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1314583.page

This isn't an FCPS issue, it's a changing culture issue.