Attendance pressure

[Anonymous]

Good lord. How far we have fallen when parents get all stroppy when the schools have to remind them to send their kids to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many Asian families don’t take that email seriously because their students are the ones driving FCPS’s academic performance metrics. These students tend to be highly self-directed and often learn far beyond what is taught in the classroom, largely because they are trained and supported from an early age to do so.

+1. FCPS knows there's no moving the attendance needle with families who aren't invested in their children's education. The parents simply don't care and that ship has sailed. They're trying to improve the attendance numbers by going after the families on the other end of the spectrum.

Except they are barking up the wrong tree, as the saying goes. Asking Asian parents to disrupt their winter recess plans and make unwise monetary decisions based on school attendance is more futile than asking parents who don't give a shit about their kids' education to make education-based decisions. Asian parents know their kids are SO FAR ahead of the academic curve, especially in elementary and middle school, that they couldn't give two shits about keeping their kids in school just because the administration sends them that email. They read that email and see "blah blah blah" while their kids are doing SAT practice problems starting in 5th grade. It's kinda laughable that FCPS principals don't know their own kids/families well enough to know there's no needle to move with that crowd.

The issue is that VDOE is now using attendance as a measure of school success. The parents taking weeks off in addition to the regular vacation are hurting a statistic that was just introduced to the score.

When was that introduced into the score? 2025? Or a few years back?

This is the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am kicking myself that we did not travel for the full week of Thanksgiving. There was no content taught and no assessments and so many kids were out that the school sent several emails begging parents to not call, but to send in absenses through SIS.

Parents, take your children out of school when you need do, especially before breaks. There is nothing going on the days leading up to Winter Break.

Of course families are leaving early.

This is ridiculous and wrong. I hope people don't listen to the likes of these idiots.

I’m a DP but…do you really think kids gain more sitting in front of a movie or on lexia unsupervised than being with family?

Look at the pacing guides sometime. You will be shocked at how little instruction actualy happens in ES many weeks.

ES teacher here. This is not true. Especially since we have to keep on pace to give common assessments. It is already hard enough to fit everything in. No teacher is not teaching the week before break. We are allowed to have a party the Friday before break, but only for an hour. Every thing else is normal.

It’s a high volume sub day. So clearly there are quite a few teachers not teaching before the break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many Asian families don’t take that email seriously because their students are the ones driving FCPS’s academic performance metrics. These students tend to be highly self-directed and often learn far beyond what is taught in the classroom, largely because they are trained and supported from an early age to do so.

+1. FCPS knows there's no moving the attendance needle with families who aren't invested in their children's education. The parents simply don't care and that ship has sailed. They're trying to improve the attendance numbers by going after the families on the other end of the spectrum.

Except they are barking up the wrong tree, as the saying goes. Asking Asian parents to disrupt their winter recess plans and make unwise monetary decisions based on school attendance is more futile than asking parents who don't give a shit about their kids' education to make education-based decisions. Asian parents know their kids are SO FAR ahead of the academic curve, especially in elementary and middle school, that they couldn't give two shits about keeping their kids in school just because the administration sends them that email. They read that email and see "blah blah blah" while their kids are doing SAT practice problems starting in 5th grade. It's kinda laughable that FCPS principals don't know their own kids/families well enough to know there's no needle to move with that crowd.

The issue is that VDOE is now using attendance as a measure of school success. The parents taking weeks off in addition to the regular vacation are hurting a statistic that was just introduced to the score.

No Asian family cares about fake metrics. Sorry, but that's just not our problem!

[Anonymous]

Why are we acting like this was only about Asian families? The kids who worry me most when they travel for extended travel are the Central American English learners. Their parents travel as well, for 4-5 weeks at a time, and the students CANNOT afford to lose that learning time. The time they lose is nearly impossible to recover because they already lacked foundational skills and now have to try to catch up. They just can’t usually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we acting like this was only about Asian families? The kids who worry me most when they travel for extended travel are the Central American English learners. Their parents travel as well, for 4-5 weeks at a time, and the students CANNOT afford to lose that learning time. The time they lose is nearly impossible to recover because they already lacked foundational skills and now have to try to catch up. They just can’t usually.

I would agree if this were true. Few of the struggling kids are traveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are we acting like this was only about Asian families? The kids who worry me most when they travel for extended travel are the Central American English learners. Their parents travel as well, for 4-5 weeks at a time, and the students CANNOT afford to lose that learning time. The time they lose is nearly impossible to recover because they already lacked foundational skills and now have to try to catch up. They just can’t usually.

That is not a group of people traveling for extended vacations. If they are traveling it is more likely for them to be unenrolled. Concern trolling fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS less time off at Christmas in the 1980s and we did not have a problem like this with attendance. People now feel entitled to their vacations even at the expense of school. But that is where we are now.

School felt entitled to their schedule of choice at the expense of parents. Why are parents supposed to treat schools with more respect than they recieve?

But the school schedule provides more breaks. Why would parents need more?

Families with international jobs, families of immigrants, families of military/transient DC residence— all very well represented in the area— can’t fly to visit relatives in the 1 and 2 and .5 day breaks that are all over the calendar. Summer, spring, and winter breaks are expensive (which is why the teachers aren’t sticking around) and the principal correctly noticed a lot of people don’t want to spend thousands of extra dollars to have their kids watch a movie on Friday afternoon. FCPS should make it a planning day.

Not the school system's problem. You could argue there are way too many small breaks, but building a schedule to allow extended school year vacations is a recent and stupid entitlement.

If they are whining about attendance, apparently THEY think it's their problem. Maybe fewer 1 day breaks throughout the year will decrease student absences. They ought to consider it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS less time off at Christmas in the 1980s and we did not have a problem like this with attendance. People now feel entitled to their vacations even at the expense of school. But that is where we are now.

School felt entitled to their schedule of choice at the expense of parents. Why are parents supposed to treat schools with more respect than they recieve?

But the school schedule provides more breaks. Why would parents need more?

Families with international jobs, families of immigrants, families of military/transient DC residence— all very well represented in the area— can’t fly to visit relatives in the 1 and 2 and .5 day breaks that are all over the calendar. Summer, spring, and winter breaks are expensive (which is why the teachers aren’t sticking around) and the principal correctly noticed a lot of people don’t want to spend thousands of extra dollars to have their kids watch a movie on Friday afternoon. FCPS should make it a planning day.

Not the school system's problem. You could argue there are way too many small breaks, but building a schedule to allow extended school year vacations is a recent and stupid entitlement.

If they are whining about attendance, apparently THEY think it's their problem. Maybe fewer 1 day breaks throughout the year will decrease student absences. They ought to consider it.

Best comment yet!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS less time off at Christmas in the 1980s and we did not have a problem like this with attendance. People now feel entitled to their vacations even at the expense of school. But that is where we are now.

School felt entitled to their schedule of choice at the expense of parents. Why are parents supposed to treat schools with more respect than they recieve?

But the school schedule provides more breaks. Why would parents need more?

Families with international jobs, families of immigrants, families of military/transient DC residence— all very well represented in the area— can’t fly to visit relatives in the 1 and 2 and .5 day breaks that are all over the calendar. Summer, spring, and winter breaks are expensive (which is why the teachers aren’t sticking around) and the principal correctly noticed a lot of people don’t want to spend thousands of extra dollars to have their kids watch a movie on Friday afternoon. FCPS should make it a planning day.

Not the school system's problem. You could argue there are way too many small breaks, but building a schedule to allow extended school year vacations is a recent and stupid entitlement.

If they are whining about attendance, apparently THEY think it's their problem. Maybe fewer 1 day breaks throughout the year will decrease student absences. They ought to consider it.

+1

“School isn’t childcare” screamed over and over doesn’t erase the fact that kids whose parents work need childcare. A lot of people had kids take 4 day weekends to cover Tuesday days off, because available family doesn’t live locally.

[Anonymous]

Miss school all you want. Just don't whine when your kid is lost and has lousy grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miss school all you want. Just don't whine when your kid is lost and has lousy grades.

Those are good reasons not to miss.

Principal forgets how little anyone thinks of their “power” and sends unhinged email…not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am kicking myself that we did not travel for the full week of Thanksgiving. There was no content taught and no assessments and so many kids were out that the school sent several emails begging parents to not call, but to send in absenses through SIS.

Parents, take your children out of school when you need do, especially before breaks. There is nothing going on the days leading up to Winter Break.

Of course families are leaving early.

This is ridiculous and wrong. I hope people don't listen to the likes of these idiots.

I’m a DP but…do you really think kids gain more sitting in front of a movie or on lexia unsupervised than being with family?

Look at the pacing guides sometime. You will be shocked at how little instruction actualy happens in ES many weeks.

ES teacher here. This is not true. Especially since we have to keep on pace to give common assessments. It is already hard enough to fit everything in. No teacher is not teaching the week before break. We are allowed to have a party the Friday before break, but only for an hour. Every thing else is normal.

It’s a high volume sub day. So clearly there are quite a few teachers not teaching before the break.

Yes but people seem to forget that there are a ton of other teachers in the building that supports classroom teachers. There are also aides and assistants. Subs could be needed for any position, not just classroom teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am kicking myself that we did not travel for the full week of Thanksgiving. There was no content taught and no assessments and so many kids were out that the school sent several emails begging parents to not call, but to send in absenses through SIS.

Parents, take your children out of school when you need do, especially before breaks. There is nothing going on the days leading up to Winter Break.

Of course families are leaving early.

This is ridiculous and wrong. I hope people don't listen to the likes of these idiots.

I’m a DP but…do you really think kids gain more sitting in front of a movie or on lexia unsupervised than being with family?

Look at the pacing guides sometime. You will be shocked at how little instruction actualy happens in ES many weeks.

ES teacher here. This is not true. Especially since we have to keep on pace to give common assessments. It is already hard enough to fit everything in. No teacher is not teaching the week before break. We are allowed to have a party the Friday before break, but only for an hour. Every thing else is normal.

It’s a high volume sub day. So clearly there are quite a few teachers not teaching before the break.

Yes but people seem to forget that there are a ton of other teachers in the building that supports classroom teachers. There are also aides and assistants. Subs could be needed for any position, not just classroom teachers.

OK, but do you understand that a parent who gets an email about the importance of attendance and has their kid watching movies with a sub will absolutely never take the principal seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are we acting like this was only about Asian families? The kids who worry me most when they travel for extended travel are the Central American English learners. Their parents travel as well, for 4-5 weeks at a time, and the students CANNOT afford to lose that learning time. The time they lose is nearly impossible to recover because they already lacked foundational skills and now have to try to catch up. They just can’t usually.

I would agree if this were true. Few of the struggling kids are traveling.

Ummm not at my school. I have multiple kids each year leave for extended trips! Their parents save and take the whole family. The only Asian student I have had who has traveled extensively is a kid who went to India last year for over a month and his dad thought I was going to have 1:1 Google meet classes with him while he was gone. (I didn’t.) people from Central America absolutely do travel to see family you bozos.