How DO we get the calendar changed?

[Anonymous]

Tune in today at 3 to see how the board is doing on this issue.

[Anonymous]

Is it even possible to have school on Christmas?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We don't get off for "every possible holiday." They added only FOUR holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and Eid) as days off, in addition to already having a 2-week winter break for Christmas and tying Spring Break to Easter. Stop using holidays as a scapegoat.

I'd love to have fewer weather closures, but the weather and road clearing is not really in the school's control.

Lunar new year.
Eid is like 3 different days.

At the same time they added in all the religious holidays, they also threw in Veteran day and the Wednesday before thanksgiving for good measure because, why not have another sort week in November? One a one off the holidays don't seem bad but collectively they add an extra 1.5 weeks to the school year. No to mention, all the religious observance.

We never used to have these days off. I would love to see the data on how may kids actually missed school on these holidays and if it was really enough to rationalize adding them to the calendar.

The fall is especially disruptive with so many short weeks.

Lunar New Year doesn’t count as a holiday. Sometimes (like this year) it was treated as a TW. In 2028 they will have school on Lunar New Year (https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-02/2027-2028-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf)

They will have early release on LNY in ‘28 to be precise.

Well, yes. It aligns with the end of the quarter.

It does— and it is another non-full week of school. This is why we need to make some trade-offs instead of simply adding days off/early release and moving further and further into summer.

See, you want a longer summer, but I like having a 4 day weekend in January during a non-peak travel time. The early dismissal allows us to fly out or drive to our destination on Wednesday. I would prefer the 2027-28 calendar as is over hoarding days off for the summer.

That’s why there will never be a calendar that makes everyone happy. Even a compromise will leave people disappointed.

Exactly this. None of these complaints are academically data driven. They’re all about personal preference. FCPS cares about academics, plain and simple.

Find the group you align with, band together, and complain to whoever you please. However, there’s hundreds of thousands of parents and most simply do not care enough to complain. The vocal minority is just, loud.

Academically there's no reason to have so many disjointed days off.

I have not met a single parent who is happy with the calendar. You're right that most people aren't extremely vocal, but none are happy. Nearly everyone is very unhappy with it. Just Americans are a passive bunch and we aren't going to protest and riot.

“None are happy”

“Nearly everyone is very unhappy”

These statements are literally the definition of an anecdotal fallacy. You can’t speak for hundreds of thousands of people. There are literally posters on this thread who have no problem with it. Yes, you and your circle and the people you have talked to dislike it, but you truly have no idea what percentage or amount of people hate it vs love it.

The board said in September they had an unprecedented number of complaints about the calendar, and that was before the snow days. Thats pretty reliable data.

I dislike the 2025-26 calendar, specifically. The 2024-25 calendar was fine. The 2026-27 calendar is fine. The 2027-28 calendar is fine.

With all due respect, this is the problem. The issue is not whether specific calendar is lucky enough to have religious holidays fall on weekends, or spring break/Easter alignment to be reasonable or whatever. That's pure luck - other years will be as dismal as this year.

Issue is more the ridiculous "Guiding Principles" FCPS uses in setting the calendar to begin with - need to recognize every religious holiday regardless of how many folks observe, endless training/planning days etc. Other poster in their SB letter said it well: calendar is already borderline unreasonable under perfect weather/contingency conditions. But throw in inevitable snow days, mythical tornado days, early release Wed etc. - and it's brutal if your goal is actually to educate.

+1

FCPS needs to get clear on their priorities and set calendars that reflect those priorities.

They are clear about respecting the religious diversity in the county which is reflected in the calendar. You and others simply don’t have that as your priority. Don’t say that FCPS doesn’t have priorities.

+100.

Does it get to be a lot, especially combined with the early release Wednesdays? Absolutely. But the objective is clear.

If thats the priority you make trade offs. Veterans Day isn’t a religious holiday and wasn’t a day off from school in 2023. Weds before thanksgiving, five days at memorial day etc. You go to school those days and you can say religious diversity is your priority.

This? Says not being in school is the priority.

Five day Memorial Day is not a thing. It’s a 5 day weekend that contains both Memorial Day and Eid.

No one cares about Eid.

I do. So do many others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it even possible to have school on Christmas?

I don’t think it’s codified that school cannot be held like the Friday and Monday around Labor Day is.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We don't get off for "every possible holiday." They added only FOUR holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and Eid) as days off, in addition to already having a 2-week winter break for Christmas and tying Spring Break to Easter. Stop using holidays as a scapegoat.

I'd love to have fewer weather closures, but the weather and road clearing is not really in the school's control.

Lunar new year.
Eid is like 3 different days.

At the same time they added in all the religious holidays, they also threw in Veteran day and the Wednesday before thanksgiving for good measure because, why not have another sort week in November? One a one off the holidays don't seem bad but collectively they add an extra 1.5 weeks to the school year. No to mention, all the religious observance.

We never used to have these days off. I would love to see the data on how may kids actually missed school on these holidays and if it was really enough to rationalize adding them to the calendar.

The fall is especially disruptive with so many short weeks.

Lunar New Year doesn’t count as a holiday. Sometimes (like this year) it was treated as a TW. In 2028 they will have school on Lunar New Year (https://www.fcps.edu/system/files/forms/2025-02/2027-2028-standard-school-year-calendar.pdf)

They will have early release on LNY in ‘28 to be precise.

Well, yes. It aligns with the end of the quarter.

It does— and it is another non-full week of school. This is why we need to make some trade-offs instead of simply adding days off/early release and moving further and further into summer.

See, you want a longer summer, but I like having a 4 day weekend in January during a non-peak travel time. The early dismissal allows us to fly out or drive to our destination on Wednesday. I would prefer the 2027-28 calendar as is over hoarding days off for the summer.

That’s why there will never be a calendar that makes everyone happy. Even a compromise will leave people disappointed.

Exactly this. None of these complaints are academically data driven. They’re all about personal preference. FCPS cares about academics, plain and simple.

Find the group you align with, band together, and complain to whoever you please. However, there’s hundreds of thousands of parents and most simply do not care enough to complain. The vocal minority is just, loud.

Academically there's no reason to have so many disjointed days off.

I have not met a single parent who is happy with the calendar. You're right that most people aren't extremely vocal, but none are happy. Nearly everyone is very unhappy with it. Just Americans are a passive bunch and we aren't going to protest and riot.

“None are happy”

“Nearly everyone is very unhappy”

These statements are literally the definition of an anecdotal fallacy. You can’t speak for hundreds of thousands of people. There are literally posters on this thread who have no problem with it. Yes, you and your circle and the people you have talked to dislike it, but you truly have no idea what percentage or amount of people hate it vs love it.

The board said in September they had an unprecedented number of complaints about the calendar, and that was before the snow days. Thats pretty reliable data.

I dislike the 2025-26 calendar, specifically. The 2024-25 calendar was fine. The 2026-27 calendar is fine. The 2027-28 calendar is fine.

With all due respect, this is the problem. The issue is not whether specific calendar is lucky enough to have religious holidays fall on weekends, or spring break/Easter alignment to be reasonable or whatever. That's pure luck - other years will be as dismal as this year.

Issue is more the ridiculous "Guiding Principles" FCPS uses in setting the calendar to begin with - need to recognize every religious holiday regardless of how many folks observe, endless training/planning days etc. Other poster in their SB letter said it well: calendar is already borderline unreasonable under perfect weather/contingency conditions. But throw in inevitable snow days, mythical tornado days, early release Wed etc. - and it's brutal if your goal is actually to educate.

+1

FCPS needs to get clear on their priorities and set calendars that reflect those priorities.

They are clear about respecting the religious diversity in the county which is reflected in the calendar. You and others simply don’t have that as your priority. Don’t say that FCPS doesn’t have priorities.

+100.

Does it get to be a lot, especially combined with the early release Wednesdays? Absolutely. But the objective is clear.

If thats the priority you make trade offs. Veterans Day isn’t a religious holiday and wasn’t a day off from school in 2023. Weds before thanksgiving, five days at memorial day etc. You go to school those days and you can say religious diversity is your priority.

This? Says not being in school is the priority.

Five day Memorial Day is not a thing. It’s a 5 day weekend that contains both Memorial Day and Eid.

No one cares about Eid.

I do. So do many others.

Can I care about Eid and not think it should be a day off? Maybe kids could spend the day learning about it and the kids who ate observing have excused absence? I’m equally good with this for all other religious holidays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all the early release days my 3rd grader comes home with a significant amount of teaching that was skipped. They didn’t get to it and they move on. Since January numerous concepts are skipped. Meanwhile my K watches movies on early release days. The early release days for weather and 2hrs delays have been very very disruptive. Total hours is meaningless is the quality is poor. Let the kids who celebrate Eid take off as an excused absence what does the entire school need to be off for a holiday most don’t celebrate?🙌

Isn't it the support staff -- bus drivers, cafeteria workers, classroom aids -- who are celebrating Eid and will not be working? That was the claim a few years ago anyway. You can't have school on a day when few bus drivers are available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it even possible to have school on Christmas?

It would not be operationally feasible. This should be the only reason to have religious holidays.

And Christmas is not a specific FCPS holiday anyway since Winter Break already covers it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the early release days my 3rd grader comes home with a significant amount of teaching that was skipped. They didn’t get to it and they move on. Since January numerous concepts are skipped. Meanwhile my K watches movies on early release days. The early release days for weather and 2hrs delays have been very very disruptive. Total hours is meaningless is the quality is poor. Let the kids who celebrate Eid take off as an excused absence what does the entire school need to be off for a holiday most don’t celebrate?🙌

Isn't it the support staff -- bus drivers, cafeteria workers, classroom aids -- who are celebrating Eid and will not be working? That was the claim a few years ago anyway. You can't have school on a day when few bus drivers are available.

There was never any evidence of higher absentee rates for students or staff on the newly added religious holidays. Random other days had higher absentee rates and the school system operated fine.

In other words, there is no operational problem that these religions holidays are solving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it even possible to have school on Christmas?

It would not be operationally feasible. This should be the only reason to have religious holidays.

And Christmas is not a specific FCPS holiday anyway since Winter Break already covers it.

+1. Figure out a threshold for what percentage of students and employees celebrate each religious holiday. If it’s above the threshold, no school. Otherwise, hold school and give excused absences to those who observe.

[Anonymous]

Serious question. Does the calendar actually significantly impact anyone’s child’s learning? My 2nd grader has the same experience no matter how many schooldays there are in a week. She doesn’t have a great teacher. I don’t think she would have a better learning experience with more days in the class. It’s just how the school and the particular grade is setup. Older kid also didn’t have a great learning experience in that grade even when there were more school days. My older ES kid now has a rigorous school workload including projects that are assigned every couple of weeks. The deadlines don’t get extended for days off. Kid is still doing schoolwork on those days. The class doesn’t seem to need a refresher on what was just learned when they return to class. But she has a strong teacher who holds the class to high expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it even possible to have school on Christmas?

It would not be operationally feasible. This should be the only reason to have religious holidays.

And Christmas is not a specific FCPS holiday anyway since Winter Break already covers it.

+1. Figure out a threshold for what percentage of students and employees celebrate each religious holiday. If it’s above the threshold, no school. Otherwise, hold school and give excused absences to those who observe.

That is what my town in N.E. did in the 1980’s. They set it at 15%. If 15% of the staff asked for a particular religious day off, school would be cancelled. That was the threshold they determined would be too great to find subs and replacements. Now, it was a one high school town, so it was easier to figure out. Since Fairfax is so large, I can see some schools being greatly impacted for one holiday or another and others barely at all. I’m not sure how to address that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Does the calendar actually significantly impact anyone’s child’s learning? My 2nd grader has the same experience no matter how many schooldays there are in a week. She doesn’t have a great teacher. I don’t think she would have a better learning experience with more days in the class. It’s just how the school and the particular grade is setup. Older kid also didn’t have a great learning experience in that grade even when there were more school days. My older ES kid now has a rigorous school workload including projects that are assigned every couple of weeks. The deadlines don’t get extended for days off. Kid is still doing schoolwork on those days. The class doesn’t seem to need a refresher on what was just learned when they return to class. But she has a strong teacher who holds the class to high expectations.

Posts here from SE teachers about their classrooms suggest yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Does the calendar actually significantly impact anyone’s child’s learning? My 2nd grader has the same experience no matter how many schooldays there are in a week. She doesn’t have a great teacher. I don’t think she would have a better learning experience with more days in the class. It’s just how the school and the particular grade is setup. Older kid also didn’t have a great learning experience in that grade even when there were more school days. My older ES kid now has a rigorous school workload including projects that are assigned every couple of weeks. The deadlines don’t get extended for days off. Kid is still doing schoolwork on those days. The class doesn’t seem to need a refresher on what was just learned when they return to class. But she has a strong teacher who holds the class to high expectations.

Posts here from SE teachers about their classrooms suggest yes.

Makes sense. FCPS generally needs to give better support to special ed. Are there significant detrimental impacts to gen ed students?

[Anonymous]

No one accepts your premise that the schools are "declining."

Schools are absolutely declining. I have a 12th grader and an 8th grader. The difference between what the 12th grader learned/was taught vs what the 8th grader is learning/being taught (same ES and MS) are noticeable, and not in a good way. The curriculum has become so watered down.

[Anonymous]

For anyone who couldn’t watch:

1. A motion is going to the board for Veterans Day and Indigenous People’s day 2026 to be school days.
2. Strong advocacy for early release to 1. Be moved to Friday and 2. Not be scheduled to occur on any week with a different holiday/second early release.

Some discussions around changing number of snowdays to get a week back and what to do about elections.